The Spirit of the Season by Sapphire

A thread that runs through most celebrations this time of year is that of the giving of gifts.  Sometimes this causes stress to us and we are hard placed to pinpoint the reason.  We spend hours crafting or searching for the perfect gift.  We visit friends and relatives and (sometimes) leave feeling drained even if the visit was a happy one.  Holiday crowds make some panicky and the rush towards the “Big Perfect Family Celebration” leads normally sane and sensible people into a paroxysm of competition.

This becomes much clearer if you consider that time and money are representations of our own personal energy.  The time that you spend making that present or shopping for someone is time that you are giving to them.  The money that you spend is money that you earned through your work (your energy).  Every act of giving takes a little drink from your well of energy.   Too many drinks, and you are left thirsty!

There is a Norse rune, Gebo, which is the shape of an X.  When you give of your energy, you are forming one cross of that X.  In order to complete the cycle and to keep yourself healthy physically and mentally, you must allow the other cross to be drawn.  You must learn to accept energy when it is offered.   If you give, you must receive. Gebo symbolizes the contract of giving and receiving.  Not surprisingly, it is the rune used in treaties, contracts, and marriages!   If you do not allow this reciprocity, you will feel off-balance.  Giving more than you receive puts others in debt to you from an energy standpoint.  It may not be reflected right away, but it can lead to feelings of being taken advantage of; of exhaustion; or even anger with those you have directed your energy towards.  The flip side is receiving more than you give.  People don’t tend to do this purposely.  (Though some do and those types are a discussion all their own!)  If people repeatedly upset the balance in your favor, you may feel resentful.  You may also feel nervous and excitable because you have had so much of that metaphorical water poured over you that you have had more than you can possibly drink!  (Think children on Christmas morning and you’ve got a pretty good illustration of that.) 

You need not receive from the same person you gave energy to.  If you have family, friends, volunteer work, or a religious group that you celebrate with, it can all pour the energy back into your soul and allow you to feel revitalized.  If you find yourself feeling that you are out of balance, decide what side of the scale needs a little more and place a little emphasis there.  Need to give?  Consider volunteer work that puts you in physical contact with others, such as reading to the elderly at a nursing home or taking children on a walk through the woods.  Need to receive?  Guess what.  The answer is the same.  If you give of yourself, the energy is returned to the point where your heart, and your well, is full once again.

A pledge to allow yourself to be loved as much as you love is the true underlying spirit of this season.  That you will allow others to replenish your well.  That you will accept the energy and invigoration of love when it is offered.  That you will return that love in full measure.  As the Light is reborn, it is a time for new birth and a time for your self to be reborn in the light of love. 

Sapphire

(aka Karen Thoms)

High Priestess, The Order of Avalon

Co-chair and Co-director of HLC Witches and

The Great Lakes Regional Open Circle

sapphire49221@gmail.com