Really warm and comforting writing, Lyndsay. I am glad there are people like you, that can put into words, what some of us are feeling and make us feel part of something bigger than ourselves.
Thank you so much Rich, that means a lot. I am so glad that you were able to see some of your own feelings in the words that came to me. And yes, I loved learning more about the history of some winter traditions that tell of our universal need to live inwardly at this time xx
Could not have had a more beautiful and poignant read to kick start my love affair with Substack again after a much needed break over Christmas. Thank you Lyndsay. Mess births beauty is my motto for January 💫
Ah welcome back Lisa, I hope you had a lovely break. I feel honoured that I was your first read back and I am so happy it felt like a gentle return. I love that you have a phrase for January (do you have one for each month?) and yesss to embracing all of the messiness, I absolutely agree that beauty is to be unearthed there xx
Aww thank you sooo much for the mention, I hope the 12 sacred nights bring you moments of inspiration for dreaming the year ahead! Even if it’s just the minute after waking where you puzzle together what your subconscious sent you in the early morning hours. It’s beautiful to read your words and I am totally with you, it’s not the quiet introspective season as it used to be prior kids 😂 but the nights are magical nonetheless
Thank YOU Laura for bringing the 12 sacred nights to my attention! It is a totally beautiful practice and I am grateful for your guidance. Yes those liminal days have a different magic these days, softening to it all as much as possible and trusting that there is a time for everything (just not all at once!) love to you xx
I particularly liked how I arrived within myself during these nights. The new year wishes are as meaningless as a polite hello how are you greeting. I am not annoyed at them either, I actually can enjoy them for the exchange of loveliness and well meant wishes they are. But all external pressure and self imposed expectations are finally gone. I am just grateful to take midwinter as it is, with all its human shiny ness and glitter, stormy darkness and ordinary family moments continuing
I love that and yes to letting go off all external pressure and expectations to make changes when we are still in hibernation mode. For sure, the more I soften into winter in all its darkness and beauty, the less harsh and more easeful it becomes xx
I like your willingness to let it be, to drink in the seasonal joy, and rest in the warmth of home. All good wishes for 2024. I look forward to reading more of your posts.
Ah thank you for reading Yasmin, I appreciate your words. The more I soften into what the season holds, the more easeful it seems to be. Wishing you a year of good things ahead and look forward to speaking more about place and writing! xx
I just found you via a Substack Love post from Claire Venus and Kat River and just wanted to say how beautiful your writing is. This post perfectly sums up how I feel in January and how, despite the mess I'm reluctant to clear away the remnants of Yuletide.
Ah hello Louise, thank you so much for being here and reading these words, it means a lot. I’m glad my January pondering resonates with you...it always seems so sudden when January comes around and our mindset and way of being is often expected to shift entirely (whilst it is still cold and dark!) here’s to cocooning and holding onto the festive remnants! xx
How have I missed subscribing to your letters, Lyndsay?! This was so beautifully written and I felt such warmth and gentleness with every word. Exactly as this season should be. Here’s to continuing to bask in the soft moments of winter. ❤️
Ah welcome Liz, thank you for reading and for being here. I am so glad you sensed warmth and gentleness, exactly what I would wish you this season. Ah yes to finding the softness in winter, here with you xx
Ah thank you Eva, it is so good to have you back. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas break and thank you for all of the beauty you brought here in your festive letters xx
This is so beautiful, and the poem is stunning. I am feeling both... blank page and excitement for new visions and also the need to stay slow and gentle and cocoon. I’m trying to hold both at once and be ok with that!!!! I definitely feel that January is for dreaming... I have to walk tentatively on the edge of those dreams without diving fully in... yet! Xx
Thank you for making this very good point that of course, both can exist at the same time. That feels like an epiphany to me! And I love the idea of walking on the edge of dreams this month. You are a brilliant example of doing just that with the gentle introduction of new visions xx
As always your writing brings up such beautiful and warm feelings for me. So much magic there describing experience. Your work here is a joy to me Lyndsay!
