the Wheel is turning...

I wrote an essay for "WWFHH" not too long ago on what the turning of the Wheel was like here, deep in the heart of Texas. At that time, I had to go back and try to recall the different nuances of the seasons here... mostly, what I recall is HOT. Sigh. So, as we have just celebrated Imbolc, I would like to take a moment to make note of the weather here. Imbolc is the Festival of the Returning Light for me. The DEEP time starts at Samhain and I turn inward as the earth begins to do the same. The Winter Solstice marked the longest night, so the days began to lengthen... but not so much as I would notice it. Imbolc/February is generally the time of what passes for Winter here. Brutal cold for a day or 2, then back to 50s for highs, 35-40 for lows. Then another front passes through and we get ice for a day and temps that wont crawl into the 40s even in the afternoon. Then, as if apologetic, we get highs in the upper 60s, blue sunny skies with the water birds slicing through it as if in formation. The red tailed hawks are swimming lazily overhead, waiting on field mice. And all is right in my world. Hope has returned. I know that I, like the earth around me, has made it through. And it is time to celebrate, to turn my face to the sun and begin to create.
Also, my employment is seasonal-winter is our busy time. I have gone as far as possible and now I must give in to the inner self that says "STOP, I am tired, I am frustrated in being here and I want to REST." So I took a personal day. Every Friday the 13th is a religious holiday for me. As a culture, Friday the 13ths have been turned inside out, people have taught you that they are to be feared, or worse yet reviled... so I am giving them the due respect they once knew was theirs and I take each of them off from work every year. I am giving myself back something that was mine from the beginning and I am using the day to celebrate the Wheel, to observe the passing of winter, and to create art.
Blessed Be