yet another new year: advent in the western church

for the orthodox church, the new year began in september, following the jewish calendar, more or less.  for the celtic church, it began on all hallows' eve, the beginning of november.  the western church too is beginning its new year, on the sunday closest to st. andrew's day.  although it may seem there is quite a big of disagreement among these calendars, what they have in common is starting the new year as the time of darkness comes upon us.  the beginning of the new year has that in common with the beginning of the day, which also begins in the evening, as darkness comes upon us.  this understanding is more clearly kept in the jewish calendar and the with the (at least ancient) celts, but it still shows up in the great feasts of the church, which have proper celebrations for their first eves. 

with this beginning of the new in darkness is an understanding of the mystery of birth and of growth.  the seed must fall to earth and be buried in the darkness in order to sprout and yield fruit.  the human being begins life in the darkness of the mother's womb.  the resurrection of the christ comes after burial in the tomb and descending into hell. 

my winter's task is to explore what r. j. stewart calls the underworld initiation,* the time one must spend, in the celtic (shamanic or) poetic tradition in darkness, sometimes literally in a cave or burial chamber, in order to find the light, or enlightenment, or to give birth to a poem.  it is difficult, particularly in this loud world.  there are 'christmas'--more truthfully anti-christmas concerts--all around, and many other distractions.  i have been gifted with a very quiet and secluded space in which to spend the winter's darkness.  and i have been gifted the richness of stewart's long meditation on celtic myth and song which has influenced me to try to accept this gift of the winter.

for many people with less leisure and more demands upon them than i have, at least the western church gives them a four-week advent.  (the celtic and orthodox churches have a full forty day fast before the feast of the nativity.)  it can be for all of us a time of new birth, or new seed planting, of finding new poems and stories to guide us in our imrams, our journeys in life.  let us take advantage of it, and be quiet, slow down, and listen to the heartbeat of the christ within the womb of the virgin that we all are called to be. 

as gertrude mueller nelson says, 'it's advent, and the whole world is pregnant.'**

*(http://www.amazon.com/Underworld-Initiation-journey-towards-transformation/dp/1892137038/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322363543&sr=8-1)

**in to dance with god (http://www.amazon.com/Dance-God-Family-Community-Celebration/dp/0809128128/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322364225&sr=1-1)