Book of Hours: January

Illumination from the 15th century manuscript of the 'Tres Riches Heures' of Jean, Duke of Berry (he was still feasting in January)

A RETURN

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In January, I return to myself.

January balances the too abundant December’s food, gifts, parties, expectations, duties. It’s cleansing and withdrawal time. January is simplicity, stillness, and even healthy! January is consciousness.

Last month, I did my usual inner sanitary chores. I flip through all notebooks of the year and my paper calendar, too. What happened and when? How did I feel? What did I learn? Without these journals, I wouldn’t be able to remember the processes, I’ve gone through, and the stagnation, doubts, questions, that flooded them. It always surprises me. Somehow, doubts have vanished into thin air, problems were solved, action was taken. New doubts will arise, for sure, but sometimes riddles seem to solve themselves, and pressing problems turn tiny, soft, and moldable until they’re put to rest. Hasta la vista! I no longer serve you!

Janus (?), Luttrell Psalter (London, British Library), ca. 1325–1335

January is named after the Roman deity, Janus. He is the one with two heads, looking backwards into the past and forwards into the future. Here, the illuminator Luttrell Psalter, has transformed Janus into a posthuman hybrid with a fancy hat, affixed to a feathered bird’s body with a vinelike foliate tail

The last evening of the year was spent with close friends. We always share what we’ve learnt from the past year and what we long and hope for in the year to come. We are each other’s witnesses. The sharings will held up against us, later on. The very first action of a new year is kissing and hugging. And so, this January, as other Januaries before it, is born out of love.

I have embraced it so far, and hope you have, too. In 2022, I learned that I have truly enjoyed teaching and holding space in my courses. I will now transform the contents into the format of a book. It will be a book about Spiritual Ecology. Hopefully, it will become the delightful alchemic brew of art, ecology, and spirituality that Being in Practice cooks up.

I will embark on what feels like an adventure, interview twelve different people, and let each of their practices constitute some of the many aspects of Spiritual Ecology. Along with this writing, I’m also working on a second book about my spiritual practice, along with my teacher. Both books are about consciousness, connection, and disconnection. The latter about personal and spiritual connection; the first about connecting practices in a larger, ecological perspective in a world that’s full of disconnect.

Gud skaber fiskene og fuglene (Dies IV), [God Creates the Fish and the Birds ],1589

Jan Harmensz. Muller 1571 – 1628

Etching / Collection of SMK

WHAT IS SPIRITUAL ECOLOGY?

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Spiritual Ecology is not religious, nor dogmatic (the image is a bit misleading, please forgive me, it was the best I could find). On the contrary, it is a field with different voices, offering space to many. There is no ‘one truth’, except for a mutual belief that everything is alive, that life should be honored, and that we’ve created these ecological disastrous times by separating our own species from all other living beings. This is the big, tragic, and spiritual disconnect. We don’t seem to understand that we’re deeply connected to a larger whole and to each other.

This had led to human exceptionalism and what many call the Anthropocene, the era where man has been a geological factor. It is much older than the Industrialization. Religion, philosophy, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, colonialism, individualism (etc - the list is long) have all played major parts. It is, in other words, the endeavors of the Western World and white patriarchy, its troubled history, current values and actions.

Spiritual Ecology is an umbrella that gently covers everything, I care about. It is divided into three strains:

1) Academia and culture analysis. The factors that have led to the disconnect – and are ongoing - are analyzed and reflected on. How does the disconnect reveal itself in language, in food systems, in racism, in bodies, in politics, in capitalism, in agriculture, in the way we treat the more-than-human? It’s also about how stories, values, and practices, we’ve identified with so far, are no longer relevant.

2) Nature conservation, regenerative practices; knowledge and practices concerning ecology and the healing of soil and other species. How can we learn from our mistakes and regenerate?

3) Spirituality. How can we re-establish the connection which is basically a lost spiritual connection? Through reverence, meditation, gardening, deep listening, and much more, feelings of connection, gratitude, and humbleness, occur.

All strains are linked together. Not one without the other. It is like a prism. I will find twelve people whose being and practice shine through it. I have ten in mind already. I can’t wait to learn from them and pass it on. I look immensely forward to raising my voice.

May January treat you well and your Janus be fanciful,

Birgitte