{"id":1862,"date":"2023-12-20T00:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T06:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/?p=1862"},"modified":"2023-12-20T09:02:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T15:02:45","slug":"seasons-of-the-human-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Seasons of the Human Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

If you follow my column, you may have noticed the distinct sound of crickets as I churned out zero new articles, week after week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rest assured, I had been staring at blank pages for the better part of the year, willing the words to simply materialize\u2014but they never came. So, I took a step back from my space on the internet. In all honesty, a step back makes it sound more well-thought-out than it was. It was more akin to a screeching halt. No podcasts were recorded, no articles were written, and no infographics were crafted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Image via Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I needed to hibernate, and I needed to do it immediately.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the past several months, I took my moments to breathe, to rest, to feel, to heal, and to explore myself rather than to be of service. I took my time, and I make no apologies. While being of service to others comes naturally to me, true growth can be found in those moments of quiet reflection.<\/span><\/p>\n

This extended period of introspection made me once again consider the seasons of our own lives and helped me to develop some much-needed self-compassion as I licked my wounds. In this realization, I was able to truly understand that sometimes we must lay dormant before we are able to bloom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nature\u2019s Patterns: <\/b> Elemental Seasons<\/span><\/h1>\n In many pagan spheres, each season brings its own correspondences. For the sake of being informative, I will be including these here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, while I will be reviewing these, it is paramount that we understand that we don\u2019t exclusively align with the physical seasons around us in our own personal development. While I\u2019m no stranger to seasonal depression, sometimes life goes off the rails while the whole world around us is seemingly in bloom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These moments can feel very isolating, but rest assured, they\u2019re necessary building blocks for the versions of ourselves that our being birthed into existence.<\/span><\/p>\n Image via Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Spring:<\/b> healing, purification (echoed in the tradition of spring cleaning), heightened psychic awareness, fertility, sowing gardens, and engaging in ecological rituals\u2014tapping into the elements of Air magic.<\/span><\/p>\n Summer<\/b>: a season of love, union, camaraderie, aesthetics, shielding, fortitude, tapping into magical and physical vigor, and summoning strength\u2014drawing upon the fiery essence of Fire magic.<\/span><\/p>\n Autumn<\/b>: prosperity, employment opportunities, acquiring new possessions, and delving into the currents of Water magic.<\/span><\/p>\n Winter<\/b>: brings forth the purging of ailments, ingrained habits, and addictions, prompting exploration of past lives. It encourages introspection, meditation, literary pursuits, and enchantments designed to rejuvenate the practitioner for the imminent spring\u2014embracing the grounding energies of Earth magic.<\/span><\/p>\n While written in my own words, these correspondences can be found in Scott Cunningham\u2019s book, \u201cEarth, Air, Fire, Water\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/h5>\n Now, while it is wonderful to work with the earth during its cycles, we can reverse engineer this into our own existence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Are you exceptionally tired and don\u2019t have the mental wherewithal to dedicate a ton of energy to your spiritual practice? Well, welcome to your own personal \u201cwinter.\u201d Rather than trying to overexert yourself, focus on your self-compassion and take your moment to rest. What is it in your life that you can let go of to make room for new growth? This period is a time of proverbial house cleaning and, while it may feel lonely, it is but one stop on the cycle. You will bloom again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Human Patterns: <\/b> Rhythms of Our Seasons<\/span><\/h1>\n Our very lives, from beginning to end, are seasons of their own. We are but a reflection of the earth around us. We emerge into existence akin to the arrival of spring, mirroring life\u2019s renewal. During our own personal summer season, we develop into our adolescence. Following this period of rapid growth, we mature into adulthood. Amid this phase of our lives, we navigate our autumns until we eventually grow old and perish into our own winters.<\/span><\/p>\n But our individual seasons don\u2019t stop there. We experience seasons through every step of our chronological development. Our health cycles. Our careers cycle. Our relationship cycles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Consider our relationships, for example. First, we met someone of interest, and sparks of passion ignite within us. This is an exciting time for a relationship and it\u2019s the birth of our new romance. As we spend more time around them, our feelings grow and deepen. During this phase, we\u2019re in the summer of our relationship. We feel alive within our connections and deeply enamored.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, as we all know, life isn\u2019t always rainbows and sunshine. We will face trials and tribulations in the autumn of our relationships. These could be conflicts, transitions, or personal shifts where we must reassess our relationship.\u00a0 Oftentimes, these challenges will lead us into our relationship winters, where we\u2019ve grown distant or disconnected from that initial spark. While this doesn\u2019t inherently mean the relationship is over, often we must decide if we want to lay the relationship to rest or find a way to reignite the flame.<\/span><\/p>\n Echoes of Seasons: <\/b> Embracing Life\u2019s Rhythms<\/span><\/h1>\n In the tapestry of life, our journey unfolds in seasons as these cyclical rhythms echo the ebb and flow of nature\u2019s cadence. Sometimes, amidst the demands of our everyday existence, we encounter moments that require us to pause, retreat, reflect, and heal.<\/span><\/p>\n My recent hiatus from the cacophony of deadlines and digital landscapes unveiled a crucial truth: growth sprouts from the seeds of introspection. In this solitude, I rediscovered that the rhythm of seasons are reflected back to us within our own existence. Each of life\u2019s chapters aligns with elemental seasons\u2014spring brings forth healing and rejuvenation, while summer ignites our fiery passions. Autumn brings a harvest of prosperity, and winter, a time for deep introspection and renewal.