Thank you for the invitation to slow down and dream more! I had the same need to send out this invitation when I write my latest post 2 days ago in case it resonates with others and seeing how many others feel similarly is so nourishing in the “new year new me” time...
Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined to find wonderful human beings talk about Rauhnächte online.
I naively thought, for 31 years, that it’s just what we mountain people in the Alpine region do (and in recent years also others in other regions) 🥰 and today I learned that there are so many different versions of this in multiple countries. our ancestors had similar needs and rituals, and I love the knowledge has spread far and wide.
It’s such a special time and I love the invitation to dream, do my own rituals and even as a little kids we were involved in rituals already. Special memories to see my mum journal, reflect, be intentional about tasks, house work like not doing laundry until after the 6th etc ❤️
Beyond a pleasure Carmen. Ah that’s so wonderful that you felt so similarly (I have your post bookmarked to read) and yes it feels good to lean into winter without asking too much of ourselves.
I LOVE hearing your experience of Rauhnächte, it has been such a privilege to learn about this beautiful tradition and I also love the similarities and differences with winter rituals in other cultures, it really shows our universal recognition of the magic and a need to honour this time. I also love hearing that the tradition is handed right down the family with children a part of it and thank you for sharing memories of your mum’s rituals too, so very special xx
YES to THIS! “Giuli was a two-month span that marked the time when sunlight began to increase again at the winter solstice (though I feel that it can often feel darker at this time of year before it begins to feel lighter) — it was not a festival as such but a marking of the passage of time.” Also love your description of candles - HNY my love x
Oh thank you so much for reading Luisa, so glad you enjoyed the seasonal remnants and are feeling deep into your cocoon. I know what you mean about being pulled away/off centre and the need to remind ourselves regularly. We have plenty of time xx
Really warm and comforting writing, Lyndsay. I am glad there are people like you, that can put into words, what some of us are feeling and make us feel part of something bigger than ourselves.
Thank you so much Rich, that means a lot. I am so glad that you were able to see some of your own feelings in the words that came to me. And yes, I loved learning more about the history of some winter traditions that tell of our universal need to live inwardly at this time xx
Could not have had a more beautiful and poignant read to kick start my love affair with Substack again after a much needed break over Christmas. Thank you Lyndsay. Mess births beauty is my motto for January 💫
Ah welcome back Lisa, I hope you had a lovely break. I feel honoured that I was your first read back and I am so happy it felt like a gentle return. I love that you have a phrase for January (do you have one for each month?) and yesss to embracing all of the messiness, I absolutely agree that beauty is to be unearthed there xx
Aww thank you sooo much for the mention, I hope the 12 sacred nights bring you moments of inspiration for dreaming the year ahead! Even if it’s just the minute after waking where you puzzle together what your subconscious sent you in the early morning hours. It’s beautiful to read your words and I am totally with you, it’s not the quiet introspective season as it used to be prior kids 😂 but the nights are magical nonetheless
Thank YOU Laura for bringing the 12 sacred nights to my attention! It is a totally beautiful practice and I am grateful for your guidance. Yes those liminal days have a different magic these days, softening to it all as much as possible and trusting that there is a time for everything (just not all at once!) love to you xx
I particularly liked how I arrived within myself during these nights. The new year wishes are as meaningless as a polite hello how are you greeting. I am not annoyed at them either, I actually can enjoy them for the exchange of loveliness and well meant wishes they are. But all external pressure and self imposed expectations are finally gone. I am just grateful to take midwinter as it is, with all its human shiny ness and glitter, stormy darkness and ordinary family moments continuing
I love that and yes to letting go off all external pressure and expectations to make changes when we are still in hibernation mode. For sure, the more I soften into winter in all its darkness and beauty, the less harsh and more easeful it becomes xx
Yesss the need to escape it falls away, and beauty remains 🤗
I like your willingness to let it be, to drink in the seasonal joy, and rest in the warmth of home. All good wishes for 2024. I look forward to reading more of your posts.
