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Shadows on Groundhog Day
The month of February starts with a quarter day festival that in Celtic times was called Imbolc (the womb of Mother Earth), or Oimelc, which means “Ewe’s (lamb’s) milk.” This typically happened around January 31 to February 1 or 2, and in temperate zones was considered to be the first sign of spring. This in spite of the chill that typically lingered in the air for some time after the festivals that honored this period took place. Yet another festival that takes place on Feb 2, one that is likely to be more familiar at least to those of us in Canada and the U.S. is, of course, GROUNDHOG DAY! Perhaps it has become even more widely known since the movie of the same name with Bill Murray, a classic I’ve watched at least four times.
Anyway, as for this non-holiday holiday, I commented on it in Sacred Ceremony:
We look for the groundhog about this time of year to come out of hibernation, and as the story goes, if he sees his shadow, then we’ll have six more weeks of winter. We also begin to come out of hibernation, though tentatively at first, looking for signs of renewed life as well as the evidence that winter’s breath is still upon us. If we see our own “shadow”, it may require us to examine and clear any fears of moving forward into the growing light of day.
So this is an exceptional time to see if you observe your “shadow” as you come out of the relative hibernation of winter. Over winter, what creative process has been gestating in the darkness that is now beginning to emerge to be seen? What aspects of your own personality and character, pleasing or not, are being revealed to you as the light of day increases? When any of these shadow elements, whether light or dark, reveal themselves, do you scurry back into hiding, for either type can be scary? Or do you welcome these aspects so they can be witnessed and healed by your acknowledging and accepting them? Are you willing to continue nurturing the manifestation of your creativity that is showing itself more fully?
An aspect of the creative process that has been emerging for myself is the recording of some of my original songs at home. I’ve been learning a great deal about how to operate the Garage Band program on my Mac Powerbook, and as the darkness slowly recedes I see that I’ve come a long way in mastering this technical challenge with my relatively non-technical brain.
Another shadow that has appeared recently, one that I’ve welcomed, has to do with some goals that I wrote out shortly after the first of the year. Among the goals I wrote down includes that I will have published three books or related projects this coming year. After I wrote it, my first inclination was to scurry it back into hiding as being preposterous, yet I kept it on the list. It was a shadow aspect that would deny the power of intention that is so readily available.
It was only a few days ago as I was talking with Jesseca that I realized that not only could I produce and publish three books this year, but several more! One of these projects is already in production and will be published by Satiama in the spring, a deck of Children’s Spirit Animal Cards. I have a verbal agreement to follow this with six related books for children. These and two or three other book projects will keep me writing for some time to come! Ah, the power of intention!
The key to accepting your shadows is to shine the light of conscious awareness on them while paying close attention to Spirit’s guidance and direction in whatever way it appears. When you do so, you’ll find there really is nothing to fear.
