Monday Reset

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Agenda:

1. Devotions

2. Beingness 

3. Earth Action

4. Ongo journal

5. Home projects

Distaff Day

Woman with distaff in left hand, and spindle in right hand.

Distaff Day (January7) is named for the distaff, the stick-like tool that held fibers while a woman used a drop spindle to spin thread.

Spinning and weaving were never-ending chores for pre-industrial women; most women and girls would spin thread while also cooking, caring for children, or minding the sheep. Because women were seen always with a distaff in hand, it became the symbol of “women’s work”. 

But during the Christmas season women took a break from spinning. January 7th was the traditional day for women to start back to work, and so was called Distaff Day.

Agenda:
1. Journal queries and spindle meditation

2. Start a fiber project

3. Housework - clean the kitchen

Fourth Day of Christmas

This is the fourth day of Christmas and the third day of Kwanzaa. Today I will enjoy the peace of a day at home with my hubby, doing home projects and sewing, and maybe venture out into the snow for a short walk. Being a retired person is sometimes pretty sweet!

Agenda today:
1. Kwanzaa principles

2. Christmas retreat

3. Sanctuary Reading

4. Sanctuary goals for 2021

5. House of Belief

Home Blessing Saturday

The Orthodox Church has a tradition of blessing homes within a few weeks after Epiphany. The family prepares by cleaning the house, and then a priest comes to sprinkle holy water and pray for each family member, living and dead.

So what is a blessing? The Church recognizes a blessing as a statement or prayer that invokes God’s favor and power, and prepares one to receive grace, or in the case of a house blessing, prepares the space and those within it.

My own understanding is that the act of cleaning itself is a blessing on the house, and that sitting still in a newly cleaned room is a good way to remember that we are each blessed, always and forever.

But I love a good ritual! My custom is to bless each room this month, first by cleaning it, then with a ritual, and then by remembering the blessings of life.

Agenda today: 

1. Kitchen blessing ritual

2. Kitchen blessing prayer

Christmas Day

Today is Christmas, but only the first day of Christmas (what Norwegians would call 1. juledag, or "First Christmas Day"). 

This is the start of the twelve-day festal tide adopted by the Christian Church: In 567 C.E. church leaders proclaimed the days from December 25 to Epiphany as a sacred, festive season.

Normally I would spend all day with my family, doing a puzzle, eating and drinking, and generally wallowing in joyful abandon. This year is different: We plan to visit one household today that is in our pod, and then have a brunch gathering outside tomorrow for all of us together.

Agenda:
1. Journal queries

2. Goals for 2021

3. Put Baby Jesus in the manger

4. Open (some) gifts

5. Create sanctuary with a fire-side oasis

6. Make Danish prune bread