Contemplations on ‘Beginning of Winter’
Deep inside the fragile rests,
woven through all that lives.
It holds beneath the weight,
carries love, its strength innate.
The first reflections on the 24 seasons were published in late November 2025. Another year has already passed! Many seasonal cycles begin with Beginning of Spring, when Yang emerges and the life force returns. We began instead with the Tai Yang period, a time when
movement turns inward. This felt like the right place to begin a cycle of contemplation. We first attend to what is still and not yet visible, to the life held beneath the surface, waiting to reveal itself.
Now we conclude with Beginning of Winter, returning to the source of the cycle. In this season, we connect with the inner fire, the source from which life springs forth.
The lotus offers an image of this continuity. As the plant matures, its seed pods bend toward the water. When the seeds are ripe, the pods release them. Heavy with potential, the seeds sink to the bottom and settle into the mud.
There, encased in their hard seed coats, they remain dormant. These coats are like the Qi of Tai Yang, a protective outer layer that preserves the potential for life through long periods of dormancy. Even under challenging conditions, the seeds remain viable until the environment becomes favorable for germination. What appears to be an ending carries the next beginning within it. Tai Yang preserves this latent potential.
It carries love, its strength innate.
