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Imagine traveling to a land with no Sun. Travel far north enough in Norway\u00a0and you will find yourself at Earth’s\u00a0northernmost year-round settlement, called Svalbard, located right\u00a0below the North Pole. Yes, that’s Santa’s North Pole. I spent Christmas there one year. We even saw his\u00a0workshop.\u00a0Which, for the still-believers, looked like a\u00a0cottage nestled in the glacial mountain range– but\u00a0I\u00a0couldn’t really tell you what I was looking at, or anything in Svalbard, really, because it was\u00a0Polar Night, where for four\u00a0months there\u2019s no visible difference between midnight and noon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What was that like? Imagine walking\u00a0through the howling arctic winds at 30 below zero into pitch black darkness,\u00a0banshee winds and snow crunching underfoot like styrofoam. This is a harsh, unforgiving environment.<\/p>\n Whether an Explorer of 1813 or 2013, I learned your experience varies only slightly;\u00a0we\u00a0may\u00a0use gas and electricity instead of whale oil and fire, but even today you are at the mercy of the elements and technology. In my\u00a0modern hotel, the grocery appeared indefinitely\u00a0closed and there was only one option for food: the hotel bar, which served a variety of frozen everything.<\/p>\n One particularly memorable event was dogsledding on Christmas Eve. Imagine happening upon this vision: sheets of snow and wind tearing through a yard of dogs where they lived\u00a0in crates, who were howling with excitement<\/em> — or so we\u00a0were told. I wavered between compassion, grief and horror, because looking at their icy snow matted fur, how couldn’t they be\u00a0suffering, living outside in subzero temperatures? I also felt\u00a0pretty sure I’d happened upon a mythical, supernatural scene. I was seeing the hounds of hell, guarding the gates of\u00a0Tartarus.\u00a0It sort of terrified me. But then, because everything in me was frozen- feet, hands, brain-\u00a0I\u00a0had a hard time feeling.<\/p>\n In this environment, there\u2019s no room for mistakes. Many explorers of this early outpost did not survive, where navigational errors, lack of preparedness, sudden changes in the weather or inattention to your environment could prove fatal. It takes a\u00a0hardy, clear-seeing\u00a0character to settle here.\u00a0One early settler\u00a0left these words in her\u00a0diary, now displayed in the town museum: \u201cThe ability to adapt, and the art of resignation, are some of what is needed by those who shall live in Svalbard.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n As we looked at the window displays, this was\u00a0not what the on-site travel agency\u00a0promised, \u00a0-a polar majestic beauty, and perhaps a glimpse of the famed northern lights! Bah! We didn’t see the northern lights, polar bears, ice glaciers or even the mountain ranges surrounding us. We didn’t see anything. Our fellow travelers, whom we met at the bar and had travelled from as far as New Zealand and Africa, co-miserated about this. One gorgeous\u00a0blonde, well-manicured and severely disappointed woman told me she was trying\u00a0to move up her plane ticket by several days.<\/p>\n Yet, for all the adjusted, err, dashed expectations, our trip to the North Pole\u00a0remains one of the most memorable experiences of our travels.\u00a0We talk about\u00a0the lutefisk, a Scandinavian fish delicacy that we ate at Christmas dinner in the big communal dining hall, and how even the bacon topping couldn’t disguise the awful taste. We reminisce about the young nervous New Zealander sitting next to us who\u00a0confessed he would pop the question to his girlfriend, this night.\u00a0We were the only ones he told, he said. For the rest of the trip, when we passed in the halls, waving a brief hello, we eagerly searched both of their faces, wondering, did she say yes? <\/em>We remember dressing up like\u00a0astronauts to brave the 500 foot walk from our room to the lodge, and then undressing to our sock feet only a minute later, as\u00a0it’s Scandinavian\u00a0custom to\u00a0remove your shoes before entering a home or lodge. We remember the delight of a blazing fire, the simple blessings of connection, warmth, the\u00a0funny stories we\u00a0re-tell.