LARA
[00:00:00] We had all of these various Pagan traditions and cultures, but then you do have the Roman Catholic Church that came in. And in order to unite all of these different beliefs under one umbrella, they overlaid the Christian story and then incorporated that imagery into the holiday that they were curating for the masses.
These rituals have been spoonfed to us in order to change our behavior. Tell us a bit more about
KELLY
Christmas. I’m sure there are many layers that you’ve come upon in these years of truth.
LARA
Christmas, in the early days in the colonies, looked nothing like what we call Christmas today in Massachusetts In between 1659 and 1681, Christmas was outlawed.
The original depiction of Santa Claus was that he was an elf, and then Thomas Nas, the cartoonist, made him larger than life and had this round jolly belly. Even the color red became solidified through Thomas Nass cartoon. That is [00:01:00] why we have all of the traditions and the imagery that we do surrounding Christmas.
Today, it’s time for us to really consciously choose how we wanna celebrate these sacred moments.
KELLY
Hi, and welcome back to Reclamation Radio. I’m Dr. Kelly Brogan, and today I sit down to bless your holiday season with a conversation with Laura Day, who is the creator of the 13 Sacred Knights. I have been, if you’ve been following me for a while, a big solstice celebrator.
Why? Because I was a Christmas rejecter and other commercial holiday rejecter. And my experience of solstice has morphed over the years from a ritual that I pretty much like imposed on my kids. That was very kundalini informed to one that is an extremely sweet, like relational check-in and celebration [00:02:00] by a fire, uh, that my daughters seem to be extremely into.
And this deck, which I learned about. Three years ago now has just grounded the season for me and those nights between Christmas Eve and New Year’s in this fun, mysterious, playful ritual that we’re going to, uh, introduce you to in this conversation. And I want to know about the cards that you pull. So last year, the cards that I pulled, right?
’cause on the first night you’ll learn, which is Christmas Eve or the 24th, uh, the third night after the solstice. And the imprint, like a template for your coming so-called calendar year. And then each of the following nights correspond to a month. And it is so cool to write this down and keep it handy.
Like I have a page on the front of my journal where I write down, you know, my January, February, March, what I pulled, and then the full year. So mine [00:03:00] for this year are. Extraordinarily on point. Okay. So I pulled, so there’s an animal, there’s a gem, and there’s like a plant. Okay? So I pulled the crow, which is all about the power of the word.
That’s been a huge, huge, huge theme for me this year. Resolving my self-deprecating language, for example. The next is Moldavite, which is a lot around, which is, you know, a spiritual awakening card. And specifically has to do with moving beyond the mind and being with what is. And for me this year has been, if anything, about coming to a humbling perspective on connection and neutrality.
With that, I had formerly judged and. Rejected. Okay. And then my plant was Meadow Suite. And it’s all about grace and composure and confidence and this inner royalty. I cannot tell you how much that theme has resonated for me in this year. It’s extraordinary. And then like very specific things, like [00:04:00] for August I pulled the bear.
Okay, that’s all about retreat and rest. What did I do in August? I went to a Joe Dispenza seven day. You know, like just, it can be so on the nose. And when you track your dreams and experiences, you’ll just find that the future is an illusion, right? Like it’s already all here. And this practice is so fun. I really encourage you to get ahold of, uh, your deck.
Uh, of course the link is in show notes and as is your discount code. So enjoy this and happy holidays. Welcome Laura to the show. Thank you, Kelly. I’m so grateful and happy to be here. I have been. Really looking forward to this conversation because I feel at this moment, the most receptive that potentially I’ve ever been about the subject of holidays and their significance.
How do we orient towards them as sovereignty loving folks? And I wanted to give like a little [00:05:00] bit of contextual background on how I’ve handled the holidays before. I pass the mic to you to really educate me and everybody listening about the tremendous information that you have curated and collected, and that has ultimately informed the republication of your extraordinary Oracle deck.
And I know that you never set out to be like a tarot girl because you have many different lineages that you draw from, and I’d love to unpack that as well. But this deck is the 13 Sacred Knights Oracle deck. I don’t know that I’d ever come on my own podcast to like glaze a deck. I mean, it’s not typically on brand for me, but everybody in my personal life owns one of these.
