Monthly Medicine | December is Choosing Softness
In December, we are moving out of THE TOWER, and into QUEEN OF PENTACLES. This month will invite us to lean into softness during moments of contraction, resistance and discomfort. We cannot continue to harden to our pain, and to the world’s pain. We must crack our hearts open like fruit, breathe into the experience, and spread our arms wide, both to ourselves and all those who we can be of service to. Everything in this life is a choice. We can choose surrender, ease and grace, activism, action — all are appropriate, but to truly make the best choice for the moment, we must be present. To be present is to be soft. Softness is not weakness. It is the deepest, most important source of strength available to us, crucial for these times. Aligning ourselves with nature, the changing seasons, and ritual/ceremony will be of the utmost importance for this softening– it is what Queen of Pentacles is all about.
November had us in The Tower for obvious reasons, in hindsight. The shattering of old structures, the old order and the old paradigms literally shook us awake. We are not the same; we won’t ever be the same. This does not mean, however, that we are in any way not okay, or not going to be okay. This is what The Tower, or any trauma, can feel like — that everything is gone and we are lost. In fact, everything that was blocking us from our truth, from activation and from being aligned with our purpose and soul path is gone. We are more free than we’ve ever been. It comes back to choice, to softness. Can we allow the grief of this old way to move through us? Can we choose softness during the unraveling? Choosing softness will actually enable us to have the most profound and productive journey forward. It will help us to unlock, to be in truth, to come back to the body. It will help The Tower do the work it came here to do, which is to destroy the old structures of the ego, of fear; it burns away everything that no longer serves.
December is about maximizing our self care, being sweet to ourselves. Again — this is not weakness, or about burying our heads in the sand. This is about being able to be of service. If we are locked in trauma, wounding, and pain, if we are exhausted, lost, and our well is empty, we will NOT be available to be of service to our planet, to the disenfranchised, to those who need our support. We have to learn to fill our own wells. We have been sold a bill of goods about the power of compassion and self care, that it is in some way selfish. There can be no true transformation and change without it. Without it, we are not receptive, awake or listening. These things are needed most now to build a path forward.
Queen of Pentacles is the caretaker of the body’s well being — she bridges a connection between these human bodies and the body of the Divine Mother, this planet, our home. This card encourages us to go outside, to take care of ourselves, to live seasonally, get lots of sleep, ground often, take baths, and be gentle with ourselves. This is what December is asking us to do so we can be available and nourished for the energetic powerhouse that 2017 will be. We can make this choice. If these choices feel uncomfortable to you, you most likely need them more than you think. We must come together as one — this can only happen outside if we start coming together inside ourselves.
