Before there were calendars, people told time by the cycles of the sun and the moon.
Before federal holidays told us where we were in the year and gave us days of rest, people would look to the solstices and the equinoxes to attune to the seasons.
Before electricity gave us light whenever we wanted, we allowed the natural light outside to rule our sense of time and the activities we pursued.
Clocks and calendars can cause us to buy into the illusion that time is running out, that our days are numbered.
A calendar is finite. It has a beginning and an end. When the last box is complete, it’s done.
The cycles of the sun, the moon, and the seasons tell a different story.
They remind us that time renews. That everything comes back around.
Some parts of the year we bathe in the sun’s light, and other parts of the year we hibernate in darkness.
Neither is “better” or “worse.”
Everything in life has its season.
This story is told in the daily cycle of the sun and in the monthly cycle of the moon.
This story is told in the annual cycle of solstices and equinoxes. It is told in the sun’s trip through the zodiac.
Long before calendars, this is how people told the story of time. They followed the sky. They spoke of seasons.
They lived out the wisdom that peaks are moments not meant to be sustained, that nothing lasts forever, that every death is followed by a rebirth.
Following the cycles of the sun and moon and the seasons requires no adherence to a particular religion or belief system.
It transcends all of that.
Whether you believe in it or not, it is.
When we pause to honor these days, we are honoring life itself.
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