Why? Because I have gifted it to them. When I did Audacious embodiment, the in-person event, every speaker got a deck. That was the primary gifts that, you know, I offered them also because it was [00:06:00] November that the event took place. And so they could, you know, prepare for the use of this deck in this very specific window of time at the end of the year.
And you have made this like, you know, plug and play for us how to really merge with the mystical nature of that window of time. And so I was super excited to, to deliver this opportunity really to everybody listening and a really, I would say, awakened, uh, context. For how we’re orienting towards the holidays.
So I wanted to explain first, uh, before I hand you the mic, like where I’m coming from, because I bet a lot of the folks listening can relate. So when I began to question things, so at this point it was about 16 years ago. I did not stop at health and medicine, you know, [00:07:00] childbirth, all the things. So I just went down every rabbit hole that was presented to me.
That goes on to the current day. But I very quickly began to look at the sort of like reflexive rituals and commercial, what I would call commercial holidays. So like Thanksgiving and Christmas, and. I didn’t so much include years in that at, at that time, but like even Valentine’s Day or Easter or 4th of July.
And I just said, you know what? Fuck all y’all, I’m not doing any of this. I don’t believe in this. And if, you know, if it’s being promulgated by the powers that be, then I am opting out. Okay. So my daughters were pretty young when I said I’m not interested in participating in, you know, Christmas in presents in I’m my com my mom’s Italian.
So we always did like the Christmas Eve shenanigans and I just said, I’m not participating. And the way that Polarity works is that they, my daughters are extremely [00:08:00] passionate about holidays, right? Whether it’s Halloween or Christmas, right? They like at Thanksgiving, they love holidays and their dad is very supportive.
So it works out. And I spent eight years. Or so, eight or nine years, just like alone on Thanksgiving or with my then partner or, you know, just apart from like a kinda like, like hovering outside of whatever was going on. And I was pretty judgy about it, right? Like, I was looking in and saying like, oh, all these, you’re just like in automaton mode.
Like you’re not even thinking about what are you even doing and you’re just buying and eating and like, what is this even about? And then the, the lies of about Native Americans and the history of this country. Like just all of it, like every holiday I had a very judgy thing going on. I wrote this like totally inflammatory blog about how Santa is a, a pedophile archetype.
I mean like, yeah, I was like on a mission to deconstruct holidays. And then as a single woman, I’ve had [00:09:00] my like, what is that saying about like eating humble pie or whatever. Like, I’ve had my moments where I’m like, I. Hey guys, um, can I come over for Thanksgiving? You know, like, and feel like a bit left out.
So all of this time, however, I’ve been anchored by a solstice. Like solstice. If you ask my girls, they’ll say like, solstice is mama’s holiday. It’s the only one. And it’s because at the time I was in my Kundalini, so this was a decade and a half ago or something in my Kundalini training. And so the observation of these equinoxes was a part of the sort of ethos and, and culture right, of that world.
And then we got into Waldorf. And so this Nerian perspective on it sort of in informed that even further. And I was, I used to be very like ritualized about it. Like I’d have us do like three minute Kundalini meditation together and dress up all in white or whatever. And amazingly, you know, my daughter’s are teenagers now, I would’ve thought they would’ve like, I rolled this because they, I [00:10:00] roll a lot of my.
Stuff that I’ve just let go of, you know, like I don’t force information down their throats any longer and haven’t for years. But it’s interesting that they really get into it, they love it, and it’s, it’s morphed into more of like a relational check-in, like a relational celebration. That sounds really lame.
But basically we like make a little fire and we review the year. So over the course of the year, I write on little papers, like funny or amazing things that happen. And so there’ll be like 75 little papers that I’ve kept in a box of like hysterical things that happened when we went to, you know, Europe or whatever that day on the boat, you know, kind of a thing.
And then also beautiful things that have happened. So we, we review those and then, you know, another salient thing is like we, we make an ask of each other, like kind of a vulnerable ask, you know, each of the three of us makes of each of the other two. Does that make sense? And one of the things we do is we pull one card from.
Your deck. Okay. My girls are not tarot [00:11:00] card girls. Okay. However, it’s always, always, first of all, you’re such a beautiful writer. It’s so powerful. And these, these cards are so beautiful and for whatever reason, they’re super receptive and open. And that is how we sort of anchor in together this season that I’m otherwise not a participant in, you know, like at all.
