"We are every day betrayed by the blank state of custom. The
commonplace accessories. .... weigh us down."
__ Llewelyn Powys, "Earth Memories"
As the dark November days draw in, our working lives begin similarly too draw close about us. The daily round begins to grind; the very position of a desk or a table, the same blank faces on the street, the systematic regularity become like the beat of a hammer, emphasizing how very dull and ordinary every day seems.
How do we keep our lives fresh and sparkling with energy when we hit the doldrums of the habitual and the familiar? If our daily surroundings and routine are beating out a rhythm so regular and unchanging that we are going to shoot the conductor soon, then it is time to introduce a new melody, a counterpoint to the rhythm. That does not mean that we stop our daily tasks, only that we begin to dance through them in a more conscious way.
When personal focus becomes one-eyed, it is always good to get another perspective, to invite a friend over, spring a change on our partner. If we are the routine-holders in our family, we have a special responsbility to ring the changes; without help, we can get into 'corporate' ruts so deep that we cannot leave them. If we live alone, we need to go out with friends, practice our special skills, find the deep nurture of the things we enjoy.
In nature, all life is stripping off its finery to reveal its essential bare self. If the surface of our life seems dull and unmoving, we have only to look deeper and find where our energy is tending. In what secret place is it biding to wake refreshed?
"What are your strategies for coping with the habitual? How can your own routines be enlivened?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
From Mara Freeman's "Kindling the Celtic Spirit" - the month of November - The Lamp of Memory
The dark days of November lead us deeper into the mysteries of Samhain, with All Saints' Day on November 1 and All Souls' Day on November 2, two Christian festivals that overlaid the earlier pagan festivals of the dead. In modern America we tend to regard death as something of an aberration, but our Celtic ancestors viewed life as a never-ending spiral of birth, death, and rebirth. They believed that after death the soul journeyed to the Summerlands beyond the western sea, where the grass was always green and fruit and flowers grew together. Feasting, hunting, music, love and joyous sporting contests went on forever; and if any were wounded or killed one day, they sprang back to life the next. In the Iron Age men and women of noble rank were buried with everything they were likely to need in the afterlife: drinking horns, cauldrons, jewelry, weapons, and even chariots. Because of their beliefs, they were fearless in the face of death, which they considered to be 'but the center of a long life.' In fact, it was not uncommon for a man to lend money and agree on repayment in his next lifetime.
A November morning on the threshold of winter
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