Ready Your Soil for the New Year

Happy New Year to you all!

I apologize for the incredible length of time between now and my last post.  As I am sure many of you experienced yourselves, the end of 2012 was met with an indescribable amount of turbulent energy.  Here on the East Coast, we were met with the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, a terrible Nor'easter snow storm, and we all were impacted by the tragic deaths and violence that have happened over the past several months.  With all of this happening, it has been very hard to sit down and put thoughts and ideas into any sort of coherent sense.


With the beginning of the new year, however, the energy around us has begun to loosen and relax. In macrobiotics, the year in which we are living as well as the season in which we are living all play a role in what we can expect to happen in and around us on a regular basis. In 9 Star Ki (a form of astrology commonly used by those who study macrobiotics), the year 2012 was a 6 Metal year.  Metal is the most condensed, hard, contracted (Yang) form of energy.  Now here in 2013, we have entered a 5 Soil year.  Soil is the energy of gentle gathering and condensing, and brings energy to a more general state of balance and a centered quality.  So as we move into 2013, the energy around us is now relaxing and expanding outward, from metal to soil, allowing us all to relax and regain our balance. Metal energy allows us to become introspective and look deep within, whereas soil allows us to move outside of ourselves and see more of the world and people around us. After 2 back to back metal  years (both 2011 and 2012 were metal years) we are now as a planet ready to move outside of ourselves and enter a more maternal and compassionate state of existence.

We also now found ourselves in the season of winter. In the Five Elements Transformation model, Winter is the season of Water energy.  The quality of water energy is one of the utmost fluidity and flexibility; able to move into any situation or environment and literally fit perfectly. The quality of water is to also take all of its energy and settle down into the earth, allowing for the soil and ground to become hydrated and nourished to allow for the growth of new plants. Water brings motion, but controlled and even motion (unlike the Fire of Summer, which can be a bit more chaotic). 

So, we start to get an idea of just how powerful this new year is going to be!  We have two year's worth of dense, concentrated, powerful energy beginning to transform itself into the soil from which all life grows.  Plus, we are currently in the time of year when our soil is being nourished by the energy of water.  All of this is literally priming and readying the soil of our lives from which all new possibilities will grow!

Its fun to look at all of this ancient astrology and energetic symbolism, but......what does any of this actually mean?  It means that we are all of us, right now, at one of the most ready times to create the abundance in our lives that we wish, at least for this new year (but in reality, much beyond just this year).  All year long we will be governed by the gentle and balancing energies of soil.  Moments and events in our lives will be "falling into place", and we are going to be creating the foundation from which our futures will spring forth.  Next year (2014) is going to be a 4 Tree year, and as you might gather, Tree is that energy of upward motion and growth and development and sprouting and creation.  So we have exactly 12 months to get our soil ready, people!  For once 2014 comes, everything we have put into our soil of our lives will be the soil from which next year arises.  And now, for the next few months, we are particularly blessed with the quality of water, so we can really saturate our soil with good quality energy and intention.

So what does this mean for our daily lives? Ask yourself this question: what kind of nourishment do I want to be placing not only into my body, but into my life.  I may be eating great quality food, but do I have a pessimistic outlook on life? Do I find myself always complaining, or do I find the beauty in everything? Do I try and make TODAY the only day that matters, or am I always thinking about yesterday or tomorrow?  In other words, what kind of "nutrients" am I putting in the soil of my life? For what I do today (and for this entire year) will govern my tomorrow. 

2013 is going to be a year of great potential energy, and that potential energy will spring forward next year as we move into the qualities of tree. That doesn't mean we can't expect great new opportunities and adventures this year, but it is all just a preamble to what next year will bring.  So as we all go forward into this brand new year, it is important to realize just how special this time is.  We won't have another soil year until 2016, as 2014 and 2015 will both be tree years.  That means that this year will affect the quality of the "Gardens" of our lives for the next two years, so lets all do our best to put down the best foundation we can.

And while many of us can get sad or depressed in the winter, try and see just how important the winter is!  We are are getting the next two and a half months to water our garden and make it as healthy and strong as it can before those first beautiful sprouts peak there little heads out. The time is NOW, we only have the NOW, so what if we all made the resolution to live in the NOW PRESENT MOMENT and create the best quality lives we can just for TODAY.  For what we do today affects us now just tomorrow, but for a very long time. 

So take advantage of these winter months, and allow the energy of your lives to nourish and prime yourself for the next year.  And furthermore, realize that everything that happens this year will affect the quality of the "growth" and evolution of our lives for the next 2 years. Again, I don't want to put too  much emphasis on thinking about the future, as that can get us into all sorts of trouble.  Rather, just think of this year as a terribly exciting and wonderful time that is going to have long reaching affects on us all!  So here's to a great 5 Soil 2013 year, and lets all of us get our gardens ready!