In Bloom With the Spirit of Christmas!
It started in the heat of August. Waves of crisp air would invigorate my lungs and molecules of balsam fir would catch my inhale, taking me directly into visions of Christmas! Suddenly, it was as if I’d been given plum colored glasses and mental space for planning.
Truth be told, my Christmas Tree was up by the second week in October this year, right along side pumpkins and spiderwebs! Each year, the holiday season has become more fun for me, but this has been a different experience altogether.
The irony struck as well, though, as events in this country and around the world unfolded. Each day was an episode of weather related, life-changing scenes affecting people in catastrophic, personal ways. I did facials for people who traveled two hours from their home in Asheville, NC to take refuge with family in Charleston and do things they hadn’t done in weeks, like take a shower! When faced with the decision to have clean drinking water or to bathe, your priorities shift and suddenly a hot shower is a dreamed of luxury. Layered into the swirl were poignant days politically that were no abstract affair. These were the days of looking inside, needing to be sure of who I was being in every moment. And all the while, the melody and words, “so this is Christmas…” played in my head.
Personally, this year is rounding out milestones and goals I have been quietly working on for a very long time. Some of these goals might sound trivial if I were to name them, but to me it has been the clearing work of the first 45 years of my life. I have a deep desire to build a foundation of goodness to give forward and the time has been taken to clear tiny aspects that accumulated into invisible barriers. There is a sort of grieving that goes along with saying goodbye to these lessons. But that rolls right into an awakened smell of new beautiful lessons to move into - and strangely it smells like crisp, sweet cranberries with smoked cedar notes!
Energy has shifted and a new life is emerging. It’s time to be in this moment of transition, giving thanks for what has been a life in a world that is quickly accelerating into new space. I get the sense, it has been time to tidy up, collect the wisdom that has grown and be ready to learn in new ways.
The molecules of light that reflect who we are or the scents and aromas, transporting us to a space that doesn’t have to by physical to be experienced, are in movement. Even the way we interact with them is a powerful way of stepping into new being. In fact, this is a strong component of my love for our olfactory system and the affect of fragrance. (More on that to come in the near future!)
Finding the essence of evergreen has been embedded in constant state of flux and whilst I try to pinpoint words for a precise moment, the one that I use most frequently is simultaneous. Because, as the elements of summer enveloped our Charleston landscape just a few months ago, the chill of winter was exciting my holiday hopes. Likewise, even now, as Christmas music plays and candles bring in warmth, I feel the budding tingle of new life in bloom as though spring is in the air. It’s all happening simultaneously.
Of course, all of this, to me, points to the many facets of home - finding our way there, creating it and being it for ourselves and loved ones. With every space I envision, fragrance vehicle I take, or healing modality employed, it is all for the purpose of being home, living from my heart. My wish this holiday is to experience the magic in the simultaneous; the transitions of autumn, the strength of endurance for the chill of winter, the hope of new life in spring and the joy in the warmth of summer’s light.
