Non Krampus Mentis…

Julbocken (The Yule Goat) by John Bauer

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When was the first time you realised that myths existed?

When did you first become aware that certain myths are sometimes believed as a reality?

When was the first moment a myth in which you believed and thought was a reality, was a fantasy, a figment of magical thinking and imagination?

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Human life is a strange experience, ask any alien who is visiting this planet and trying to understand humans and they’ll tell you…

“I think you may be mistaken, I’m not an alien, these antennae sticking out of my head are just part of my masquerade costume, I’m going to a fancy dress affair…”

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“Everybody is, often, as likely to be wrong as right. In the general experience, everybody has been wrong so often, and it has taken in most instances such a weary while to find out how wrong, that the authority is proved to be fallible.” ― Charles Dickens

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What is real and what is just something not real masquerading as something real which is so vivid that it seems real, more real than what is actually real, and what is actually real seems too unreal to be real?

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This morning I had a quick look at my astrology for the day, and read this:

“A radical reappraisal     

On this day you will probably have difficulty relating to others, feeling cool and reserved even toward those you love. The problem is that you will have to spend today reevaluating what you are getting out of your relationships and what you are putting into them. You will have a strong awareness of yourself as an independent, even isolated human being, realizing that no one can really get inside of you and feel what you feel. Obviously, this can lead to loneliness and depression, but it can also lead to a radical reappraisal of your life and to a sober consideration of yourself as a human being relating to other human beings. It is necessary to separate yourself from the illusions that run through even the best relationship and to look at what is really there.”

– Robert Hand via Astrodienst

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This is something which doesn’t need an interest in astrology to be of interest as it reflects an intricate part of living, life, and all the elements which are a part of it, of us, being and doing and, of course, relating.

Relationships with others form a large part of the human experience, and influence how we experience ourselves. Perhaps our experience of ourselves is all about our experience of others.

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“We catch the emotions of others when we see them or come in contact with them. This is true for both positive and negative emotions. This process of emotion transference usually occurs through facial expressions. How many times have you smiled upon seeing a smiling person without even knowing the reason behind his smile? Or how many times has it happened that someone is laughing and you ask them, laughingly, what the joke is about? You start laughing even before hearing the actual joke! And if, after hearing the joke, you realize that it wasn’t funny at all, your laughter immediately fades away and you wear a “how-silly-of-you-to-laugh-at-such-things” expression on your face.

Same thing happens when we come in contact with someone who’s feeling down. We replicate their feelings and start feeling bad even if we had no good reason to feel bad and our life was going pretty good! If you stay with them long enough, you can even catch depression from them!” – All your moods and emotional states aren’t necessarily your own via Psych-Mechanics

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What is us and what is others… and are those others being themselves or someone else, maybe even us?

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Julboken by Elsa Beskow via – diarionordico

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At this time of year, something which many of us do, especially as we count down (or up) to a New Year, is to reflect on the past, recent and afar, and then look towards the future. We may do this while perhaps making resolutions for the year to come to reflect our ambitions, hopes and dreams for ourselves for the imminent future.

How many of our New Year’s Resolutions reflect our personal views and how many reflect the views which we see in the world and society around us which we believe we need to adopt and take seriously.

Such as… many people decide to ‘get fit’ at this time of year. Why do we think we’re not fit as we are? What is our criteria? Is it really ours or does it belong to someone else? Or is it just a ritual at this time when many of us take a time out from restrictions and allow ourselves to indulge… and then wish we hadn’t gone that far with indulgence. But still… it’s just a temporary breather, a relaxing point, and most of the year we’re usually being hard on ourselves and suppressing the indulgent side, more often than not for practical reasons.

We can’t always get what we want… and sometimes we don’t even get what we need, but… if at first you don’t succeed, keep trying until trying becomes trying in a different interpretation of the word.

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“Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” ― Charles Dickens

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Reflecting upon and reevaluating my relationships… is something which I do quite regularly as it helps to give me perspective. Usually I end up deciding that I’m not giving as much as I’m being given. I always feel that somehow… I’m not good enough. This is an old tendency which I am never sure is real or not.

Astrologically I have natal Saturn square Sun – which is basically a ‘you’re never good enough’ aspect (so get used to it, because this is a natal and natural issue for you)… with Sun in Capricorn – if you have ever viewed a person from the angle of their Sun sign and they happen to be a Capricorn Sun, and you think they’re being hard on you – multiply that hardness on you by 10 (or more) and that’s how hard they are being on themselves. In other words however hard they are being on you is just an inkling of how hard they are being on themselves…

Which is something that applies to people regardless of Sun sign, astrology, etc… all people tend to be harder on themselves than they are to others, and it is that hardness towards themselves which influences their hardness towards others. So if someone is being hard on you… use your empathy to see what they are probably doing to themselves which is why it is spilling out onto you. You probably do this too… so be gentle with yourself, and others will feel that gentleness emanating from you, and will find it very comforting.

So be kinder to yourself… and it will be easier to be kinder to others, and both you and others will benefit from this gift and present.

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“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” ― Charles Dickens

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Julbocken by Treebone

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Best wishes today and for the New Year to come, may you have many blessings fall upon you like beautiful and intricate snowflakes…

…whether you celebrate this time of year one way or another or not at all…

Embrace the spirit of who you are and share it with the rest of us in whatever way that you do!

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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” ― Charles Dickens

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It is life flowing within and through all of us. It is beautiful and fascinating and infinitely mysterious!