Snowscape - The Woods Out Back
You never own yourself and stand constantly at new frontiers wondering what lies beyond. There is a beauty in discovery that deeply satisfies us. John O’ Donohue, The Darker Dawns More Slowly (essay in Beauty: The Invisible Embrace
One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. Carl Jung (quoted in the above essay)
It’s a very complex day. Dr. Michael Lennox, Daily Astrology Post for 10 December 2025
Indeed, it’s a complex day in a complex time when our world feels increasingly complex especially the more we turn away from our inner light and our deep knowing of the simplicity of Life.
I was feeling this complexity accompanied by a sense of heaviness as I woke this morning, a tone I’ve visited frequently recently on my inner journey and certainly as I look out to events in our world. Both inner and outer worlds are complex, and they operate on their own spectrums of opposites – love/hate, respect/disdain, peace/violence, joy/sorrow. And, yes, light and dark.
I increasingly rely on my inner journey to provide some level of context, understanding, compassion, and even comfort for the trials, tribulations, and horrors of the world out there. The world beyond the boundary of my skin.
My eyes seeing the glory of the snow and my boots crunching slowly through the moist, white blanket covering the ground in the woods out back give me pause to see beauty. Beauty that brings light. Beauty that my heart knows is as widespread in our world as is the horror, the dark.
Beneath the snow just under the ground I walk is a vast network of Life interconnected, knowing its connection, fulfilling its purpose: Life. In the southern hemisphere that Life is springing forth from its winter rest. And in that natural flow all around the globe individuals and groups are moving, nurturing, working with that Life. More beauty begets more light. Outside and In.
My capacity to deeply know and embody this Truth that we are not separate from one another or from any aspect of Life is one of the satisfying joys of an inner journey of opening to the mystery and embracing Life as quest, of tapping into my inner well of light and making the darkness conscious. It’s not the quest of the world to control and conquer, but to explore, to question, to discover my and our True nature. And to take each step, each day from that place.
In this season of far too much busyness, hustle, bustle I encourage you to give yourself time and space to tap into your well of inner light. You might ask, ‘What is my quest? What practices support me to strengthen and tap into my inner well of light?’
How might we nurture such a quest in our world?
Nature’s Crunchy, Moist, White Blanket