Surrendering To Winter's Rhythms
Dreaming, Memories, Nature
If you are a regular or have just discovered Tarantula: Authors and Art, welcome. Our December inspiration is the Italian artist Paola Anziche. The way that Anziche incorporates nature into her artwork made our writer, Lidia Oshlyansky, realize how important it is to sync our daily routines with the rhythms of the natural world. For instance, allowing your body to hibernate during the dark months of winter causes your dreamworld to become more vivid and deeper, enabling memories to resurface.
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My sister and I are sitting at a pub in London. She has 6 or more bowls of soup in front of her. All are New England clam chowder. She takes spoonfuls from each bowl and comments on them. “This one, from that little cafe in that town on the way to Portland is best.” I’m happily eating my halloumi and couscous salad, a favourite off the menu at the King’s Head back in Crouch End (London).
This dream is a mishmash of memories from two holidays my sister and I took together, including one that took place in New England over 25 years ago. My sister and I don’t often get to go places, just the two of us. She was a very young mom and has always had a family to take care of. At the age of 30, I moved to the United Kingdom and subsequently to Sweden, which was far away from my sister. Life and distance has meant that time spent together is all too rare. This dream left me feeling sad/happy, nostalgia heavily running through my day, making simple things feel more important. Cooking breakfast for my son suddenly felt important. Lunch with an old colleague and friend felt more important. Dreams reminding me of important moments, happy and sad.
As autumn comes to a close and winter begins, there are more and more dreams like this. My dreams generally become more vivid and memorable, blending real memories with a touch of the surreal. I don’t know what it is about early winter that has that effect, maybe it’s the daylight receding that makes me reflective. As if nature beginning its hibernation is asking me to also slow down, and give myself a chance to pay attention to the smaller things in life, the important small things.
December brings more of the cold, dark and snow with it. It’s a very quiet time of year. I’ve heard many Swedes call it “cozy”. Early autumn with its gorgeous colours, Halloween and cool evenings and its fading light is my favourite time of year. The sun, so low on the horizon here in Stockholm, casts the morning and evening sky into pinks and purples in such a spectacular show of beauty that it takes my breath away. But, as the days get shorter and shorter towards the end of November and into December I feel the pull to become one with nature and also hibernate. I admit to not always giving this time of year its due appreciation - I grumble about the cold and the dark endlessly.
Around me most trees have shed their glorious autumn colours with the exception of a few bright yellow leaves clinging to their branches and dancing in the wind, like a child's mobile. There are bright red rosehips on bare rose shrubs that remind me of another children’s toy my son had when he was little - it was one of those counting bead toys. Mother nature continues her colours in a quieter, gentler way even through winter. Those moments of colour in the natural stillness of early winter bring on the nostalgic memories, the quieter pace around me giving me the mental space to notice. Memories and nature woven together.
Paola Anziché’s art reminded me of the importance of weaving more of the natural world, the rhythms of nature, into our lives. Our day to day business doesn’t allow much space for a quieting down or nostalgic reflections to take us away, and yet winter calls for us to do so. I was listening to a BBC podcast called “Witches”, along with exploring the modern practice of magic, or witchcraft, it also explores its history and cultural origins. An episode focuses on nature and magic and speaks of the old Wiccan calendar. This calendar was tightly tied to the seasons and the full moon cycles, fully attuned with the rhythms of the seasons. Winter, for example, is about quieting down, resting, stillness. They celebrated the winter solstice and the soon to be returning lights with bonfires, and exchanging gifts. Likely one of the reasons we do so many of these things at Christmas.
There is magic to be found in the stillness and reflection. Only during the transition to winter when things have slowed down and the Holiday season hasn’t yet kicked into high gear do I allow the time for this magic of memories and dreams to enter. Research has shown the benefits of slowing down as well as the benefits connecting to nature. We all need to do this more and not just wait for the colder, darker days of winter. I need to take advantage of that quiet hour at sunset in the summer, the misty silent morning of spring and let them also weave nature’s magic.
To read other articles written this October, click on the following link/s:
Weaving With Nature by Cecilia Andersson
To read about other artists that we featured, please visit our Archives.
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Thank you Paola for sharing this 😊
Thank you Lidia, It's a delicate and private text.
Paola