Ah thank you for reading Yasmin, I appreciate your words. The more I soften into what the season holds, the more easeful it seems to be. Wishing you a year of good things ahead and look forward to speaking more about place and writing! xx
I just found you via a Substack Love post from Claire Venus and Kat River and just wanted to say how beautiful your writing is. This post perfectly sums up how I feel in January and how, despite the mess I'm reluctant to clear away the remnants of Yuletide.
Ah hello Louise, thank you so much for being here and reading these words, it means a lot. I’m glad my January pondering resonates with you...it always seems so sudden when January comes around and our mindset and way of being is often expected to shift entirely (whilst it is still cold and dark!) here’s to cocooning and holding onto the festive remnants! xx
How have I missed subscribing to your letters, Lyndsay?! This was so beautifully written and I felt such warmth and gentleness with every word. Exactly as this season should be. Here’s to continuing to bask in the soft moments of winter. ❤️
Ah welcome Liz, thank you for reading and for being here. I am so glad you sensed warmth and gentleness, exactly what I would wish you this season. Ah yes to finding the softness in winter, here with you xx
Feeling all of this so deeply Lyndsay! I'm thankful this was the first letter I read on here after returning from my break.
Ah thank you Eva, it is so good to have you back. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas break and thank you for all of the beauty you brought here in your festive letters xx
This is so beautiful, and the poem is stunning. I am feeling both... blank page and excitement for new visions and also the need to stay slow and gentle and cocoon. I’m trying to hold both at once and be ok with that!!!! I definitely feel that January is for dreaming... I have to walk tentatively on the edge of those dreams without diving fully in... yet! Xx
Thank you for making this very good point that of course, both can exist at the same time. That feels like an epiphany to me! And I love the idea of walking on the edge of dreams this month. You are a brilliant example of doing just that with the gentle introduction of new visions xx
As always your writing brings up such beautiful and warm feelings for me. So much magic there describing experience. Your work here is a joy to me Lyndsay!
Ah Emily, reading that brings me beautiful and warm feeling! Very much here for the joy, it really means A LOT to hear that, thank you xx
Thank you for the invitation to slow down and dream more! I had the same need to send out this invitation when I write my latest post 2 days ago in case it resonates with others and seeing how many others feel similarly is so nourishing in the “new year new me” time...
Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined to find wonderful human beings talk about Rauhnächte online.
I naively thought, for 31 years, that it’s just what we mountain people in the Alpine region do (and in recent years also others in other regions) 🥰 and today I learned that there are so many different versions of this in multiple countries. our ancestors had similar needs and rituals, and I love the knowledge has spread far and wide.
It’s such a special time and I love the invitation to dream, do my own rituals and even as a little kids we were involved in rituals already. Special memories to see my mum journal, reflect, be intentional about tasks, house work like not doing laundry until after the 6th etc ❤️
Beyond a pleasure Carmen. Ah that’s so wonderful that you felt so similarly (I have your post bookmarked to read) and yes it feels good to lean into winter without asking too much of ourselves.
I LOVE hearing your experience of Rauhnächte, it has been such a privilege to learn about this beautiful tradition and I also love the similarities and differences with winter rituals in other cultures, it really shows our universal recognition of the magic and a need to honour this time. I also love hearing that the tradition is handed right down the family with children a part of it and thank you for sharing memories of your mum’s rituals too, so very special xx
YES to THIS! “Giuli was a two-month span that marked the time when sunlight began to increase again at the winter solstice (though I feel that it can often feel darker at this time of year before it begins to feel lighter) — it was not a festival as such but a marking of the passage of time.” Also love your description of candles - HNY my love x
Yes love the idea that December and January were one and a continuation of each other. Ah yes, the Noël candle is divine. New year love to you xx
Oh thank you so much for reading Luisa, so glad you enjoyed the seasonal remnants and are feeling deep into your cocoon. I know what you mean about being pulled away/off centre and the need to remind ourselves regularly. We have plenty of time xx