A "Creature Comfort" video to affirm, inspire, give context to, and, yes, comfort your creature self as you unplug from burnout and the life of a machine and remember how to be *alive* again.

I was surprised this morning, while checking in with friend and colleague Jenn Balijko of Always on My Way, to discover that the energy of this lunar new year and solar eclipse was different than what I had been imagining it might feel like. Still potent, yes. But I was feeling the potency in a very different way and different place in my body.

And that got me questioning everything.

Do we even know what the Chinese cultural context for the Fire Horse is, or are we adding our western pre-conceived ideas to it?

What lunar new year celebrations might I find in my own ancestral lineage?

And what might both Fire and Horse, as ancestors and teachers in their own rights, have to teach me beyond my post-industrial, empire-trained way of attaching meaning to them, imaging them, and relating to them?

Those are some of the musings I unpack a bit more in this video.

What do you think?

Feel free to share as a comment. I’d welcome hearing it.

If this spoke to you, it helps me immensely if you could take a few moments to help spread the word by liking, sharing (either publicly or with a friend), commenting back, etc <3

__________________________

P.S. I’m hoping the self-paced course I've been working on, full of practical exercises and skills, to support your journey back to being creature-not-machine again will be ready to go by the end of the month.

P.P.S. In the meantime, and in honor of Lunar New Year, Insight 2026 is back again briefly and available to purchase for five days only. It’s tarot divination for you and your 2026, to offer you some spirit-led guidance and orientation when navigating uncharted territory or you know you can’t continue with “business as usual” but aren’t sure what to do next. People who got theirs back in Dec and early Jan are reporting it’s been soothing, affirming, and helping them a lot. Once this week is up, the offer won’t be back again until 2027).

https://www.wildsacredjourney.com/insight-tarot-for-2026-lny

[for more ways to work with me in tending your creature self, particularly after burning out from trying to be a machine:

www.wildsacredjourney.com

https://wildsacredjourney.substack.com/]

A "Creature Comfort" video to affirm, inspire, give context to, and, yes, comfort your creature self as you unplug from burnout and the life of a machine and remember how to be *alive* again.

Is there a difference between animism and anthropormorphism and why does it matter?

I would submit: yes - there is a difference.

One maintains stories human supremacy and offers a false sense of comfort, a way of trying to tame the world down into something as small as we are.

And the other… well, the other acknowledges how small we are, how challenging the world can be. But it also offers a deeper sense of belonging and kinship.

One holds us as not-creature. The other helps us be creatures.

By this point, you can probably guess which I’ll choose!

What do you think? Can you feel the difference?

Feel free to share as a comment. I’d welcome hearing it.

If this spoke to you, it helps me immensely if you could take a few moments to help spread the word by liking, sharing (either publicly or with a friend), commenting back, etc <3

__________________________

P.S. I’m hoping the self-paced course I've been working on, full of practical exercises and skills, to support your journey back to being creature-not-machine again will be ready to go by the end of the month.

P.P.S. In the meantime, I’m also running a five-day flash sale of Insight 2026 (divination through tarot cards to give you something to orient by through the coming year) in honor of the Lunar New Year. Feb 16th-21st. If you’re wondering what guidance the Otherworld has for you at this moment in your life and our shared history, this might be just the thing.

https://www.wildsacredjourney.com/insight-tarot-for-2026-lny

[for more ways to work with me in tending your creature self, particularly after burning out from trying to be a machine:

www.wildsacredjourney.com

https://wildsacredjourney.substack.com/]

A "Creature Comfort" video to affirm, inspire, give context to, and, yes, comfort your creature self as you unplug from burnout and the life of a machine and remember how to be *alive* again.

We find ourselves at the cross-quarter threshold between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox - the beginning of the light half of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Celtic tradition, it’s marked in a harvest celebration known as Imbolc (Imbolg) which translates out to “in the belly” - a nod to the beginning of the lambing season and the stirrings beginning in the pregnant belly of the Earth. It’s also a time to celebrate the transition (or, in some stories, the rebirth) from the Cailleach of winter to Brigid - the goddess of the light half of the year and the one to offer healing, protection of hearth and home, protection of lambs, and guidance in poetry and smithcraft. (And - I forgot to say this in the video, but she’s also credited with being the one to bring keening - the lamenting sound of grief and praise - to the Irish and Scottish people.)

There are many folk traditions you can probably find from your ancestral traditions to ritually mark this time of year. But here are some of my thoughts, not necessarily on specific traditions, but more on the spiritual and symbolic significance of this moment in time for our creature selves as we aim to shift to a more ancestral, animist perspective on the world.

Any thoughts or impressions in response to this video? You’re welcome to drop ‘em below!

If this spoke to you, it helps me immensely if you could take a few moments to help spread the word by liking, sharing (either publicly or with a friend), commenting back, etc <3

__________________

[for more ways to work with me in tending your creature self, particularly after burning out from trying to be a machine:

www.wildsacredjourney.com
https://wildsacredjourney.substack.com/]