Hi Friend,

Looking up from my computer at 3:45 pm, and I notice the sunlight is already fading. Dark blue shadows quickly race up and down the snow-covered hills.

Where did the daylight go?

Looking at my calendar, and I notice the first week of December is already gone. Less than four weeks till 2026.

Where did the year go?

The fading of the light; the fading of the year; the entry into this Portal of a season always feels fast, even, at times, sudden.

If you've followed these missives for a while, then you know I lean into working with time - the cycles of years; rituals to punctuate and pull-together individual and communal lifetimes; engaging with generations and the legacies (of harm and healing and mystery) therein.

Because reconfiguring our relationship with time is critical to adapting to a climate-changed world. Because time is a mystery. Because time is life. And death. That we get to have any time here at all. On this swirling blue planet.

Because understanding the different dimensions of a particular moment in time - socially, personally, professionally - helps illuminate it, to see more clearly; helps us feel the texture of it, this river of life that flows through our hands. The flow -babies becoming children; soft skin growing softer, more wrinkly. Bodies and ecosystems tell time.

There are, I find, three almost-contradictory tensions happening at this time of the year.

1) That Portal into darkness - I would call that darkness ripe with sacredness, both death and birth and possibility. Many people's bodies and spirits crave to engage with this Portal with gentleness and slowness. Stew slow simmering on the back burner. Candles burning in windows - such an old tradition! As Krissy says: go into "lodge time." (She's a member of the Tuscarora Beaver Clan - "lodging" is a very serious part of Beaver life!). In European-originated Christian traditions, this season is marked by Advent: a time when we are invited into quiet, anticipatory waiting. And actual, authentic, time off (for many people, that week between Christmas and New Years might be the biggest exhale they get all year.)

Oh - and you can still join us for our "Advent for Winter Solstice."

2) Holiday and End of the Year happenings - social gatherings with all their accompanying rushing, preparing, cooking, buying, etc. And travel. And preparing for travel. Including/especially with children. Social-emotional intensity is heightened. Loneliness and questions of belonging can intensify. The empty place at the table where once a beloved father/friend/child/grandparent once graced that space.

3) Linear Calendar-orientated work: a kind of "get it all done" mentality (and obligations) for the End of the Year - closing sales, finalizing donations, accounting, compliance, etc. Blazing, blarring, non-cessant 'click me now' buttons. As if transformation is that easy.

And then there is planning for next year. 2026 is right around the corner.

Some folks can't really engage with meaningful planning for 2026 in December because there is just so much to be done to wrap up 2025. If that's you: very understandable.

Sometimes it's more than enough to try to just be present for your life, right in front of you, right now. Nothing else. Just here.

And sometimes there is a moment, in between everything else, when what is in front of you right 'here' is a lot of big-picture questions. Questions about shape and direction that influence everything else.

Several of my long-standing clients (including a few who haven't done regular work with me for a while but who still value my particular skill set in this area) and I have been setting up various "this is what's happening right now/last few months.... so what / now what" sessions.

We can also describe this as strategy and high-level discernment... and we get the delight of infusing it with multiple forms of eco-spirituality.

Because many of our decisions are too important to try to make alone. And I'm good at this work.

In general, I prefer working with smart, caring, creative people like yourself over time.

But as more people are asking for these kinds of session, I know there's a lot we can do in one-off sessions. So I'm offering them to you.

How it works: We set a time, you send me your preliminary thoughts, I check in with Spirit, and then get together (in-person options are sometimes available) and do a deep dive into the questions/possibilities that are most alive and pertinent to you at this moment. I find this generally takes 2 hours.

Just email me if you are intrigued and I can share more.

Now, I’ll share with you some insights from a recent client conversation that might be of relevance for you.

She was asking how she and her team could create greater seasonality for their organization. Here is some of what emerged:

• Recognize that there are active forces all around you that make your need/desire for quiet contemplation at this season really, really hard.

• Also, recognize that some degree of gathering together to help welcome the dark is really, really helpful. What kinds of gatherings might those be? (Hint: they don't need to be focused on consumerism!)

• Consider some kind of Advent for Winter Solstice: a process of preparing for the Winter Solstice. This can be done within a particular faith context (such as a Church) or it can be done between or outside of explicitly religious houses of worship. You might want to join ours.

• Pay attention to the sunset. Or the sunrise. The transition. The long rays of shadow and light.

• Can you and your team end your work day at 4-ish, giving people time to spend the hours between 4 and 8 in various forms of contemplative activities/family time? (For some people, this is also an amazing January action.)

• Pay attention to what the plants and animals in your ecosystem are doing. Perhaps gather others by your local water body and share stories about your observations.

• Look at your December as a whole early on (like now-ish) and consider: what do you need to remove or add to help your mind-body-spirit enter the dark well? Focus on what derives greatest renewal, meaning, and service - not just on "is this too much."

• Does it make sense for you and your team to take a full day (if not more) off during Winter Solstice?

• And - Winter Solstice is not a big deal for all societies wherein Winter is important. Thus, one of the really important ceremonies in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy is the eight-day Midwinter celebrations - which tend to happen in mid-January, not around Winter Solstice.

Looking forward to connecting with you soon!!!

- Sara Jolena