Overwintering Witch: Prepping for a Spiritual Fallow Season
This is the time of year when we make physical preparations for winter. In gardening, this is called overwintering. Overwintering tasks in the garden include things like bringing heat-loving plants indoors so they don't freeze to death, using gardening cloth and mulch to protect the roots of slightly hardier plants, and pruning trees and shrubs once they've gone dormant for the winter. All of this ensures the garden stays healthy and hardy through the colder months.
But what about spiritual overwintering? Are there steps we can take to protect our spiritual health during a fallow period? Absolutely.
Note that while I'm using the term "overwintering" here, some people actually become more active in the winter. I am one of these people. I have a very poor heat tolerance and live in a very warm climate, which means I do not do well in summer. I find I need a lot more rest when it's hot outside. Winter is usually a much more productive season for me. You might be the same way, or you might find that your "slow season" is spring or fall. While winter is definitely the most common time for slowing down, everybody (and every body!) is different.
Your spiritual fallow season may not be tied to the cycle of the seasons at all. When I say "fallow season," I'm talking about a prolonged period (as in, more than a few days) with little or no activity in your spiritual practice. Despite what books and social media would have you believe, this is very common across all spiritual traditions and is totally normal. It does not mean you are bad or lazy, or that you're losing your faith.
These spiritual fallow seasons are common after major life transitions like moving to a new home, starting a new job, or having a baby. They also tend to come up when we feel overwhelmed by external factors like a stressful job or toxic roommates. Fallow seasons can also be the result of physical or mental illness. And, as I mentioned, they can be tied to changes in the seasons.
If you know ahead of time that a fallow season is coming (if you know your energy levels drop way down in the winter, for example), you can take steps to prepare. I use "spiritual overwintering" to refer to the things we do to prepare for a spiritual fallow season so we can prioritize our rest, let go of guilt, and come back feeling renewed.
Below are a few tips for spiritual overwintering.
Overwintering Tip 1: Take an inventory of your practice.
This is a good thing to do regularly anyway, but it can be especially helpful if you feel a fallow season coming on. Take stock of what your spiritual practice actually looks like right now. You may find it helpful to do this with pen and paper or an electronic document.
What practices are you doing every day? What about every week? Every month? How do these practices make you feel? What practices would you like to be doing more often? What practices would you like to be doing less often? (Be honest.) How does each of these practices make you feel when you do it?
Make note of any big projects you're currently working on. (Things like learning a new divination system, connecting with a new god or spirit, or researching a new magic system.) Write down a clear note for yourself of where you are in these projects so it will be easier to come back to them after a break.
Overwintering Tip 2: Identify the glass balls.
When I'm feeling very overwhelmed, my therapist uses this analogy to help me identify where I can give myself a break: Imagine you are juggling a bunch of balls. Some of the balls are made of glass -- if you drop them, the glass will shatter and someone could get hurt. The rest of the balls are made of plastic -- if you drop them, they will bounce and nothing bad will happen. Now imagine each ball is one of the responsibilities you are currently balancing. Which are glass balls, and which are just plastic?
Once we identify which responsibilities are glass balls and which are plastic balls, we know where we can give ourselves a break.
This can also be useful in our spiritual practices, although it's important to note that in this area, glass balls are less likely to be tied to physical safety -- instead, think of glass balls as those parts of your spiritual practice that, for whatever reason, you can't just walk away from.
If you are a member of the clergy, you might have some glass ball responsibilities in your religious community. If you are in seminary, a clergy apprenticeship, or training for some sort of initiation, that might be a glass ball. If you do Reiki or tarot readings for clients, any outstanding appointments might be glass balls. But things like your daily tarot reading and your full moon ritual, while important, are probably plastic balls.
Look back at the inventory you just made of your spiritual practice. Identify where the glass balls are in your practice, if there are any. (There may not be, and that's okay.)
Now ask yourself: If I dropped all the plastic balls, would I still be overwhelmed? If no, then go ahead and drop those plastic balls during your fallow season. If yes, you should still drop the plastic balls, but you may need to talk to the members of your spiritual community about how you can take a break from some glass ball responsibilities, too.
Overwintering Tip 3: Choose your greenhouse practices.
In gardening, overwintering often involves bringing plants that are sensitive to cold into a greenhouse (or at least indoors). In spiritual overwintering, "greenhouse practices" are those practices you choose to support you during your fallow season, while you are otherwise taking a break from your spiritual practice.
Greenhouse practices might include things that are so important to your mental and spiritual health, you feel like taking a break from them would actually make the fallow season worse. For me, this is meditation. I really notice a difference on days I don't meditate, especially in how I handle stress. Because of this, even when I'm otherwise taking a break from my practice, I try to meditate every day.
Greenhouse practices might also include non-spiritual coping skills to help you feel supported. This could be practices like journaling, crafting, making art, reading a favorite book/watching a favorite show, or catching up with a friend.
Please note that greenhouse practices should be less effort than your regular spiritual practice. This is about providing gentle support during a break. That means it should feel like a break!
Overwintering Tip 4: Make space for your rest.
If you're anything like me, you might fully intend to take a break, only to find yourself feeling so guilty about not doing the thing you end up forcing yourself to do it instead of resting. This is bad! Don't do this! (I am also working on not doing this. We can get better together.)
Rest is important, especially if you are feeling drained, burnt out, or just generally low on energy. Your body and brain need breaks, even from things you like doing! Allowing yourself to truly rest when you need to is an important part of honoring your natural cycles.
I have found that when I try to force myself to power through a fallow season, it usually makes the fallow season last way longer than if I had just allowed myself to take a break and come back refreshed. Learn from my mistakes: powering through is not the way forward. Take the goddamn nap.
Overwintering Tip 5: Plan your spring comeback.
"Sam," I hear you saying, "This sounds great and all, but what if I get out of habit and never come back to my spiritual practice?"
This is where planning comes in. Just like gardeners use the winter to plan which seeds they will plant in the spring, we can use our overwintering time to plan how we will come back to our practice in an intentional way.
Before you start your overwintering, choose a date when you think you might be ready to end your break. How far in the future this date should be depends on you, your circumstances, and the causes of your fallow season. If you're just dealing with some burnout, two weeks might be plenty of time. If you're overwintering during the actual winter because you feel out of sorts this time of year, you might set your date for the first day of spring.
Choose a date that makes sense for you -- but do choose a specific date. Mark it on your calendar. Set a reminder on your phone. Do whatever you need to do to make sure you remember it.
When the date you've chosen rolls around, make some time to check in with yourself. Are you ready to end your overwintering and come back to your spiritual practice?
If the answer if yes, go ahead and step back into your practice, but don't be afraid to incorporate insights from your time away. Maybe you realized that trying to fit in a tarot reading every day was too much, and that it works better to do weekly readings on your day off instead. Go ahead and make that change!
If the answer is no, honor that no and allow yourself to continue to rest. Choose a date for another check-in and repeat as necessary.
