The middle days, the full moon, and a space to dream ๐
A Deep December. Mini-letter #12
Hi! Iโm Liz and I write seasonal letters for those of us who long to live a slow life in rhythm with nature. Thanks for stopping by! All posts are always free. Subscribe + join the Wild Soul Collective. I would love to have you here. โโโฝ
Hello, my friend. And Happy Mellandagarna!
Before I explain what mellandagarna means for those of you who donโt know, letโs start with todayโs card. Yet another repeat! This one I had just 4 days ago. The universe, my soul, spirit, whatever has very clear and definite message for me during this Deep December. However, Iโm not going to go deep into this card in this post, but as you read on, I hope that you will see its meaning unfold in what I write below.
Well, here we are. Christmas Day has come and gone. We have celebrated the solstice and the shifting of the seasons. There are just a few days left in 2023. And we are now in those days that Swedes call โ mellandagarnaโ, the middle days.
How are you feeling? How are these potentially intense holiday events and moments treating you?
In years past, most years past, if I am truly honest, I have always felt a sense of disappointment and sadness when Christmas Day has passed. Oh, Christmas was often very good and tons of fun, and I found myself often thinking that it was a whole year before this season would come around again. Even though there had been so much happening, so much fun, so many activities and traditions, I often felt that there was so much that I hadnโt done or enjoyed or celebrated. And, come the 26th, I felt some sense of emptiness.
Lately, though, in the past couple of years, especially this one, I only feel a sense of peace. No sadness. No disappointment. No emptiness, even if I feel the deep loss of my father. I think that the shift occurred when I literally started living a much slower, rhythmic life. I settled into a rhythm of marking the days as they came, and not making each event into something that is only one day. Instead, just as seasons come and go and unfold, these holy and sacred days that I celebrate have also become seasons to me.
So, yes, the solstice is a specific event at a specific time, but it is also the season of yule, which stretches out for some days and weeks. Christmas is the same. There are traditions and activities that often take place on the 24th and the 25th, but Christmas is also traditionally a season, reaching well into the new year. Living in rhythm with nature and the seasons has taught me to let the holidays, the sacred days, and the festivals unfold before, during, and after the specific day. So, life, for me, has become a slow, unfolding cycle of celebrating and marking all of the rhythms of change and growth all year long.
Ok, back to these middle days, mellandagarna, and how they fit into the rhythm of the year.
The middle days are mystical, liminal, often forgotten days that are part of my Yule and Christmas and New Yearโs celebrations. If there were ever days for retreating, hibernating, and nesting, these are those.
Some time back in the 1800s, Swedes began using the term โthe middle daysโ to refer to the days between Christmas and New Yearโs Eve.
These are days where there are no real traditions, no plans, no special responsibilities or expectations. They are literally a time for slowing down and taking things are they come, until everyday life begins again in the beginning of January. But, mind you, these middle days are not just mundane, ordinary days.
Since moving to Sweden, I have wholeheartedly embraced the idea of โmellandagarnaโ. To me, they are significantly spiritual days. From the 26th-30th, before one year ends and another begins, I float in the energy of these very unusual days. I find space, even if I continue festivities and celebrations all through the New Year, to hibernate, read, write, rest, and just have some empty, unplanned space all around me. Itโs as if everything is in suspended animation, or that there is no gravity holding me down. These days feel light, mysterious, magical, quiet, and special. There is no other time of the year quite like it.
I feel like the middle days are the epitome of living in the present moment. I go deep into my journal, my mind, my soul, and my heart during these days. This is when I reflect on the year that is ending and gather up all that I have learned and lost. And, after that, I open up the blank pages of my journal and begin to dream and scribble and let my thoughts just flow as I prepare for the new year. However, I make no plans, nor do I make any decisions. I just allow visions and ideas to come as they may. I let inspiration come to me - from books, nature, ancestor wisdom, my own soul.
There is no rush. No hurry. Just suspended, liminal time.
As if these middle days were not magical enough, tonight is this yearโs last full moon. Known as the Cold Moon by natives and the Long Night Moon by many pagans (as far as I can tell based on what Iโve read), it is the first moon after the winter solstice and hangs over our winter landscapes inviting us out into the dark, cold winter night to breathe in the crisp, fresh air of the season.
But, I believe it is also an invitation to also come in out from the cold. We are still deep in the darkest days of the year. Winter wisdom calls us inward, into our homes, but also into our souls. Tonightโs full moon invites us to light candles and fires, to warm ourselves under blankets, and to just let the magic of the middle days swirl all around us.
Perhaps, if we slow down and celebrate Yule, Christmas, and this winter season over the coming days and weeks, we will feel ready to emerge from our own inner sweat lodge when the time comes. And, then, I am certain we will be filled with a new vision, a new purpose, and deeper, stronger roots than ever before.
Merry magical middle days, love.
xoxo. liz.
Gorgeous liminal light over the city. Thanks for sharing your images and words๐
Just the words I needed tonight. Thank you ๐๐ป