We’re two days into the lunar new year! To me, it’s always made more sense to celebrate the new year in line with lunar cycle. While Chinese culture and history are quite foreign to me, the moon is a universal native language. It feels more familiar, more grounded and close. The sun is so far away, oppressive as it is life-giving. I wrote a poem, years ago, about the dichotomy:
The noontime sun is garish,
Loud
Inescapable in all his glory
He brings us warmth
The light to see
Writing each day a new story
The midnight moon is calm
Serene
Welcoming all to mystery
She nurtures and soothes
Promising rest
Leaving each day to history
I’ve written before about my love of midnight, of the magic in the darkness and the moonlight. I won’t take up space here with more of the same. I simply wanted to say, that this is the time when I feel the new year has truly begun.
This time of year is wonderful, because all those following the doctrines of the Western way have already moved on. The holidays are over, in their minds. The lustre of a new year, the promise of new beginnings, has all faded. Resolutions have already been broken and let go. I’m guilty myself of having fallen short on my 365 day writing challenge; some days, I’m so tired that I can only manage to write a few lines before sleep takes me. I’m learning that writing stories isn’t working for me, unfortunately. I had hoped that I would be getting practice that would help me begin work on a novel, but it looks like I have to take things one step at a time. Blog posts, poems, and private journal entries. That’s what I’m capable of managing at the moment.
Just as I am learning about the boundaries of reality outside the realm of my fantastical expectations, many others who set goals on the 1st of January are also beginning to see the flaws in their plans. They’re beginning to lose determination to make THIS the year when it all changes. The high has settled now, 3 weeks later, and reality is there waiting, patiently, unswervingly. In many parts of the country, it’s cold outside, which only adds insult to injury.
Thus, this is the perfect time to celebrating the lunar new year. Forget about what goals you set in the face of the sun; step back. Reassess. Are those goals working for you? Are you reaching them and feeling good about yourself? Or has it become a disappointment and a chore?
The moon, she won’t shame you for not having the answers. The moon will never burn you for sitting still too long. She will rise and fall, bathing you with silver light, basking in the stillness of night. And so, with her as your mentor, you can take those goals you set and rewrite them to become more manageable, able to be worked into your practice, and more magical, imbued with the essence of tradition passed down from centuries before the Roman Catholic church selected an arbitrary date to serve as the beginning and the end of our annual transit around the sun.
So, fret not if your 2023 hasn’t felt like a new year yet. The new year is only just beginning, if that’s how you choose to see it.
Me? Yeah, that’s how I choose to see it.
Here’s to a better year with a better me.
