Journeying With Herbs

Wintering 

The cold and snow and ice have arrived. Winter owns its unique beauty. I enjoy this beauty if I am indoors with a lovely cup of tea and a pair of warm wool socks toasting my toes! Folks often tell me that I am not a winter person, that I must learn to deal with it. I live in the north, what do I expect? Well, what I expect is for people to act like it’s winter and to respect the season.  Let me explain. If you are a person that enjoys ice skating, going to ski, sliding down a hill at break neck speeds, you go for it, nothing wrong with that! But, let’s not forget that for most of human history the winter season was a reckoning with death. Was there going to be enough to eat? Hope no one gets sick! Did I harvest enough herbs?  This is a time of staying around the hearth, of storytelling, of rest. It is also a time for the earth herself to rest. Even if you live in an area of the world that doesn’t get a lot of snow and ice, it is still a time of rest for our mother.  Take this time of dark and cold to calm down! You don’t need to be a hamster on the wheel of capitalism every moment!  

Having said all that, I realize that there are those of us that have no place to warm themselves and cozy into the night with a calming cup of tea! My heart breaks that in the richest country in the world we can’t seem to figure out how to shelter everyone. Gosh, it almost as if those in power couldn’t care less!  

If you can, rest at this time of year as much as possible. Spring will be here in its own good time!  Don’t let people shame you for being a homebody at this moment. That’s the purpose of winter! I promise you that you do not have a truck of any make or brand that can out whit a 1/4 inch of ice!! Stay home, be safe, rest!