Ancestral standing stones at the Isle of Boa, Lough Erne, County Fermanagh. Photo courtesy of Jon Sullivan, PDPhoto and shared, generously, via Creative Commons.
Ancestral standing stones at the Isle of Boa, Lough Erne, County Fermanagh. Photo courtesy of Jon Sullivan, PDPhoto and shared, generously, via Creative Commons.

January is named for the Roman deity Janus, who stands with one face looking back, one face looking forward, but planted solidly right where he is at the moment.

So it makes sense that Janus would be associated with transitions, evolutions, gateways, doorways, portals … you get the gist.

Really lovely symbolism to evoke and create with any time, including at the start of a new calendar year.

My ‘New Year’s’ rituals often reflect that Janus quality … looking back over the calendar year, and sometimes a bit more, that is now past.

Looking forward to the possibilities, visions, and heart-stirrings that call from the horizon’s edge.

And then bringing whatever themes and insights that arise solidly into the present where I am, and working with them on the weaving loom throughout the year.

Insofar as Sophia’s Children’s blog goes, it’s been a rich and lovely year indeed that’s just closed.

WordPress does a nice job with its succinct Annual Report of sharing the highlights: the number of visits to Sophia’s Children writings over the year, the growth in the number of subscribers, and the most sought after blog articles.

Mary of Magdala, by Leonardo da Vinci. Public domain image courtesy of Wikipedia.
Mary of Magdala, by Leonardo da Vinci. Public domain image courtesy of Wikipedia.

It’s been a good year, which is interesting because I started 2015 with the intention to stop following the stats or seeking sheer numbers, and just focusing on what wanted to be shared … what felt potent for me at any given time, what arose to be shared through me, what came up and through after hearing from readers, clients, kindreds, and anam cara.

Once again — 2015 shared similarities with 2014 — the most popular themes and articles were those focusing on Mary Magdalene, the Empaths & Sensitives Series, the Black Madonna and Divine Feminine, and, surprisingly or not, grief and Dark Night of the Soul, and the ‘Phoenixing’ posts.

The number of subscribers and comments increased considerably over 2015, too.

I watch in wonder.

I have a deep and heart-felt appreciation and gratitude for my kindred-spirit readers, and for my blog- sisters and brothers who share insight and inspiration through your own blogs and cyber-locales as well.

Thank you for visiting, for reading, for sharing your comments in the blog posts and through direct emails to me. I truly value each one.

Over the course of this year just past, some comments turned to direct emails, or more substantial comment threads, which turned into some really lovely, evocative, moving, insightful, inspiring, and enjoyable conversations and budding friendships over the course of the year.

So thank you for that as well — you know who you are.

Black Madonna, Mother of Mercy, at the Gates of Hope, Vilna, Lithuania. Image courtesy of Wikimedia.
Black Madonna, Mother of Mercy, at the Gates of Hope, Vilna, Lithuania. Image courtesy of Wikimedia.

Looking forward …

As I have my ‘Turning of the Year’ reflection and visioning time, I already know that I’ll continue on with the themes that ended up on the Top o’ the List for 2014 and 2015.

They’re very prominent in my own mind, heart and being as well, so I’m sure you’ll see new musings on those ‘favorite themes’ as 2016 unfolds. The writing list is always full, and gets more and more so along the way!

There’s a lot percolating and gestating just now, both for Sophia’s Children and my other, longer-running creation, Ivy Sea; and there will be some changes and evolutions, too, which makes sense.

The cauldron is full and stirring. And it will overflow into Sophia’s Children in the coming days, weeks, and months.

Stay tuned. And …

SOPHIA’S CHILDREN TURNS TEN

Speaking of amazing … Sophia’s Children will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2016, and not too far into the new year at that.

I started Sophia’s Children in early 2006 to share what was coming out of my own initiations, explorations, and experiences with the Divine Feminine, epic transformation, and Wise-Woman ancestral ways.

In truth, though, Sophia’s Children was conceived in the year before, 2005, in an early-days-of-social-networks forum I hosted on Ryze for Engaged Spirituality & Mystic Activism.

The seed grew, and Sophia’s Children was born.

Stained glass window with Magdalene and the Lily, taken at the Abbey du Thoronet in France. Photo by Sophia's Children author, Jamie Walters.
Stained glass window with Magdalene and the Lily, taken at the Abbey du Thoronet in France. Photo by Sophia’s Children author, Jamie Walters.

Along the way, I experimented with other blogs and topics and titles — including one or two I really liked — but Sophia’s Children was always the marathon contender … the one that ‘stuck’, and so it did, because it was the one that readers and seekers and visitors chose, and the one my own heart returned to time and again.

So here we are.

Sophia’s Children in 2016, celebrating her 10th birthday.

My own commitment and devotion has only grown, and it’s most surely been deepened, during the ups, downs, and all-arounds of the last 10-plus years.

We all know that these past 10 (and then some) years have been highly transformation- and challenge-packed, and looking forward, there is more transformation before us.

May we be …

… emboldened, heart-strengthened, and inspired in the year to come, and centered deeply in the courage of our convictions and ‘worthy horizons’ with feet planted solidly on the holy ground on which we stand at any given ‘present’.

May we rise well and whole-hearted to the challenge of our calling.

May ample grace attend our way.

Happy January, and happy 2016.

I’m wishing you a golden stream of blessing, joy, well-being, and grace-rich good fortune. May your medicine be a blessing to those around you and beyond into the greater world, and may you be very, very well.

And why not join in with a bit of energy alchemy for 2016?

Blog Blesstival – Help Start the Year with a Wave of Blessing

Agape. Big Love,
Jamie