Developing A Relationship With Rest
With Monday’s new moon in Scorpio, we officially enter into the dark half of the year, the first stage of which is the process of attuning.
Photo©yaalan/123rf
I have been reflecting more on transitions in the past several years than ever before in my life. I’ve been thinking about what they feel like, what they require of me, and what I need to make them.
These reflections on transition go hand in hand with work that began for me this summer: I’ve been learning how to rest. As it often goes as a being in the collective, I’m not the only one. Many of you are talking about how you honor your energy levels, and your relationships with time and pace and stamina.
For me, resting has become part of how I make transitions. If, at the end of a long day, I feel tired, I’m more likely to sit down for five minutes — or at least consider sitting down for five minutes — before I cook dinner than I was a year or two ago. I consider the consideration as potent as the actual doing of the thing, because it meant I was at least conscious and tuning into my body and my needs.
Developing a relationship with rest is about developing a consciousness and attunement about and to your body’s needs. This allows for integration of your actual experience in your body with your perceptions, expectations and understandings of how your circumstances and choices affects your energy, pace and stamina.
I did some beautiful work with my ancestors this summer that parallels the healing and learning I am articulating. I worked with my neighbor and friend, who is an ancestral lineage guide. I met my father’s mother’s line, a group of women sitting peacefully in a room embroidering and crocheting. They told me that is what they did to rest when they were alive in their earthly bodies. It is also what they did to funnel their knowing — their messages for the collective, for their families, for consciousness, for Earth.
It had somehow been over a year, but I happily picked up my crochet hook and started crocheting granny squares. My ancestors were pleased. They are helping me to refresh and renovate my relationship with rest. And they are reminding me that what we do in rest is not just personally restorative, it is collective medicine — it ripples and trickles and nourishes a parched humanity who longs for such actions of untethered gentleness.
As we pass the cross quarter between the fall equinox and the winter solstice, observe the time change, and behold Monday’s new moon in Scorpio, we officially enter into the dark half of the year. This is the reflective pause of the year, the first stage of which is the process of attuning. We are attuning to our sensory experience of the world, our emotions, our bodies and our processes, which can include our relationships with transitions, pace, stamina, energy, and rest.
Scorpio is a master of this territory. May it offer gentle reassurance and companionship as you attune to your instincts, honor the wisdom of your body, and find intimacy, respite and insight in your own consciousness.
This article is a repost from Brittany’s substack newsletter; sign up here: BrittanyWoodNickerson.substack.com.
Brittany Wood Nickerson is a writer, astrologer, herbalist, and interspiritual minister. You can learn more about her work and offerings at www.BrittanyWoodNickerson.com
