January: To Begin
Beginnings are curious things—overshadowed by endings, or by long blank periods where something has ended and we don’t know what comes next. We often only know what we’ve begun in hindsight. Humans like to create common beginnings—we can say this is the beginning of a new year, a new decade, a new month, etc. But can we really pinpoint the beginning of a mood, or a moment? School years and jobs help us mark the beginnings of certain paths we take in life, but there are many moments of beginning and unfolding and ending and beginning again that we don’t stop to name.
Most of our important beginnings are deeply personal. We look back and say, “that moment was the beginning of our friendship” or “my real education began when I left school and started traveling” or “I can feel something new beginning to emerge in my life, but I can’t say yet what it is or what it needs.” We have these internal markers for when something important shifts, but in the time of beginning itself, it’s hard to know what’s being born.
About this Spell
“To Begin” is a spell about vision and courage. We often think of beginnings as rosy dawns, full of promise and potential. But beginnings are often confusing and scary, gradually differentiated from the endings that birth them or suddenly thrust upon us without time for orientation. When we align ourselves with beginnings, we give ourselves permission to be like children again. But this is no light task! Becoming a beginner demands immense courage—to allow yourself to be clumsy and uncertain, to let your path teach you how to walk it, as you walk it.
All stories have a beginning. The story we’re telling you this year begins with a snow-covered world… sleeping trees blend into a pattern of blankness, hiding the life inside. Your guides in this scene contrast this winter landscape with color and life. One beckons you to a moment of still watchfulness as you consider your path above ground; the other asks you to attune to the emergent burst of new life from down below. To begin the journey of this year, may you have the courage it takes to listen and attune to the various parts of yourself during times of complexity and change.
Meditation on To Begin
To begin this practice, let us slow way down until beginning is all we are. Let's begin to notice the rhythm and cadence of our breath. Begin to relax the muscles around our eyes and face, our shoulders, neck, arms and spine. We begin to sensitize ourselves to the movements in our body as we breathe in and out—chest, ribcage, diaphragm, low back, pelvic floor—each holding a phrase of the breath’s steady communication. See if you can be with your inhale as it begins; and then your exhale, as it begins. Study these beginnings for as long as you’d like. Notice what else may be changing in you as your focus is so attuned. And then, if you’d like to, begin to notice the space between exhale and inhale—no need to prolong it, just notice it, see if you can inhabit it. There is a space there. We could say it is at the end of the breath cycle, or we could say it is the place where it begins. Perhaps anything—everything—could begin right here, in this space between.
About the painting:
Corina: As an artist, I’m obsessed with different tones of white on top of each other. I knew I wanted this feeling of blankness and patterning to come through in this painting, and as always I love how my sister made that real. These crocuses were drawn from life, too, as I spotted them last winter when all the ground was mostly frozen. I was on a long walk up a steep hill, brooding about winter things, and when I saw them it was like running into an unexpected friend.
Jocelyn: There was a moment when I discovered I could paint birch trees. I am learning in this collaboration that what others may call “knowing how to paint” feels more to me like “discovering how to paint”—and all I really know are colors. Which is why this one was such a thrill—to create that contrast between the dark and light in trees, and the contrast between the colorless landscape and the vibrant figures within it. I’m also remember that for a long time, we looked at this one wondering what the spell would be and all I could hear was: “Hello” or “Hi there” or “Oh, hey”—none of which make very good spells, but each of which made us laugh.
This month's offerings:
We’ve got a sale going this month on our print of “To Begin” — Visit our Etsy store to get 15% OFF when you use the coupon code: TOBEGIN
We are sold out of our 2020 calendars, BUT if you’re able to wait until early February, we usually get a handful back from our distributor — keep your eyes peeled for our email about how to order!
As always, you can follow our shenanigans at @abacuscorvus on Instagram. And you can find out what each of us is up to by following @corinadross and @jocelyncorvus