Advent Astrology Devotional: The Countdown to the Countdown

Hi Starpal!

Advent begins in just 12 days! I'm kind of loving this countdown to a countdown, because, hey, marking time is really important. 

I've heard from folks that the Christmas season feels uncontained. It seems earlier each year that Christmas carols start playing in stores. The moment Halloween decorations come down, the Christmas ones go up. There's a part of me that takes a certain glee in this, so I'm not yucking anyone's yum. I really love Christmas time--but I can be simultaneously overwhelmed by the rush and saddened by it's sudden departure come December 31st. I wish it could be longer and slower than how we do it collectively. I never seem to make all the crafts, bake all the things, and watch all the movies I want to before the New Year.

In the Christian calendar, Advent is four-week season that precedes Christmastide. Following a lunar cycle of anticipatory vigil, Christmas is given the dates of December 25-January 6 (twelve days!). Following Christmas is Epiphany, which is a four-to-nine-week-long season that honors the arrival of the Magi (who were astrologers!). The length of Epiphany depends on the date of Easter, which is calculated as the first Sunday following the first full moon after the equinox. (Sigh… know.) So, in total, we have two to three months each year for marking the time leading up to, including, and after the birth of the infant. Why don't we use it?

Especially during the three darkest months of the year, I need something to help get me through. I need meaning, and I need hope that the light will come back. For me, what I've called “cycle reverence” has really helped with seasonal depression. Keeping track of the full expression of the liturgical calendar, alongside the changing of the zodiacal seasons (whose similar notes are beyond coincidental; they're collaborative) helps me stay afloat. As the weight of late fall and winter bears down on me, I find joy in my intentional deepening into the things most easily seen in the darkest times: firelight, hope, and the stars.  

If you find the cultivated madness of the holiday season also overwhelming and lacking in nourishment, I invite you to step into a practice of marking time with us. At November's end on the first Sunday of Advent, light candles with us to begin our journey toward Christmas. Save some special Christmas touchpoints for the twelve days of Christmas. Look forward to what you can do to honor the Three Wise Astrologers in January during the post-holiday slump. For us, the celebrating doesn't have to end.

The reason that Advent calendars are so popular this time of year is that humans are ritual creatures. We need ways to mark the passage of time so that we can co-regulate, celebrate, and grieve with the arrival and departure of life. Our Advent devotional, There Will Be Signs, is something of a calendar, but rather than opening a fabric pocket or a little door for chocolate, each day you receive a message that lights the next lamp on the path to Christmas. Of course, our devotional is different than anything else you can get this time of year, because it also acknowledges the calendar of the planets and stars. We know that this cycle actually shaped the development of Christendom, but that powerful men have intentionally severed and denied that relationship since and before the Council of Nicea. 

Join us for There Will Be Signs as a practice of rewilding this time of year for yourself. It's an enigma, but deepening into time somehow liberates us from its shackles. Honoring the cycles of the zodiacal year and the liturgical year makes us freer, happier, and more fulfilled. Our lives, mine and Sarah's, are a testament to that.

We are now just days away from opening the devotional for registration. Mark your calendars for November 23 as There Will Be Signs day, and sign up here to receive a 20% off code the day before. 

Looking forward to more!

Love,

Lindsey and Sarah