And now what?

Yes, and now what? Good question. If I only knew.

For those of you who may not be aware, the number 7 plays a significant role in our lives. In the Middle Ages, a child became an "adult" at 7 because s/he could distinguish between right and wrong. Later, we moved decided that 14 was the age at which an individual could decide about his/her own beliefs as s/he had reached the age of reason. Even later, we decided that one was actually an adult when one turned 21, and a lot of places think so even today. Humans are, it is true, subject a 7-year cyclic development pattern, and in our tradition, we have 7 days of the week as well. In the Ancient World, there were (and still are) 7 visible planets ... the list goes on and on, but I believe you get the point.

What many more of you may not be aware of is that each individual's year is divided into 7 phases as well. It starts when you're born and it stops when you die. These aren't biorhythms in the true sense of the word, just phases that, surprisingly enough, are analog to the phases we experience in our 7-year developments throughout life. If I were to give you "key words" to associate with each of these phases, they would be (1) Action, (2) Consolidation, (3) Transition, (4) Stabilization, (5) Creation, (6) Harmonization, and (7) Rest. It is an interesting exercise to reflect upon one's own life in terms of these key words and one's own development over the years. It is also interesting to think about when one did what in one's current life and how those actions/deeds/accomplishments reflect those key words as well. Be that as it may, I have found that these cycles play a unignorable part in my own life, and as fate would have it, I have just entered my own 7th cycle for this year as well. I don't know about you, but I find myself in dire need of recharging my physical and mental batteries starting 6-7 weeks before my birthday. And that's where I am right now.

In all this talk of change, lately, I believe it is time for me to make a few changes myself. Besides begin in need of a bit of rest, I feel the very strong need to start bringing a few things together, harmonizing them if you will, in general. What this means in very practical terms is that here, where the Celtic New Year is upon us (a mere coincidence, I can assure you) -- after all, it is Halloween (which is hardly a holiday in these parts, though I know my American friends and acquaintances will be outdoing themselves), which marked the transition from the light to the dark part of the year -- I shall be slowing down a bit.

For the past couple of years, I've been posting every second day. The next post, however, and those that that follow will be in three-day intervals for a while ... at least until the end of the calendar year (and isn't it interesting just how many "calendars" we each have). I need more time to think. I want more time to reflect. I feel it; there is reason for it; it makes sense (to me); so, I don't see why I should fight it.

I hope all of you who have been true to my blog thus far will continue to be so. (You are part of a very small -- but as I like to think, very select -- group of individuals. You are, of course, free to share these posts with whomever you may please.) I thought it only fair to let you know of the change.

As our good friend Heraclitus was fond of saying, panta rhei.