the fertile void

While our culture worships endless productivity, others make room cycles. 

Many indigenous cultures teach about the Medicine Wheel, which shows The Four Directions (East, South, West, North), each of which contains overlapping meanings. One overlay of the Medicine Wheel is winter, and during winter it is a time to rest. Hibernate. 

I grew up Catholic (and thus studied many a Bible story), and the Old Testament often speaks of letting the fields lie fallow. While many modern-day corporate farms grow crops constantly, the concept of letting the fields lie fallow (which was suggested in Leviticus to happen every seven years as a “jubilee year”) allows the soil to regain its natural nutrient balance.

I first came across the phrase “the fertile void” in Kate Northrup’s book Do Less, although she did not coin this idea. She writes, “In nature, the winter comes every year… The earth needs this time of rest. … So the Fertile Void is our own creative winter.”

Some people love to cozy up and write a lot in the winter.

Others (me among them) prefer to rest. 

Listen to your own energy and what it’s calling for. 

Is your inner artist begging for extra naps, easy yoga, endless cups of tea, and staring into space during your free time?

Or is your inner artist gearing up to use the dark months of the year to generate more words? 

Whatever you’re being called to, I invite you, as the great writer and therapist David Bedrick once said to me, “Learn to love your own nature.”