“There
are clear imprints of an annual period in life-cycles of animals. Evolutionary adaptation will favour the
survival of innate ‘clocks’ that time the birth of offspring to coincide with
times when the chances of survival are highest, especially in the temperature
regions where the seasons change abruptly.” (115)
-
John D. Barrow
The Artful
Universe (1995)
Our daily
world is filled with calendars. We have
calendars on our walls, on our desks at work, on our phones, tablets, laptops
and pcs. What all these have in common
is that they are largely practical; we schedule our lives on them, we use them
to remind us of important appointments, personal days, deadlines, etc. While these calendars are valuable, I have
always felt a need for what might be called a ‘spiritual’ calendar. Not a calendar for keeping appointments and
so forth, but for maintaining wakefulness in the midst of daily life.
The
personal spiritual calendar that I now follow has been with me in one
manifestation or another for well over 40 years. It began as a Pagan calendar of sabbats &
esbats and was later transmuted into a calendar of the Christian liturgical
year that included feasts of the saints and major liturgical holidays (e.g., Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, etc.).
Along the way I got into Celtic spirituality – both Pagan & Christian
– and this wrought yet another transfiguration of the calendar. Since journeying beyond the bounds of traditional religion
20 years ago and turning to science & mathematics as a primary source of
revelation about the objective dimensions of the Earth & Cosmos, I’ve continued
following a personal spiritual calendar, though one which has now been
transfigured into what I can only call a ‘Poetic Naturalist’s’ Calendar.
My calendar
today is an interweaving of themes, ideals and observances drawn from my entire
spiritual history. I call it a 'Naturalist’s' calendar because it is
grounded in the solar and lunar cycles that frame our life together in the
Earth. It is anchored in the Solstices &
Equinoxes and is adorned with the dates of Full & New Moons. Each year we travel through the ‘waxing’ and ‘waning’
of the Sun, which is an artifact of the tilt of our planet in its orbital plane
in relation to our home star. Each year
our Moon passes through its phases owing to its
relation to both our planet and our local star; the Sun. While the Solstices & Equinoxes remain
fixed, the dates of the Full and New Moons change from year to year.
I add a
third cycle – that of the “half-season markers’ – to these first two between
the Solstices & Equinoxes. These
days (1-2 Feb, 30 Apr-1 May, 1-2 August, 31 October – 1 November) are observed
in many Earth-based spiritualities (i.e., in Celtic spirituality they are
called Brighidmas, Beltaine, Lughnassadh and Samhain), and as they occur near
the halfway points of the four seasons (Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn) in
the temperate zone of the Northern hemisphere, I still find them edifying to
observe in naturalistic terms. When I
get to one of these ‘cross-quarter’ days,[i]
I know I am nearly half-way through a season.
For instance, when I get to 2 February – Old Brighidmas/Imbolc/Candlemas
– I know that that I am about halfway through the Winter.[ii]
To these three
cycles I add the more or less fixed dates of the annual meteor showers that can
be seen in the northern hemisphere as well as a series of “Days of
Acknowledgement,” which are the birth dates of people who have contributed to
our growing knowledge of Earth & Cosmos and our existential experience of ourselves as manifestations of Earth & Cosmos [we are 'children of the Earth,' our lineage having evolved on this planet over the course of millions of years]. I include scientists, philosophers and then some poets, artists and composers in my own version of the calendar. Recently I've even re-included a couple of Christian saints with whom I have walked for decades: Saint Francis and Saint Patrick. While
certain of these people undoubtedly belong here, others can be added or dropped
according to personal preference. [I have left a couple of composers and poets on this year's version of the calendar posted as a page at this blogspot.] On each
‘day’ I try and bring to mind the discoveries, ideas and/or texts of the person
remembered that contributed to our understanding of Earth & Cosmos and our
place in it as evolved animals.
As I
journey through the year, I ‘observe’ the days and nights associated with the various
cycles in the calendar by engaging in poetic (including mythic) and philosophical
meditations. I try and experience Nature
in some way to mark where I am in my annual spiritual journey through the
seasons: What season is it? What is the
weather? What can be experienced? Depending on the season I may go out for a
hike or at least a short walk, depending on what my schedule of work and play allows. If it’s Winter, for instance, I may be house-bound by snow
and ice and cold temperatures; unable to get out into Nature—yet I may still
want to observe the snow and ice-covered landscapes from a window or while out
shoveling snow. I might read poetry, watch a film or read a story that I find
appropriate to whatever season I am in.
I might go outside and observe the Moon, if it is visible. After a certain amount of practice at journeying through the seasons with a personal spiritual calendar such as this, it takes
only a few minutes to orient oneself to the season each day.
