How to Winterize for Wintuition (Winter + Intuition)

The first day of winter is upon us in the northern hemisphere, but truly if you live in a temperate climate then you know that winter started a few weeks ago. The first coat of glaring white snow, the first bitter freeze, the first sight of white capping the mountains were all initial signs of winter’s arrival. I have always had a bittersweet relationship with the winter season. I can neither claim to hate it nor love it. When days darken, I get excited for the many projects I’ve been wanting to do that I can finally complete without the pull of sunshine to tempt me outside into my garden. The longer nights outside mean longer nights indoors with family around a cozy fire or a good movie. I get excited for mountain climbs on snowshoes through the stillness of a winter forest. I’m also happy to not have to be bothered by flies and tarantula wasps. I can walk through the sage with headphones on without listening for hibernating rattlesnakes.

But admittedly, a couple of months into the season of dark and cold and I can feel my muscles grow tense around frigid bones. The time I spend outside in the low southern sun stops being enough to replenish my vitamin D and serotonin stores. I find myself daringly dashing through the edge of evening light to get safely home before I can no longer see the path before me. I’m sick of hat hair and boots and ashes and headlights. My family and I usually venture somewhere warm for a week or two over winter break to defrost before impatiently facing the sometimes painstakingly long months of the new year.

Yet when I grow impatient for spring, I remind myself that winter’s greatest gifts are below the surface. Winter is prime time for tapping into our psyche and intuitive gifts. As with plants who go dormant during the cold winter months, this period of rest is important for our wellbeing.

When a deciduous tree goes into dormancy, it stops growing new foliage and leaves brown and fall away. The remnants of their summer growth—a litter of leaves, needles, bark, greenery, seeds, bones, decay and more—disintegrate at the floor of their trunks. Soon, a thick layer of dense white snow covers and saturates the detritus to further assimilate into the dark earth. This accumulation of debris from past seasons enriches the roots with compost. Though we cannot see it with our animal eyes, the past is still with us in the depths of the land; millennia of summers amass beneath the soil. When the natural world dies back and returns to the dirt, we say goodbye to what was, in exchange for what is.

So much is happening beneath the surface during the winter months. Though trees appear to enter a state of complete inactivity in the wintertime, roots continue to grow and thrive. All around barren trees stop their reaching upward to resume an inward spiral, drawing down into the earth, below the topsoil. Underground the roots are searching for water and nutrients, continuing to grow and stockpile in preparation for spring when they will need to replenish their leaves and buds. Snowpack helps to insulate the soil, so the roots can continue their delicate and slow work throughout the coldest months.

Like the composting topsoil and the roots of a tree, humans are also called to go underground during this time of the year. The brisk cold of winter is merciless on bare skin like a sharp warning to seek shelter, return to the cave for hibernation, gather the last gnarled rosehip from the riverbed and go inside. In the imaginal realm, the cave is where we retreat to the heart of our being. It is the deep subconscious where we can open our eyes to the darkness and see our true light. In our modern culture, we perceive the cave as foreboding and avoid it as best we can, seeking out spaces that are large, well lit, and with open floor plans. But we are missing out on the mystery and self-understanding of the cave. Some caves contain crystals that took millions of years to grow. The cave resides underground, in the past, yet during dormancy, we can let go of what came before, to hibernate and dream of what will come next.

In winter, we can replicate the natural world and allow ourselves to go dormant above ground. Slow our growing. Release what we no longer need. Simplify our lives. Rest. A state of inactivity can become fertilizer for the new year. It gives us time to restore and reconsider our goals and priorities.

Meanwhile, we can continue to grow underground. Out of the limelight, out of other’s view, below the conscious realm of logic and thought loops, we can continue to establish our roots. Turning inward, we can connect with our intuition, the voice inside of us that is always loving and kind and provides answers that tend to arrive with a sense of relief and deep understanding. In the cave of our heart, the answers are quiet and come with patience and rest. We cannot rush it. We can return to the light only when the time is right. So when spring approaches, we are ready to bloom.

How to Winterize for Wintuition:

1. Take naps solely for the purpose of dreaming. Collect your dreams in a journal and see what message they may be repeating that you need to hear.

2. Have one whole day with nothing scheduled and no plan. See what happens. Look for signs and synchronicities.

3. Try going to bed as soon as the sun goes down. You can read or draw or journal or color or anything bed appropriate that you wish to do before you fall asleep (without a screen!). Enjoy the extra time beneath the covers.

4. Conversely, create a contest with your spouse/children/roommate to see who can stay in bed the longest on a Saturday morning. The loser must bring the winner coffee or tea in bed.

5. Light a fire (a candle, bonfire or fireplace) and turn off all the lights. Perhaps play music or stories. Stare into the light.

6. Walk in the falling snow. Listen to the silence. Notice what you hear.

Take the Nature Intuition Quiz to Discover your Nature Intuition archetype