Winter’s hunger, wolf energy, and the first full moon of 2024🐺

Why I am tapping into my wild intuition for the last few days of January

The sunset embers smolder low,
The Moon climbs o’er the hill, 
The peaks have caught the alpenglow,
The robin’s song is still.
–John L. Stoddard (1850–1931)

Hi! I’m Liz and welcome to the Wild Soul Collective! I want to say a special hello to all of you new souls who found your way here after my latest post. I am so moved and touched that you are here. 🫶🏻

I write seasonal letters and record a monthly podcast for those of us who long to live a slow life in rhythm with nature. All letters are always free for everyone. If You haven’t yet, please subscribe + join. We would love to have you here. ❍↟☽

Hello, you.

It’s a blustery, frosty winter’s night. I’m home alone. Candles are flickering, warming my room with their heat and soft glow. I’m sipping on red wine. And my January soundtrack is playing in the background.

Tonight is the first full moon of 2024. And it feels like a very wild and powerful moon to me. So, I wanted to get cozy, spend some time dropping into the energy of this night, and share with you everything I’m thinking about and how this moon just might set the stage for the rest of this year.

The January full moon falls right in the middle of winter and is often known as the Wolf Moon. It has long been thought that the howls of the wolves are heard more often this time of year. And, if I am quiet and still on a dark, cold, January night, I can almost hear the long, melancholic, eerie cries of the wolf off in the distance. Alone at night, on a rock or a hilltop, silhouetted by the full moon, head pointed up towards the sky, howling long and deep. Calling out to the wild.

Often it is assumed that the wolves are howling in January because they are hungry. Winter has dragged on and food has become scarce. But, wolves also howl to mark their territory and communicate with each other as well. Whatever reason the reason for the howling, these powerful, intuitive, fierce animals are the perfect archetype for this time of year.

Even if the snow is beautiful (if you have snow) at this time of the year, I dare say that we all are a bit tired of winter now. The dark, frigid nights. The short, cold days. Like the wolves, we hunger for something. A shift. A change. A tiny reminder of the coming spring. Some of us stand with our face to the sky and howl at the moon calling out for what we need to make it through, while others of us silently hunger and yearn for the long winter to come to an end. But, whether we have thought about it or not, we all have wolf energy in us right now. And it is exactly what we need to help us through the rest of winter and to guide us as 2024 slowly unfolds.

Because we still have some winter left. Quite a bit, to be honest. Here in Sweden, it will be months before the weather warms and spring arrives. But, a change is on the way. In fact, tiny changes are occurring every day. And the seasons are slowly, slowly unfolding.

The wolves are out at this time of year, howling and communicating with each other what they need. They are strong and adaptive, doing all that they can to care for themselves and their pack. They know what they need and they call out to each other, ready to fight for what they need, ready to endure whatever it takes, relying on their wild, intuitive nature to get them through the last weeks of winter that lie ahead.

I believe that this is exactly what this full wolf moon invites us to do too.

Since the nights are still long and dark, and since we find ourselves still inside and at home, winter invites us to stay committed to this season of coziness just a little while longer. If we can muster up the courage and determination to follow the rhythms of nature, then we can use these last weeks of winter for deep introspection and self-reflection.

This is the time to continue to consider what we need in order to create and live the life that we feel called to live in 2024. This is the time to still dream and ponder and plan for whatever visions and hopes we have for this year. What is missing? What do we want? What is our own personal truth? Who are we and who do we want to be?

This is the time to gather our own wild, wolf energy and dare to be brave enough to follow our intuition and make our own path ahead.

But, just like the wolf, this is not a solo journey. As winter begins to come to a close in a few weeks, we will be called from the warm, inner sanctuaries of our homes and back out into the world. Soon, it will be time to leave behind the deep, inward season and begin to slowly wake and rise to the bright, active, wild of the year. We will soon be called out of our caves and back into our tribes, our communities, our own wolf packs. So, during these last long nights of winter, when we howl and hunger for something new, we are also deciding who we want to be and how we want to show up in the world and in our communities.

We are close to then end of this month now. And only one week away from the festival of Imbolc and a shift on the wheel of the year. The energy will change, and the journey of emerging from winter will quietly, slowly begin.

I think that the full wolf moon calls to us to use these last few days of deep midwinter to get ready to return. For tonight, though, the only thing to do is to embrace our wild, intuitive nature. To tap into the courage and strength and bravery that calls us to stand alone, high on a hilltop, face turned upward toward the full moon, and howl out to the world who we are.

The dreams and wisdom and magic of deep winter have changed us. We are more wolf than ever. And it’s almost time to take a stand and release our wildest, highest selves out into the world. We have so much to offer to our families, communities, and the world this year.

Owwwwww! Blessed full moon, wild one. xoxo. liz.

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