In all of
these ways I hope to cull poetic and aesthetic experiences out of each day through which to guide me, awaken me and function as sources of reflection
upon the meaning of life in Earth & Cosmos.
Philosophical and spiritual reflections often follow upon the poetic and aesthetic engagement with the day; esp. in morning or evening meditation. This constitutes the 'Poetic'
aspect of the calendar.
I think of myself as a Poetic Naturalist as while the revelations of science & mathematics under-gird and inform a Naturalist’s life-philosophy and spiritual praxis, life is not fully comprehended through understanding the objective dimensions of reality alone. Our subjective worlds matter, too—and this is where poetics & aesthetics come in; they amplify our naturalistic experience and understanding, building upon what science & mathematics have revealed. Thus I include in my own calendar certain poets and composers who have – at least for me – contributed to a life more fully lived in Earth & Cosmos. The “Days of Acknowledgement” for these people you may freely remove, or change-out for artists and other people who, for you, contribute to your own living of a naturalistic life.
I think of myself as a Poetic Naturalist as while the revelations of science & mathematics under-gird and inform a Naturalist’s life-philosophy and spiritual praxis, life is not fully comprehended through understanding the objective dimensions of reality alone. Our subjective worlds matter, too—and this is where poetics & aesthetics come in; they amplify our naturalistic experience and understanding, building upon what science & mathematics have revealed. Thus I include in my own calendar certain poets and composers who have – at least for me – contributed to a life more fully lived in Earth & Cosmos. The “Days of Acknowledgement” for these people you may freely remove, or change-out for artists and other people who, for you, contribute to your own living of a naturalistic life.
The
calendar as I keep it ‘begins’ on the 1st day of the New Solar year;
22 December—the day after Winter Solstice.
I find this date much more significant than 1 January, which has lost all
of its mythic connotations and is now just an arbitrary secular celebration. There are other possible choices for a “New
Year’s” day within the Calendar; the most traditional would be either 21 March
(the 1st day of Spring after the Vernal Equinox) or 1 November (the
ancient Celtic New Year's Day; it was the 1st day of the ‘dark half’ of
the year in the Celtic mind). I used this
latter date as ‘New Year’s Day’ when I was into Celtic mythology and
spirituality. I find that starting my
‘year’ on the day after the Winter Solstice, however, seems very ‘natural’ to
me these days, and so I adventure through the year from one Winter Solstice to
the next. If you want to follow this calendar or use it as a template for your own, choose a date for 'New Year's Day" that for you seems most significant in naturalistic or spiritual terms.
I have
posted my Calendar for this year as
one of the “pages” on this blog. It begins on 22 December 2018 and ends on 21
December 2019. I post it here merely as an example of a 'personal spiritual calendar.' For myself, I have printed the
calendar and have it displayed it in a prominent place where I can see it every
day, in the morning and in the evening; whenever I need a reminder of ‘where’
and ‘when’ I am in Earth & Cosmos.
Each year as Winter Solstice approaches I set up the calendar for the next ‘year,’ which usually just involves plotting the dates of the New & Full Moons for the coming twelve months. I have been doing this for decades, and it helps to keep me in tune with the Seasons. As it is also something I usually do during the Yule each year, it is proleptic; it points me towards the future even as I am dwelling within the Yule and often reflecting on the past—which is a characteristic experience during the Winter Solstice Season.
Each year as Winter Solstice approaches I set up the calendar for the next ‘year,’ which usually just involves plotting the dates of the New & Full Moons for the coming twelve months. I have been doing this for decades, and it helps to keep me in tune with the Seasons. As it is also something I usually do during the Yule each year, it is proleptic; it points me towards the future even as I am dwelling within the Yule and often reflecting on the past—which is a characteristic experience during the Winter Solstice Season.
[i]
“Cross-Quarter is a term from Neo-Paganism.
The seasons divide the year into four ‘quarters.’ These season begin and end at the Solstices
& Equinoxes. Thus, the half-way
points between Solstices & Equinoxes are sometimes called ‘Cross-quarter’
days in some Pagan traditions, meaning that they ‘cross’ the axis of the Wheel
of the Year between the axes of the Solstices and Equinoxes. This makes sense if you think of the year as
a Wheel with eight spokes; one for each of the Solstices, Equinoxes and
‘Cross-Quarter’ days.’
[ii]
These dates are now, now, exactly half-way between the Solstices &
Equinoxes. They are a few days early.
However, because of my own spiritual history, I still use the old Pagan dates
for the Cross-Quarter days. If you would
rather be more accurate in your observance of the seasons, count the days
between the Solstices & Equinoxes and set your Cross-Quarter days at the
exact half-way point in each of the four seasons.
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