Hello, dear friend.
I love the song Auld Lang Syne. It captures the mood that I always feel during those days that stretch from Christmas into the beginning of the new year. Nostalgic. Romantic. Reflective. Grateful. And, if there is ever a week to feel all of those things, then it is this week.
So, here we are. At the end of 2024. Another year has gone and we begin to turn our thoughts and attention to the new year that is before us, open and blank like the crisp, clean pages of a new journal. That fresh new journal, with empty pages just waiting to be filled with memories and thoughts and reflections, can feel exciting as it lays before us, ready for us to create and document our days. Or, it can feel daunting and frightening, as we wonder what those days will bring and what stories of both love and heartache we will write.
However we may feel, though, it’s not quite time to open that new journal yet. Now is the time to close out the last few lines of the current journal we have been writing in for the past year. Now is the time to draw in one last long, deep breath… and slowly, slowly, slowly release 2024.
A year of change and celebration
For me, this year has been transitional. Threshold-y even. I passed through a magical gate as I turned 50, and I now find myself feeling as if I’ve been reborn. Liz - part 2. The gateway into a new era, the era of the witch I like to call it. An era that has led me back to my roots in Scotland, which then mystically gave me inspiration for my way forward.
During this past year, my wife and I decided to spend all year long celebrating our milestone birthdays (she turned 40). We had a few intimate parties with family and friends; and also took birthday trips to Italy and Scotland. Plus, during the summer we visited Stockholm and Copenhagen - two of our favorite cities. And, just returned from a short stay in Stockholm this past week to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. It has been a whirlwind year of joy and festivities.
I also set some pretty strong boundaries in my life, which has changed my entire relationship with my family. A very tough and frightening, yet necessary, thing for me to do (people-pleaser and peacemaker that I am). But, it has already begun to bear fruit. And hopefully my clear boundaries will continue to transform my relationships with my family in the future so that they are more supportive and healthy.
I love fresh starts. And beginnings. And, honestly, I have had a tendency to get so excited about the new year that I want to simply get on with it. Turn the page. And move on.
Even thought I love fresh starts and new beginnings (and even endings), part of me hesitates to move into a new year. I’m not sure if it’s age or wisdom or cynicism, but it’a probably a bit of all three. Life has been so good to me, keeping me quite shielded and innocent for many years. (One could argue, that I kept myself shielded and innocent in some way). But, just each of us experience, life delivers twists and turns and loss and grief at one time or another. Mine seem to have come in the past five years. Or maybe I was just open to really feel and dwell in the gray spaces of life longer.
In any case, I approach the new year now with a bit of trepidation, worry, and uncertainty. At the same time, I am still giddily excited, and welcome with open arms the possibilities and experiences and memories that will be made. Endings and beginnings are the rhythms of life, though. And that is the most beautiful and natural thing I know.
The mystical middle days
But, this letter to you isn’t about the year to come. Nor is it about the year that has passed. This moment with you is meant to be shared in these quiet, threshold middle days that carry us gently from one year to the next.
Thank you for indulging me in my short look back and glimpse forward, though.
What I really want to focus on is right now. The rhythms and energy that emerge during the days between the holidays of light (winter solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah to name a few) and the end of the Yuletide season (usually on Epiphany on January 6, when the wise men arrived at the manger scene; or in the end of January just before Imbolc on February 1). But, I really want to zoom in on this week, the week that is the threshold that carries us from one calendar year into the next.
This is a sweet, gentle, soft time of the year. Even the crossing over into a new year is a gentle, soft moment of magic. Perhaps when we tend to get wrapped up in the flashy celebration of it all, we miss the quiet moment when one year slips into another. It’s easy to do. But, this year I am focused on simplicity. I will be spending a very calm, slow New Year’s Eve at home with my love. Just the two of us, letting go of this most amazing and transitional year together; and stepping gently into a new year, with big plans and hopes for our life, both as together and as individuals.
But, still, this moment with you is meant as a chance to slow down and take in all that is around us right now. It is a reminder for me, and for you perhaps, to settle into my nest. To create a cozy, warm nook over the next week (or even month) where I can snuggle in for my winter’s rest.
