deeper listening, allowing things to come to light
photo from a recent road trip
We greeted a new year in the Gregorian calendar, though I am still deep in wintering mode. This is not to be framed as doing “nothing,” but as an active, albeit internal process of resting, reflecting, and regenerating that feels more in tune with earth’s seasonal shifts.
On the Winter Solstice, I engaged in a delightful and insightful conversation with Christine (also known as @cynicalpinay and Tall Child Studio). You can listen to a recording of it here. At the end of our chat, Christine pulled cards from the Spirit Speak Vessel Oracle Deck, leaving us with a few words to meditate on: begin, rest, healing, structure.
Since then, I have initiated a practice of deeper devotion to and trust in spirit; of ease to regulate my nervous system and to facilitate subconscious healing; and of greater attunement to the threads and frameworks that inform my art and care practices.
Artist, intuitive, writer, and educator Eliza Emerald Swann reminded me in a recent solstice reading that the sun’s light grows brighter on earth in the first half of the year, reaching its zenith by summertime.
Taking a cue from the solstice, I am trying to move at the pace at which the light grows. I am trying to allow things to become clear — to come to light — rather than forcing clarity through will and intellect alone.
In various moments throughout the last year, I was experiencing much noise and distraction. It was becoming increasingly challenging to hear, let alone trust, my own voice. When I could no longer ignore this tension, an inner wisdom asked me to pause and listen. To allow the dissonance to become clear. To allow things to reach my awareness. After all, we can only shift what we are aware of.
Camellia japonica shrub
This listening practice inspired me to take an indefinite break from social media, which had become a major source of distraction, confusion, and insecurity for me. On the first day of this interlude (the day after the solstice), a few questions clearly emerged in my mind, revealing deeper stories for me to address — Who will I speak to? Who will hear me? Who will acknowledge me?
“God, the Beloved” was the resounding answer. And I knew this did not refer to a singular figure or entity, but a greater sense of interconnectedness and trust with which I had lost touch.
The fruits of my deep wintering have yet to be revealed, but when they are, I will be eager to share them with you. For now, I recognize the importance of the process itself. Let it also be known that while this work is internal, it is not meant to be shouldered alone.
I am here to support you through your own wintering process — to encourage deeper listening and attunement, to be a guide as you envision the shifts you seek, and to help you to remember so that you can move on. You can see my current offerings here.
Questions for your mind and imagination:
What do the words ‘begin, rest, healing, structure’ mean to you?
What are you allowing to come to light in the next six months? What things might you be prematurely forcing into focus?
Pause and listen. Where can you listen more deeply in your life? Where is there dissonance? Where is there harmony?
With gratitude,
Kristen
PS - What have you been listening to these days? What texts are speaking to your heart and stirring up your imagination?
I recently finished Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss (I look forward to sharing more about past life regression in the future) and am currently sinking into The Mysticism of Sound and Music: The Sufi Teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan. Inayat Khan writes that “Music is behind the working of the whole universe.” As someone who also sings and creates music, his ideas resonate deeply with my heart and offer me another framework through which to experience the world around me.
I feel inspired to share a sweet song of devotion and classic lovers' rock track that I've had on repeat lately. Listen here.
~
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