Mid-January

Half the month of January has already gone by. The holiday decorations are put away and the quiet after all the hubbub seems strange.
Some of us began the year making resolutions that will improve our lives and others just hoping for a year that will be kind to us.

The winter is a time for introspection and reflection on our potential, our aspirations, our future.
In ancient times the winter was all about surviving the cold, the ice and snow. It was a time when stories were told around the hearth, families huddled together awaiting the spring.

The winter is associated with the Earth element and the North. It's the time of the year for recovering, of silence, harmony, balance, home, mystery, birth and death. And although the cold earth appears dormant, the cycle of life has begun beneath the surface, the seeds have been planted and with them the gifts we envision. The hours and minutes of darkness are lessening with each day.

Winter is the time of the Crone. She is the Wise Woman, the teacher, the guide. From her vast experience and knowledge obtained through her infinite life experiences she is the counselor.
She is the Keeper of Time and the All and the Nothing.

Here a few of the Goddesses associated with Winter:

Skadi is the Goddess of Winter and Mountains in Scandinavia. She is the Spirit of the North Wind,and is equated with the darkness and cold of winter, the shadow time during the state of hibernation. Her name is said to mean shadow or shade. She is a huntress, a magician. She is said to have given the gift of the bow and arrow to the hunters.

The goddess for whom Scandinavia was named dwelled high in the snow-covered mountains; her favorite occupations were skiing and snowshoeing through her domain. But when the gods caused the death of her father Thjassi, Skadi armed herself and traveled to their home at Asgard, intent on vengeance. Even alone, she was more than a match for the gods, and they were forced to make peace with her.
Skadi was offered to choose a husband among the gods for compensation for her father's death.
All the gods lined up, and Skadi's eyes were masked. She intended to select her mate simply by examining his legs from the knees down. When she'd found the strongest-thinking them the beautiful Balder's legs-she flung off her mask and found she'd picked the sea god Njord. So she went off to live in the god's ocean home.
She was miserable there. "I couldn't sleep a wink," Skadi said in a famous eddic poem, "on the bed of the sea, for the calling of gulls and mews." The couple moved to Thrymheim, Skadi's mountain palace, but the water god was as unhappy there as Skadi had been in the water. Thereupon they agreed on an equitable dissolution, and Skadi took a new mate, more suitable to her lifestyle: Ullr, the god of skis.
Hers is the power of perception, of going within and facing our true nature.

Cailleach Bheur, Celtic Goddess of Winter is also known as Beira, Queen of Winter. She is credited with making numerous mountains and large hills, which are said to have been formed when she was striding across the land and accidentally dropped rocks from her apron. In other cases she is said to have built the mountains intentionally, to serve as her stepping stones. She carries a hammer for shaping the hills and valleys, and is said to be the mother of all the goddesses and gods.
She appears at the end of October, born anew as an old women, bringing the winter storms.
The Cailleach displays several traits befitting the personification of Winter: she herds deer, she fights Spring, and her staff freezes the ground with every tap. In some stories, she appears to a hero as a hideous old woman, and when he is kind to her, she turns into a lovely young woman who rewards him for his good deeds.  She is guardian to animals throughout the winter such as the deer and wolf.
Cailleach rules the dark half of the year, from Samhain to Beltane, while her young and fresh counterpart, Bridgid or Brede, is the queen of the summer months.
It is said that on Imbolc, February 2, as the Wheel of the Year turns and power of Bridgid increases the light, Cailleach throws her staff behind a Holly bush. Then on Beltane, May1, she turns into stone until her rebirth the following October.


Jai Mata Di