Romanticizing life
I’ve often thought that the dream is to be in a cabin out in the woods, snow all around. Everything would be cozy and amazing. It would be the perfect setting to hunker down and hibernate and write and rest all winter long.
But, I’ve lived in that cabin in the woods before. And, turns out, it’s not really about the place. Sure, the setting on the side of a mountain in rugged North Carolina was dreamy and beautiful. But, it’s more about the mindset, the daily rhythms, the rituals, the practices, the moments that make up my days and nights. It’s about romanticizing every little thing in my life. And, to be honest, I’d say that my life on the top floor of my urban apartment building downtown is much more romantic and cozy than my life 20 years ago in that cabin in the woods.
The Black Moon
This time of year invites and beckons us to spend some time in solitude. Remembering and dreaming. Following the rhythms of nature by slowing way down, sleeping more, keeping warm, listening and feeling.
Amazingly, nature and the cosmos are in perfect sync right now as December’s second new moon hangs over us tonight and tomorrow. The perfect symbol of endings and beginnings. One moon phase comes to a close and a new one begins in the deep dark night of a new moon.
Two moons in one month are very rare and the second new moon is called a Black Moon. I like to think that it means that it is extra dark, that there is extra magic, and that it a very special sign marking this as a deeply meaningful new moon. Which, of course it is, as it comes right at the end of one year and the beginning of another.
So, if you are waiting for a sign, this is it. All of the earth and the cosmos are speaking to you and to me. Drawing us down and inward into the quiet, dark spaces of winter. Inviting us to create our own soft, warm, cozy nests of blankets and firelight. Giving us an atmosphere perfect for reflecting, remembering, and resting; and the silent, still, liminal space for discovering the whispers of our soul, the nudges of wisdom that tell us how to move forward, and the dreams and intentions that we will carry with us into the new year.
For auld lang syne
And so, for the sake of old times, “for auld lang syne”, my dear. Let us settle our souls and remember the days and months that have passed. Let us quiet all thoughts and worries for the future as much as we can, and turn our focus way down deep into the spaces that hold our secret dreams and wishes. Let us listen and write. Let us dream and ponder. But, more than anything, let’s just rest for a while. Linger in the moment, allow the darkness to soften our souls, as the days melt into one another during this most magical, liminal time.
Now is the time to just be.
New Year’s blessings to you. xoxo. liz.
A note about WSC in 2025 ✍️
First, I want to say a warm welcome to you who are new to my little Collective in the past month. 👋 Throughout December (and 2024 for that matter), many of your have found your way here and I am grateful beyond words that you have opened up your inbox to receive these little letters and notes from me. It is a privilege to be able to write and to know that you not only receive, but read, my thoughts and reflections as we move through the year together. You make my year, and each season, brighter and more meaningful simply by your presence. So, as this year comes to a close, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, my friend.
As for the Wild Soul Collective in the new year, I do not have plans to make any big changes here. A few design and copy updates, but that’s about it. I’ll still be sending letters focused on the energy (but starting in the next letter I will be calling it rhythms) of the season, either monthly or weekly. TBD. 😉
I also want to thank each of you who voted in the poll in last week’s letter. 🫶 It was pretty clear to me what to focus on and how most of you receive these letters. I am so grateful for such a clear answer to my questions - it’s always so hard when polls end up tied or close. Thank you!
☀️ Sunrise/sunset times in Norrköping, Sweden (4th week of December)
30 December - 8:45 sunrise / 15:10 sunset
🌙 Sacred Days + Folk Festivals this week
31 December - New Year’s Eve, Hogmanay (Scotland)
In Scotland, immediately after midnight it is traditional to sing Robert Burns’ Auld Lang Syne”— I found out as I wrote this letter to you that this song is Scottish. Who knew?! And, of course it is. Especially after this year as my ancestral Scotland has been such a magical, deep focus for me this year.
“Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syne
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup o kindness yet, for auld lang syne.”
01 January - New Year’s Day
05 January - Twelfth Night
🎵 The playlist
Cozy music for a few slow, quiet, mindful days as we move through the 12 days of Christmas and cross over into the new year.
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