<\/p>\n Capricorn Season<\/strong><\/p>\n Capricorn season, in some respect, is a lot like my experience in the North Pole. There’s an icy edginess to the festive holiday expectations, and for the weather alone,\u00a0adaptation to some level of hardship is implied. It’s also the end of a cycle, the end of the calendar year. As Saturn, the timekeeper and grim reaper, looks backward and forward, we cut\u00a0our losses, take stock of our resources, and plan\u00a0our ambitions for the year ahead\u00a0— not always the best “law of attraction” frame of mind\u00a0from which to plan our resolutions.<\/p>\n It’s also a time of reminiscing. Certain memories are burned on our brains\u00a0at this time of year, and not always happy ones. Yet doesn’t it speak to the wisdom, humor and resilience of the soul, how we manage to find the jewel in a harsh holiday experience? The time Uncle Lester set the Christmas tree on\u00a0fire and we had no presents –but wasn’t that funny?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n As we\u00a0get pared down by life, our expectations whittled to a bare minimum, there’s something spiritually satisfying about that.<\/strong>\u00a0Don’t you find this to be true, in your own life? When it’s always\u00a0about getting or not getting what you want, life\u00a0is a real bummer. Our Spirit loves getting back to the essentials, reminding\u00a0us\u00a0of what’s truly important: love\u00a0and connection, peace and pleasure, those eternal, unchanging values.\u00a0And our Spirit needs the time to do this. Frankly, it’s the only\u00a0time of year when we have\u00a0the time, and the stillness,\u00a0to devote to connecting\u00a0within.<\/p>\n To the Capricorn Hermit\u00a0-for whom time, simplicity and unhurried solitude are luxuries unmatched by its\u00a0flashier versions-\u00a0all we ever need is exactly what we have, right here in front of us. Capricorn is utterly pragmatic.<\/strong> A warm fire, a warm soup, a warm heart. A meditation cushion, a good book to read, a pet to be walked, a mountain trail to hike. From this\u00a0place, true happiness dawns, looking far less like a spectacular sunrise and more like\u00a0the slow dawning of realization:\u00a0I am\u00a0here. I am\u00a0okay. All is well.<\/p>\n Whether I imagine myself as an explorer of the North Pole, or Capricorn,\u00a0 I think, yes, the ability to adapt and the art of resignation are<\/em> what’s needed. Resignation is not a negative thing, something we do begrudgingly, but an ability to meet what is, and work from there. We don’t give up our dreams; we give up pretending.<\/strong>\u00a0That life, we, or others, should be any different. Instead of trying to book the first ticket out of Svalbard to chase northern lights that may or may not happen as my bar companion did, we choose what is.\u00a0From that place, an enlightened Capricorn form of happiness emerges, and it is the one form of happiness that endures\u00a0–contentment.<\/p>\n Enduring happiness. Isn’t that what everyone wants? Will resolutions and checklists help you find\u00a0that? No judgment, here.\u00a0You can\u00a0set your goals, and get into the Capricorn spirit of accomplishment right now. It’s solid astrological advice. But\u00a0if that’s not for you\u00a0–if you find that this time of year is consistently fraught, with pressure, expectation and high emotions, that any attempt at do-ing rather than be-ing is “pushing the river”,\u00a0there\u00a0is an\u00a0alternative. You can\u00a0be a\u00a0Hermit.<\/strong> You can settle into the stillness. You can read a book. Claim solitude. Simplify. Connect to your Spirit within.<\/p>\n Capricorn\u00a0(and Saturn) often gets a dull reputation, but\u00a0this archetype knows far more about the art of\u00a0happiness than we give it credit for. Especially when\u00a0life doesn’t\u00a0match the promises made by the colorful brochures in the window. Perhaps what we most need at this New Moon is to surrender our expectations about what we think we want, for what truly makes us happy.<\/p>\n The post Capricorn New Moon: The Art of Happiness<\/a> appeared first on Moonkissd by Jessica<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Imagine traveling to a land with no Sun. Travel far north enough in Norway and you will find yourself at Earth’s northernmost year-round settlement, called Svalbard, located right below the North Pole. Yes, that’s Santa’s North Pole. I spent Christmas there one year. We even saw his workshop. Which, for the still-believers, looked like a cottage nestled in the glacial mountain […]<\/p>\n The post Capricorn New Moon: The Art of Happiness<\/a> appeared first on Moonkissd by Jessica<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n