The new year? not when you walk the path nature intended.

It was a cold start to our morning walk, me and link are getting back into our walks, but I’m still having to be careful with my foot.

This morning marked the first day of the new year, well that’s what the calendar says.

The ground wasn’t frozen, in fact it was almost warm, yet the wind had a fierce edge to it. Ripping through the morning with knife like purpose. Sat in the hedge, as we turned the first corner out of the drive, were a charm Of goldfinches.

What a magical start to the morning, the day, the year.

The gold finch is such a playful colourful bird, its colours shine through amongst the dark backdrop of winter, but here was joy. As we walked my foot reminding me, that speed is not an option, the road opened out ahead of us.

I walked this way many a time but today what struck me, was the beauty of the moment.

As we walked along the roads were clear, no people were out, they were probably still recovering from the excess of New Year’s Eve.

The cold air made me long for a hearty fire roaring away, a warm drink steamy from a cup held tightly.

I continued to walk, link happily taking in all the smells, his head buried into the undergrowth at times. He seemed on alert, he stopped and looked up over the field. I followed his eye line, trying to see what it was that was holding his attention. And there in its absence was the lesson, the truth.

The sound in the distance was startling because there were so few.

The farmers weren’t out bringing in the harvest, or preparing the fields for winter, the animals weren’t out foraging for the nuts and berries to keep them fed over winter, the birds weren’t flying overhead seeking their next meal.

No they were all still in the depths of winter, conserving energy, waiting for the warmer weather to arrive in spring, no sowing of seeds, no building nests, just quietly moving from each day to the next in stillness.

I turned my thoughts to the new year, when did we lose our way.

Yes, we have celebrated the winter solstice, we have said thanks for the harvest, abundance, the year, we have shared a feast with our family out tribes, we have remembered our ancestors, those that have come before and passed on the wisdom that allows us to work the land, build a village and survive hard times and flourish in good times. We honour the land, we celebrate the dark, and the returning of the light. We dance, we sing, we feast, we laugh we find pleasure in the dark.

But then in the depth of the winter we have created a “new year” based on a calendar, we set our new resolutions we decide “this will be the year”. And we go to work, frequenting the gym, counting the calories, starting new hobbies.

Now is not the time, look around you, nature is listening it knows we still have winter ahead of us.

The world was quiet today and so was nature but for two very different reasons.

Over the fields we went enjoying the surroundings, the woods we walked through today we made our own path, we mixed the old path with new walkways and out into the field we arrived.

The trees all still bear of leaves confirming that now we are In the depth of winter, I looked around how long would the winter last, already this year it had started early. Will this winter be a long one.

The trees were alive with a chattering of fieldfares, they moved around as me and link disturbed their peace.

We headed home, and the Robin sat waiting for us. I left him a treat on the fence post. Hoping to make his winter a little easier.

It struck me how little we even acknowledge nature, how far we have left it behind, how the lesson of the seasons, the animals, the birds, the insects and the trees seem like old fairy tales.

When I started my journey I only knew that I would not fear stepping into Crone, I knew I wanted to teach, to bring back the wisdom of the wise woman, and now I know the next stage.

The art of divination has been lost to many, and the wisdom buried with the ancestors, now I will walk, I will note and I will create the stepping into crone tarot, where the lessons will guide all that wish to learn and to live with the land, and to show us how to truly honour the year as nature intended it.