We are finishing the 
Winter Holiday Season and most of the festivities are behind us. For most, that means Christmas & and New Years days, but it includes variations of the Winter Solstice / Capricorn / New Year celebration across many cultures.
Driving down the streets, I see bags of used, torn gift wrappings, boxes, and ribbons among the usual garbage. As our collective consciousness changes, it’s becoming clear that the holidays have become little more than an excuse for binging on shopping, spending, eating & drinking, with a sprinkling of religion thrown in. Trying to measure up to the expectations of a perfect day that only exists in a Norman Rockwell painting. 
Then comes the post-holiday let-down. Some may chalk that up to the aftereffects of the binge, including guilt, weight gain, and the credit card bills starting to come in. While that may be relevant, it is by no means the entire answer.
Any holiday, regardless of religion, has a lot of meaning behind that special day. There is planning, build up, excitement, family, tradition, spiritual benefit, community, singularity of purpose, sense of unity worldwide. All of that combines to provide huge amounts of energy.
We get high, literally.
It’s a thrill!
It’s a rush!
And then the holiday ends.
Back to normal life.
The specialness and excitement end look at here. No more energy. It’s all gone.
Like it never happened. Just the mess to clean up.
There are many other events that have just as long, or even longer, build up: weddings, birth of a child, birthdays, Bar Mitzvahs or other rites of passage. There is a build up, planning, relatives arriving from all over the world, staying for a day/week or longer, presents, special events, then they all go home. But there is not the same sense of let down.
The let-down is essentially a sudden loss of energy. From the thrill to nothing.So either it was not really there to begin with, or we did not handle it in a balances responsible way. Leaving all religious aspects aside for the moment, a month of culturally sanctioned selfish indulgence combined with messages about “the season of sharing” can only cause problems. Come on, after one night of too much beer & pizza we feel sick, and now a month? There has to be let down and loss of balance.
The balance between giving and taking is not right, whatever the event is. In energetic terms, it’s a ‘short circuit.’ No circuitry of energy, and as we know, our body is electro-chemical, running on many levels of energetic circuits: Positive/negative; right/left; sharing/receiving; Male/Female, etc.
At this time of year, it is very easy to take – attending parties, food, drinks, receiving presents, work bonus’, wanting the perfect holiday. It is not as easy to give, or at least to give in proportion to the taking – giving parties, feeding others, celebrating something larger than oneself (whatever that may be). Its not about right or wrong, but the balance in our actions and our minds.
A holiday is a special day of cosmic energy. Most holiday energy points are related to the cycles of the Earth as she rotates around the Sun: the Solstices, Equinox’, and Cross-Quarters. These are days where, due to Earth’s alignment, there is an energy portal between the physical and spiritual worlds. That is the energy we want to celebrate and connect with.
Many modern holidays have lost the true day due for several reasons, including changes in changes in astronomical alignments over time, and the numerous world-wide calendar systems in use. For all we know, we may even be celebrating an illusion, created by a brilliant marketing team, just to sell products and keep us busy.
If we experience let down, the energy of the day dissipated too quickly. Something is not right. Perhaps it’s time to look beyond the surface expectations for the real meaning in what we do. For in that depth, are answers giving real energy and meaning to the celebrations.