<\/span><\/p>\n As I delved deeper into this understanding, I realized that these cycles extend beyond mere elemental phases. They permeate our relationships, careers, health, and the intricate threads of our lives. Amidst these intricate cycles, I\u2019ve learned that our personal winters\u2014periods of hibernation and reflection\u2014are essential waypoints for growth. In these moments, we shed old skin, embrace solitude, and make space for new beginnings.<\/span><\/p>\n As we journey through life\u2019s landscape, we can pay homage to the seasons nested within our existence. We have the choice to embrace the natural rhythm of our lives. Each phase, each cycle, carries the assurance of blossoming anew. After all, from every wintry phase emerges a fresh spring, where once again we will find ourselves in bloom.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you follow my column, you may have noticed the distinct sound of crickets as I churned out zero new articles, week after week.\u00a0 Rest assured, I had been staring at blank pages for the better part of the year, willing the words to simply materialize\u2014but they never came. So, I took a step back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4813,"featured_media":1889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[225],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elements"],"yoast_head":"\nSeasons of the Human Experience<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you follow my column, you may have noticed the distinct sound of crickets as I churned out zero new articles, week after week.\u00a0 Rest assured, I had\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seasons of the Human Experience\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you follow my column, you may have noticed the distinct sound of crickets as I churned out zero new articles, week after week.\u00a0 Rest assured, I had\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Old Ways in Modern Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-20T06:00:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-20T15:02:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1606\/2023\/12\/Patheos-Featured-Image.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"782\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Charlotte Wilde\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Charlotte Wilde\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/\",\"name\":\"Seasons of the Human Experience\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-20T06:00:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-20T15:02:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/#\/schema\/person\/63155a3bf444982fcba050020c50df19\"},\"description\":\"If you follow my column, you may have noticed the distinct sound of crickets as I churned out zero new articles, week after week.\u00a0 Rest assured, I had\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Seasons of the Human Experience\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/\",\"name\":\"Old Ways in Modern Times\",\"description\":\"Charlotte Wilde's column Old Times in Modern Ways explores pagan practices through a modern lens to assist awakening or aspiring contemporary witches in developing their practices.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/#\/schema\/person\/63155a3bf444982fcba050020c50df19\",\"name\":\"Charlotte Wilde\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/97ea13db05e8b8e7dc03e8d1b89d1627?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/97ea13db05e8b8e7dc03e8d1b89d1627?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Charlotte Wilde\"},\"description\":\"Charlotte Wilde is the owner of the occult shop Eclectic Charge, cohost of the Cosmic Cauldron podcast, and the author of Eclectic Witchcraft: Old Ways for Modern Magick. She is a lifelong student of the occult but, more specifically, a practicing folk witch whose practice centers around the use of natural materials to create magick and further her connection with divinity.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/author\/cwilde\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Seasons of the Human Experience","description":"If you follow my column, you may have noticed the distinct sound of crickets as I churned out zero new articles, week after week.\u00a0 Rest assured, I had","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Seasons of the Human Experience","og_description":"If you follow my column, you may have noticed the distinct sound of crickets as I churned out zero new articles, week after week.\u00a0 Rest assured, I had","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/","og_site_name":"Old Ways in Modern Times","article_published_time":"2023-12-20T06:00:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-20T15:02:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":782,"height":411,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1606\/2023\/12\/Patheos-Featured-Image.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Charlotte Wilde","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Charlotte Wilde","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/","name":"Seasons of the Human Experience","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-12-20T06:00:07+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-20T15:02:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/#\/schema\/person\/63155a3bf444982fcba050020c50df19"},"description":"If you follow my column, you may have noticed the distinct sound of crickets as I churned out zero new articles, week after week.\u00a0 Rest assured, I had","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/2023\/12\/seasons-of-the-human-experience\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Seasons of the Human Experience"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/","name":"Old Ways in Modern Times","description":"Charlotte Wilde's column Old Times in Modern Ways explores pagan practices through a modern lens to assist awakening or aspiring contemporary witches in developing their practices.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/#\/schema\/person\/63155a3bf444982fcba050020c50df19","name":"Charlotte Wilde","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/97ea13db05e8b8e7dc03e8d1b89d1627?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/97ea13db05e8b8e7dc03e8d1b89d1627?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Charlotte Wilde"},"description":"Charlotte Wilde is the owner of the occult shop Eclectic Charge, cohost of the Cosmic Cauldron podcast, and the author of Eclectic Witchcraft: Old Ways for Modern Magick. She is a lifelong student of the occult but, more specifically, a practicing folk witch whose practice centers around the use of natural materials to create magick and further her connection with divinity.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/author\/cwilde\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4813"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/oldwaysinmoderntimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}