From the first day of the holiday season, even as I’m savoring the feasting, singing and celebratory chaos, my favorite holiday moment beckons. I’m not of the religious persuasion that celebrates Epiphany at the end of the Advent season, so I stumbled on it by chance. For a number of years I noticed that the season wasn’t really over for me until a few days after New Year’s Day. Once tree was down, the last stale cookies were eaten, the kids were back at school, I dropped back into my own life with a sigh of relief.
This was the time to recap the holidays and decide what might work better in the future. This was the time to imagine possibilities for next year. I began to notice how many insights would come as I sat with my journal and tea, waiting for resolutions to emerge from detritus of Christmas past. As it turns out, year after year this magical day was nearly always about Jan. 5th or 6th. Curious, I looked up the date on a liturgical calendar and discovered that it’s a celebration of the Three Wise Men, the Persian travelers who showed up to acknowledge the divinity of the Christ child in human form.
Following from that origin, the word Epiphany is about an Aha! on any level, a sudden realization or comprehension of the essence of something. Aha! I thought. No wonder I had discovered clarity over the years, had recognized my own essential direction every year about this time. It was a time honored tradition! So for the last ten years I’ve entered the Epiphany date in my calendar along with some extra private time for contemplation. I invite all my friends and clients to do the same. Sit. Be still. And listen for direction. My wish for you on this, my favorite holiday.
