January is one of those months; it has a stillness to it; often feeling stark, bleak, and unyielding both in nature and on an energetic level; it continues the theme of the bare bones of all things and whilst we are encouraged to begin again, renew ourselves optimistically and with gusto, I often feel that there is a step missing in this inevitable pattern.
I understand the need for self renewal and have stuck to the theme of January being “Self care is Soul care,” through of all Starry-universe via social media because it simply is damn important. The notion that self care is selfish and indulgent needs to go the way of the dinosaurs; be cleared out with a cosmic energy akin to a comet and smashed to smithereens.
Self care is not simply squishy feel good vibrations and quotes of positivity either (though there is nothing wrong with those aspects of it); it is rooted in the shadow self and that is why January with its starkness can allow us to enter into a similar mindset; to clear away all that has rotted within ourselves, peel back the layers of falsehoods that we have adopted for one reason or another, and to truly see our bare bones.
This process is by no means a comfortable state of affairs.
To see yourself, a little broken, bloody and bruised can shake you at your roots; leading to feelings of doubt and insecurity, wondering if you will ever be that person you have always hoped to be some day. It can be disheartening, saddening and even emotionally cripple us for a time. That’s okay as long as you learn to see those reactions for what they are; ultimately… not helpful.
Self care is a tool in the Witch Kit (or rather, any spiritual care kit – but I stick to what I personally embrace) that enables personal alchemy and Phoenix – like transformation. It takes practice to get into the swing of what works for you personally, and ultimately noone can provide those answers for you… just like most aspects of a spiritual path the key is getting your hands dirty, making the mistakes, learning, regrouping and persisting. There can be joy to be found in this process, trying out all sorts of new and inventive processes in the journey towards finding ways to balance yourself. Letting yourself enjoy the things that make you feel better might sound overly simplistic but the amount of people believing they have to deny who they are in order to remain spiritual is overwhelming.
Of course, over indulgence and lack of personal responsibility and the resulting inaction that spawns from these negative concepts is something else; something that usually rears its head as an argument against self care. It doesn’t work that way though as lack of responsibility and inaction are not symptoms of too much self care, simply a complete lack of self care – rather than doing the hard work of delving into that deep dark place of roots and finding the source of your pain, you subvert those efforts and deny the process.
Self care doesn’t lead to the refusal to be part of your life; it reinvigorates your sense of self, acknowledges your personal boundaries, and gives you a good swift kick up the backside.
Many blessings, Starlets
Joey
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