A Deeper Understanding of The Month of Love

Today is Friday the 13^th of February. Friday is named after Freya, the Norse Goddess of love, fertility, and beauty. Friday was once a day honoring the feminine principle.

The number 13 corresponds to the 13 lunar cycles in a solar year, and the cycle of changes in the womb. Agricultural societies followed a lunar calendar for planting and harvesting. The moon was therefore a central symbol and energetic force of fertility and that which gives life.

Friday the 13^th is a day aligned with sacred timing and celebrating love, creative forces, and the feminine.

Tomorrow (February 14) is Valentine’s Day, originally honoring Saint Valentine, who is the patron saint of lovers and marriage. In ancient Rome, when Claudius II outlawed marriage so that young soldiers would stay focused on war instead of wives and families, the bishop Valentine married young couples in secret. (He also aided persecuted Christians.) Legend has it that while Valentine was imprisoned for performing these marriages, he cured the jailer’s blind daughter and restored her sight. Before his execution, he left a final, loving note signed, “From your Valentine.”

Like many Catholic holidays, they chose to honor Saint Valentine on February 14^th to coincide with existing pagan festivities at this time that focused on fertility. For example, Imbolc that is celebrated on February 1 to 2, which marks the halfway point between Winter Solstice (Yule) and the Spring Equinox (Ostara).

February 15 is Nirvana Day, a holiday marking the Buddha’s death and attainment of final Nirvana, which could also be thought of as becoming one with universal love.

This year on the night of February 15 and continuing into February 16, is the Hindu festival of Maha Shivratri. It commemorates the divine marriage of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The union represents the perfect balance between consciousness (Shiva) and energy (Parvati). Therefore, the festival marks spiritual awakening, inner transformation, and of course divine love.

No matter where in the world your heritage derives from, and across all continents and cultures, February is the sacred time of year for celebrating love and union with the divine. Of coming together in community to honor the greatest force ever known and experienced: LOVE.

And I don’t just mean romantic love, platonic love, or the overly commercialized Halmark concept of love. I mean the divine, life-giving, transcendent beyond this earth-plane kind of love. Love that is unconditional, limitless, and all-powerful. Love that brings all hatred, anger, and separation to its knees in surrender. Love that lights up even the darkest of spaces. The love that resides in each one of us at our core that only illusion convinces us we are separate from.

So in the spirit of this, I invite you to connect with that love within you. Take a moment to close your eyes, breathe deeply and intentionally, and feel into your body. Spend a few moments to notice your awareness inside your body. Maybe see if you can pick out your heartbeat. Notice how you know your hands are connected to you.

Now feel into, and anchor your awareness into, the core of your innermost being. Feel the light that is pure love beaming inside of you. Allow it to grow and consume all that is not of the light, to expand to fill your body and then outside of your body. To fill the room that you are in.

Then ask this Love to complete the following sentences:

When you are afraid, know that…

When you are confused, know that…

When you are angry, know that…

When you are sad, know that…

When you feel joy, know that…

When you feel peace, know that…

You are…

Allow the answers to come from inside. To bubble up as if materializing into the moment. Without censoring or questioning, allow the wisdom to spring forth and share what it wants to share with you.

Take a moment to honor the Love inside you. Maybe even write a love letter to yourself. And feel free to email me whatever comes through, should you want to share.