Water Time

The word Winter translates into "time of water". This season announces itself with frost on the car and a crunching sound underfoot. Then the freezing rain, sleet and snow come down from the clouds to cleanse the earth of debris left-over from Autumn. A clear cold stillness is ever-present as we proceed into the deepest and darkest months of the Water time. No movement on the surface of the land but underneath the frozen water there is a great deal of activity happening. Winter is time to replenish our reserves, by sleeping more and eating nourishing vegetables such as squash and dark leafy greens. Drink plenty of liquids and take in the quietness of this season.

Key Words:
Will, Flow, Cleanse, Endurance, Reserve, Ambition

In Greek mythology: Hades, God of the underworld, separates Demeter, Goddess of the earth from her much loved daughter Persephone. He drags Persephone into the underworld to be his wife. Demeter is devastated and while she searches for her daughter, the crops wither and the weather turns cold.

In an earlier version of this same myth, Persephone willingly goes into the underworld to receive the newly dead. She says,"I am Persephone, I have come to be your guide. You have left your earthly bodies and now reside here in the realm of the dead. Come to me now, and I will initiate each of you into your new world." From Genia Pauli Haddon's, Uniting the Sex Self and Spirit, Plus publications 1993, Pg.111. Demeter waits for Persephone's return and in her sorrow forbids new plants to grow, everything withers and dies. As Demeter sits lost in grief, the green shoots of the crocus plant push up from the earth. The crocus plants begin to chant "Persephone returns!" Persephone returns!" Persephone emerges from the underworld and reunites with Demeter, they embrace and laugh, dance and renew the earth with Spring and wood energy. This cycle repeats itself every year.