The Snow is melting. Nature is slimming down.

She is dematerializing. She has Materialized, known Her fruits, let them fall, and then retreated underneath the Surface to make plans for what She hopes to become -- what she hopes will come out next time around. Now, She's preparing to emerge.

Birth is coming.

She knows that in order to allow room for new growth, She has to melt away a few extra pounds of "water-weight" put on throughout the Winter, and become lean.

Nobody's going to argue that losing a few pounds isn't desirable. But let's shift that thought over, then up a plane or two.

The Earth makes a habit of putting on some extra weight during the Winter. It snows, snows, rains, and snows again and again. That snow piles up and insulates the gestation occurring underneath the surface. It's not necessarily a bad habit for the Earth -- when it occurs in its season. But weight-gain that it may be, the Earth is always keenly connected with the energies which give it life. And when position changes enough relative to the Sun, Snow turns to rain and washes away old insulating, protecting, habits.

Nature knows that it has to be this way. There's a time for bursting, extending, reaching Beauty. Then, there's a time when circumstances force a retracting, condensing, and even protecting of that Beauty's Source. Coping-mechanisms employed during "cold-fronts" are okay when necessary. But when the energy shifts, internal and external temperatures start climbing, and vestiges of old habits have to be shed in order to make room for springing blossoms of new beauty.

You can't stay the same forever. That's called Death.

How many times have your mental, emotional, spiritual, or physical circumstances "dropped in temperature," causing you to submit to an impulse to protect yourself via "insulation?" Let's put it this way: How many times have you grabbed a bucket of ice-cream because...YOU...JUST...CAN'T...?

First off, breathe. It's okay. This is what Nature Herself does when things get cold. She insulates.

She insulates. But the Earth doesn't go off-the-rails, spinning out of its orbit into Dead Space. It stays plugged in with the Sun, shines more light on the "other half" of its Self, and keenly waits until the positional energies shift.

Insulate. Go ahead. It's alright. But do it with awareness. Don't drown yourself in a never-ending Monsoon. Don't sentence yourself to an an ever-present Winter. Cold, is just one end of the polarity. Try to find out what it is that's making you "cold." Maybe it's just that you've shifted position relative to the things in your life that energize and enliven you. Have you shifted away? Maybe this shift wasn't your fault? Maybe it's only Natural. Maybe it allows you to shed some light and attention on the "underside" of your life. Maybe you should lean into this shift for a while...and...insulate.

The "Winter Solstice" of this process happens when, on your darkest day, you decide to reposition yourself, and move back towards an alignment which brings you warmth. While you've been insulating, you have considered what it is that you want to become next time around. You've realized that no matter what Seeds you give your fertility to, the things, people, and places that energize and enliven you all amount to the Sun which will give universal warmth to your efforts.

Stray. Insulate. Consider. Decide. Return. Melt. Grow.

And perhaps most importantly -- don't worry. Don't worry yourself out into Dead Space. Nature makes a grab for her icy snacks once in a while too.

--Bene