The New Year & Winter
The New Year & Winter
What does it mean to celebrate a New Year in the middle of winter? If we learn from nature, then for those of us in winter it means to review, retreat, and release.
It’s the first day of the first month of the year. If you follow the Gregorian calendar then this is also the New Year. So welcome 2024!
With the New Year comes a slew of expectations thrown at us by society in various forms.
Cue the New Year - New YOU mantras and affirmations with their accompanying choice of activities, including but not limited to:
resolution posts
vision boards
bullet journals/calendars
fitness goals and workout plans. 6 weeks till that beach body is YOURS!,
coaching programs that promise you a new life, passive income, financial freedom…
Although meant to change and transform you, these messages are really about conforming to a new way of being that everyone else is also expected to do/be.
Here’s the thing, this ritual only makes sense if we use the logic and sensibilities of racial capitalism to guide our understanding of time and timing of life.
Why do I say this? Well, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere we are in the dead of winter - starting officially with the Winter Solstice December 21st that also welcomes in the start of Capricorn season (for western tropical astrology).
A cardinal Earth sign ruled by Saturn, Capricorn initiates the winter for use in the North and reminds us of that the earth goes through cycles of its own. This is reflected in nature with the days steadily growing shorter as the leaves on the trees dropped and the birds formed their migration parties, making their voyage to warmer climates.
This is a time of reflection, retreat, and review. The cycle of life that requires release and decay so that new life emerge once Spring comes again. It is a reminder that from death comes life.
Right now there is much to review and reflect upon. The ability to “not know” is no more in the age of constant information and technological “advancements” that keep us more and more connected, while also separate.
All that “knowing” is overwhelming, especially as there is a lack of training around HOW to engage with and discern the constant barrage of information we are fed on a 24/7 cycle. As Pluto enters Aquarius later in January for a 20 year stint, this use of information and technology by various structures of power will only become more prevalent.
Right now, embracing the power of retreat and reflection is necessary, vital really, in these times and this again is what nature is showing us. As the Northern Hemisphere retreats the Southern Hemisphere becomes more alive as summer is upon them - the balance and duality of nature is literally embedded within and illustrated by Mother Earth.
Will we take her lessons and begin to put them into practice?
To feel pressured to create lists of resolutions that require you to start new habits, goals, pursuits with no embedded time to reflect and release so there is SPACE (mentally, physically, spiritually) for these endeavors will lead to disappointment.
And it keeps you in a state of doing instead of being. Always in a future or past state and never in the present. Never content with who you are in the present, so always resolving to be/look “better” than the year before.
This distorts our sense of time and the timing of life. Constant growth, improvement, striving for what you do not have means we do not have a great relationship with aging, our bodies, and knowing the ways our bodies and minds change over time.
It is the way capitalism infiltrates our understanding of what it means to be human by having us reduce ourselves down to machine like expectations.
Right now we need presence. To be present, in your body and reality, is necessary to get to YOUR sense of knowing and belief. Not just regurgitating what you have been conditioned/told to believe. This is one of the lessons of Jupiter in Taurus who has just gone direct after a few months retrograde in the sign that rules our material reality.
To be present requires one to be in their body. The body needs space to be present in. This is why we release, we purge, we let things go as part of the cycle of life. In the winter things need to hibernate, rest, retreat - die. And from these deaths comes new life in the Spring.
So this is a time of grieving - processing the grief many have bottled up from months - years - decades - centuries of unacknowledged death and loss. This is a time of facing that grief and allowing it to speak to us. And there is much to grieve, much to still face and embrace as personal truth(s) push up against constructed narratives by various structures of power as we witness more and more people perish due to state sanctioned violence.
There is much to grieve, and we must make and TAKE the space to do THAT necessary work of winter. When we take wintering seriously, we take our humanity seriously as we are allowing ourselves to be human.
This is why I celebrate the beginning of the year with the Spring Equinox, calling in a new year of planting - sowing - harvesting - reaping. And I honor this time of year as a reminder of my humanity. A reminder that I cannot keep going, that I too need rest and reflection as a way to come back to my knowing.
And what I know is that this is not the only way to live. I know that we must allow ourselves to grieve what was so that we can dream of what can truly be. I know we must allow ourselves to feel, to get to know our emotions so we can work with them as that is where we find authentic love. I know we have the power to remake our futures when we realize the power that comes from sitting in our humanity.
But, do we remember what it means to be human?
Astrology Readings and Other Offerings!
Thanks for taking the time to read my newsletter! Please see my offerings and ways to work with me below.
My name is Dr. Nicole Truesdell and I am an innovative Independent Organizational and Educational Consultant, Executive Coach, Astrologer, and the Founder of Abolitionist Dreamscapes, an imaginative and creative space to explore our humanity outside socio-political identities.
My books are open for astrology readings and you can now book and pay directly online! I open a limited number of spots each month so if you do not see availability please check back in a couple of weeks.
I am also taking on new clients for the winter and spring for both coaching and consulting. All coaching options can also be considered professional development!
Please consider joining my Patreon for more - I go more into concepts there along with providing reflections and space for community gathering. It is a small but growing space, and I invite you to grow it with me.
For more of my thoughts on abolition, life, and what it means to be human as I navigate being a 40-something ex-academic starting my life over check out my Podcast “Abolitionist Dreamscapes” where I talk about these issues and more. I wrapped up Season 1 and will coming back at the end of January with Season 2, focusing on Rootwork, the ancestors, and dreaming of new ways to live.
I am looking for partners and sponsors for my work. And my calendar is open next year for speaking engagements, facilitations, and trainings. If you are interested in working with or booking me please send an inquiry here.
Finally, I am a Black queer independent scholar and businesswoman. If you want to support my work, I have a FREE Guerrilla Resource Library along with providing teachings in the public on platforms like YouTube, Tik Tok and IG, I accepted donations via Cashapp ($drnicoletruesdell), Venmo (drnicoletruesdell), Paypal and Zelle (drnicoletruesdell@gmail.com).