In the Medicine Wheel of the Native American tradition, Winter is the direction of North, which represents elders, wisdom, the intellect, insight, and solitude and the completion of cycles.
Sometimes we think of winter as the completion of a cycle. But is it? Athough it looks like nature slows down and stops, it doesn’t. Under the cover of leaves and snow, seeds are preparing to sprout. Buds begin to form on trees. Deep inside the earth excitement is building, excitement of the coming rebirth. That image of dying is just an illusion.
The process of dying is also a rebirth, and a glimpse into a world we, who are on this side of it, can only glimpse at. So it is with nature. Even as one cycle of nature ends, the next cycle is beginning. Magic is underway. This is why Winter is about wisdom, insights and solitude. It makes us think and contemplate. Is Winter the end of the cycle, or is it the beginning? Or are the two so irrevocably intertwined they are the same? In endings, there is also rebirth and beginnings. With each beginning, the ending is inevitable. Perhaps the lesson of Winter is really about the certainty of change. That there is no beginning or ending to life, but a constant change of form.
© Copyright 2007-11 Deborah Redfern. All rights reserved.
Tags: Deborah Redfern, Medicine Wheel, native american tradition, North, solstice
