I try to remind myself of this as I glide through my day. A shadow grabs my attention and I try to catch a glimpse of what or who it might be. Then I catch myself. If this happens and I’m out in public, I don’t want to look like a fool. If I am at home or out in my yard, I watch, and talk. “Who are you? Can I help you?” Sometimes I whisper, sometimes I talk in a normal tone.
They don’t scare me. They never have. Only once have I been startled by one and that was only because they came too close.
The calendar New Year does not often feature in pagan festivities, yet it a liminal time; a threshold is crossed and thresholds, as we know, are thin places of transition, magic and manifestation.
In Ireland, however, the whole period from Solstice/Yule through to Nollaig na mBan (Women's Christmas/Epiphany) has a pagan quality. Unless you are actively associated with devout, practicing Christians, Ireland often feels to me the best place to celebrate the winter holidays. You don't have to be celebrating with self-identified pagans or out of the broom closet witches either. It all seems to happen organically. Maybe Spirit is just pagan in the Irish air.
Have a wonderful new year! I look forward to seeing what it's going to be like for us.
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