I love the Canadian winter, especially the ice-cold months of January and February, when the world is covered in a thick, soft blanket of white snow that glitters in the sun. The colours of dormant trees, winterberries, crabapples, squirrels, red cardinals and blue jays sparkle in a sea of white, little dots of life and play in the sleeping bosom of the earth. The air is crisp and clear, yet pacifyingly chilly. It’s a time to rest and rejuvenate while slowly – slowly – getting ready for the year ahead.
The new year does not begin on January 1st, the beginning is a long, cumbersome process that stretches over several months and 3 Sabbats. From the Winter Solstice in late December, when the darkest night of they year gives way to the gradual return of the light, through the Imbolc festival of lights on February 2 and the Vernal Equinox around March 20. Nature takes several months to wake up and get started – and so should we. The hustle-culture of modern society is unnatural – literally – it tricks us into thinking that we can operate with the same energy, intensity and speed all year around which leads to stress and eventually disease. We are part of nature, our bodies are made from the same materials as all other organic matter on planet earth, we are born into the cyclic rhythm of the universe, and we can’t just deviate from the natural order of things without suffering consequences to our well-being.
Winter is a time of darkness and death, which translates to a need for increased levels of sleep and even hibernation for many animals. For us humans, it is a time to act slow and do less. Focus on planning and preparing yourself for the busy months of the year from late spring through autumn.
Elemental intentions
The older I get, setting and reaching goals matter less, while time spent doing meaningful things have become endlessly important. Someone phrased it this way and it stuck with me: “identity matters more than goals.” In the end, you are what you do so the questions to ask yourself are:
Who do I want to be? And,
What does a person like that do?
For the past five years, I’ve replaced new year’s resolutions with setting intentions for the year ahead. These intentions are expressed through one of the four elements in the western tradition: earth, air, fire and water. We’re not talking about physical objects here, think of the elements as primordial forces that affect and control different aspects of the physical and spiritual universe. The building blocks of reality. The elements constituted the backbone of western physics from classical Greece until the triumph of modern science in the 17th century so the thinking around how they correspond to and rule the world of plants, animals, the human body, the planets in space and the zodiac is quite elaborate. The good thing is that this makes the elements very flexible to work with.
Think of the elements as different levels of reality. For example, earth corresponds to the material plane: home, work, finances, the body and nature. Water is linked to emotions, relationships and healing but also the “flow” of creativity. Fire represents both the divine spark of inspiration and physical energy, while air rules the realm of the intellect.
You can also look at the elements as stages or parts of life that need to align in order for you to feel complete. You need an income and a home (earth) in order to start thinking about and realizing deeper, creatively and intellectually satisfying life goals (air and fire), and you have to be emotionally stable and surrounded by loving relationships (water) to be able to enjoy life and manifest your dreams. This is not a straight path from the lowest to the highest level of existence. We are constantly changing and transforming, and so does our dreams and priorities. It is the natural order of things. The lifespan of the cells in our bodies range from about 5 days to 10 years. This means that about every 7 years, all the cells in our bodies are new. We are reborn countless times during our lifetime, even in the strict physical sense. Throughout our lives we will feel the need to change paths and have to rebuild ourselves, heal ourselves, and find our true selves many times.
There is always something to work on, on every level and in every element, so I’ve decided to keep my elemental intentions on a repeating four-year cycle. Every four years it starts over, beginning with an assessment of the needs on the physical plane, moving into the emotional, the creative and lastly, the intellectual realm. Structuring our everchanging lives around pillars like the elements is a way to navigate chaos and make sure to tend to all the different areas of our existence.
On a deeper level, correspondences are a game of creative association. For example, this year my intention is growth in the element of fire. For me, fire represents manifestation on a creative level but this year I do not have the energy to conjure up a blazing wildfire and conquer the world with a thousand creative projects. Instead, I imagine my fire as the fire of the hearth, the warming flames that lick the witches cauldron, keeping the magical potions – and the creative juices – brewing. My creative intentions are close to hearth and home, and the desire is simply to keep going, keep exploring, keep following the joy and sharing it with loved ones and fellow creatives. What is your elemental intention for 2026?
Everyday Magic 