Capturing a moment of beauty after a first snowfall in the woods near Walden Pond, Massachusetts.
Capturing a moment of beauty after a dusting of snow in the woods near Walden Pond, Massachusetts. It is that time of year again between and betwixt two different years, referred to as Yule or Yuletide, an ancient Medieval folk tradition originating in Northern Europe. These twelve days between the Winter Solstice and the beginning of the next solar year, are a sacred liminal period belonging neither to the old year nor the new year during which the ancestral spirits are thought to roam in the living world.
What does it mean to cultivate a relationship with the dead? This is the question Perdita Finn asks and answers in her new book Take Back the Magic: Conversations with the Unseen World. I love how this book gives us agency to reinvent and reimagine our relationships with loved ones who have passed.
Finn shows us how we can become more conscious of the magical ways our lives are interconnected with and continue to be influenced by those who have long gone. She explains how our ancestors can answer our burning questions, and how even those whom we may not have had close relationships with in life, can become our most intimate confidants and most willing sources of support in our continued quest to find meaning and purpose in our lives.
As the New Year approaches and I engage in the yearly ritual of reflecting on the year passed and my hopes and dreams for the new year coming, I am inviting the voices and stories of the past to join me in this conversation.
Perchta, is one of these beloved ancestors. . .an ancient Alpine Goddess associated with the first snowfall and Yuletide. Because of her shapeshifting nature between a white goose and an elderly woman, she represents both maiden and crone, as well as the transition between life and death, lightness and darkness, the end of one year and the beginning of another. Because she lives in the liminal place between these different ages, times and places, Perchta is a blessing and model for how to embody multiple truths, complexity, nuance. . .both. I love this wisdom, and hope to give it life in the coming year through my creative work.
Mother Goose / Perchta
Finn’s hopeful reminder that we can reconnect and even revive our relationship with the past reminds me of another ancestor: The Woman Who Weaves the World, who weaves together the tapestry of the world while a crow pecks at her work unraveling it again. The spirit of this White Mountain Apache folktale, a story of two beings or forces that work in tandem, one creating and one destroying, is particularly relevant at this time of year when one year is ending and another beginning. Often in our modern world we think of the past as something set in stone, permanently unchangeable, a concept more like a noun rather than a verb. I love how the word “heirloom” unravels and reframes this very idea. With roots in both the word “heredity” and “heir” (Anglo-French) and “loom” (Old English), it suggests that the past and the present are not only woven together, but that history is a verb, it is the very act of tying together the past and present. The past is continuously being remade, reimagined by those living in the present as a way to make sense of what has been in order to prepare for what is to become. The Old Woman Who Weaves the World lives in both worlds and mediates between them and for this reason she can hear, see, and feel the guidance this vital and soulful wisdom of bothness grants. Can we learn from her ability to encompass both as we ask ourselves the beautiful question: in what ways can we cultivate new ways of relating to the past so we can move with wisdom into the future?
The Woman Who Weaves the World
Sankofa Bird
Finally, there is one more beloved character from the past that reminds us of the deep wisdom in mediating between past and present: the mythical Sankofa Bird of Akan folklore from Ghana and the eastern Ivory Coast. The word “Sankofa” is from the Twi language and means “there is nothing wrong with fetching something that has been forgotten”. With its body facing forward and its head turned backwards, this mythical bird symbolizes the value of finding wisdom from both perspectives (looking backwards into past while also facing forwards and planning for the future). I love how the Sankofa bird has an egg in its mouth, which captures the wholeness of recognizing both vantage points. The Sankofa bird is an Adinkra symbol, visual symbols that serve as a shorthand for communicating deep truths in visual form.
Though we live in an age of extremism and it can be hard to imagine how we might connect with others who are so different from us, I believe the folktales have done this work for us already: through their shared similarities, Perchta, the Woman Who Weaves the World and the Sankofa Bird show us how we are already deeply woven together, it is just a matter of opening our eyes to it.
References & Credits:
Estes, Clarissa Pinkols Ph.D. The Dangerous Old Woman: Myths & Stories of the Wise Woman Archetype. Sounds True Audio Learning Course. Chapter 3.
Finn, Perdita (2023). Take Back the Magic: Conversations with the Unseen World.
Meade, Michael (2012). Why the World Doesn't End, Tales of Renewal in Times of Loss. GreenFire Press.
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The Norwegian folktale “East of the Sun West of the Moon” and the Japanese (indigenous Ainu) folktale entitled “Crescent Moon Bear” are folktales featuring fearless young women who dare to engage in greater intimacy with a bear whether it is marrying a bear, or having the courage to pluck the whisker of a bear. Both involve traversing a formidable boreal forest landscape to save their husbands from a “spell”. These folktales are so strikingly similar in theme and shared values, giving voice to their parallel nature deepens our sense of interconnected history, and rekindles a feeling of belonging to a shared storied boreal landscape, weaving together people, bears, ancestry, stories and hearts. . .