So that’s sort of where I’ve come from, uh, where I have great skepticism about the stories we’re told about any of these holidays, their purpose, right? Socially, and the potential like, you know, risks of just sort of perpetuating this thoughtlessly. I also love having like, I don’t wanna say an alternative, ’cause that’s, that’s like saying alternative medicine or whatever, but I love having this rebrand, let’s call it a rebrand, and.
So I’d love, with that context, I’d love [00:12:00] for you to take us into your journey around holidays. Like why is this something that even has relevance for you and how do you bridge the gap between rejecting aspects of the, you know, as told stories about our holidays and let’s start with Christmas with this, you know, potential ritual and practice that has clearly brought like so much meaning not only to your and your daughter’s lives, but also to everyone who is touched by by your work.
LARA
Wow. Well. First of all, I’m just really glad that you started out with your journey and your story because I think there’s so much that so many people will resonate with that. And, um, you know, the moment that I really decided that it was a good idea to follow through with this project of creating the Oracle deck, and like you said, I I never really intended to be like a tarot girl.
[00:13:00] I, I wasn’t really that into Oracle decks. I only used them because of this practice that I fell in love with the year my daughter was born. And, um, having a lot of the same frustrations you did, just sick of the commercialism, wanting to create something more meaningful, more real for our family, you know, with this brand new baby.
And, um, and then this, this practice was, I, I, I didn’t go looking for it, it just arrived, you know, in a, from my teacher in a training that I was already taking part in. But the, the moment when I really thought, okay, this, the world is ready for this, and I, I, I need to create this thing that’s, um, you know, Vince.
Knocking on my door was, I was, um, I was hanging out with a friend of mine who I’ve known since we were kids, and he’s very straight laced, you know, er doctor, not hippie dippy, trippy at all. Probably didn’t even know what an Oracle deck was, you know? And, um, and he’s got three daughters and I was telling him and his wife about this project that [00:14:00] I was thinking of doing, and he was like so interested in asking all these questions, you know, and saying to his wife, we should do this with the girls.
This would be really great. You know, and, and I’m, I’m sitting here going, wow, if this, this bro friend of mine, you know, is into this, then the world is ready for this. And people are just so sick of the commercialism and yet maybe don’t quite know how to celebrate this season. They’re. Perhaps traumatized by, you know, religion and their, their youth and adolescence and upbringing and don’t really wanna go back to that, but, but kind of don’t know how to market and yet intuitively all feel that this is a special time, it’s a sacred time.
Right. And so, um, so that was, uh, sort of the turning point for me when I decided to go ahead and, and really follow through in creating the Oracle deck. Then, you know, the, the diving into the, the, the history and where our holidays came from and all of that really came later [00:15:00] mostly with the creation of the, the new elevated digit edition with my publishers.
They were curious about the history and they said, what do you think about including a, a history section? And I thought, wow. Well, I’ve been. Doing this practice for, I think it was 15 years at the time. And uh, and I don’t actually really know where it came from. I just love it, you know, it changed my life for the better in so many ways.
Not only my holiday season, giving me something deeper to anchor into, but honestly it really shifted the way that I moved through my entire life, more aware of and awake to this, um, conversation that we’re always in with the divine, whether we recognize it or not. So I took on the assignment and dove into the history of Christmas really, and the winter solstice.
And I was really surprised, um, with what I uncovered there. And so I started sharing that with folks. And then as I was doing that, they would inevitably ask me, you know, well, what about Valentine’s Day? Or what do you know about Halloween? And, and I would [00:16:00] be like, no, no, I’m just the Christmas girl. I don’t, I don’t know about that stuff, you know?
And then, um, and then, uh, eventually after, after so many asks, I thought, you know, people are really wanting this information. I was getting curious myself. And so I have now, um, read a total of, you know, 32 books on the history of our holidays and the solstice and, you know, all the, the pagan holidays and rituals and, and where kind of all of this came from.
It’s a really muddy, tangled history, but there is some, there, there’s some pattern to it that we can pull out and, uh, begin to sort of catch on that these holidays did not just trickle down organically from, or old world roots, but that there really was this multi-layered process of them, uh, being used numerous times by, uh, people in power or those wanting more power in order to shape and, uh, manipulate and guide the behavior of the masses.
So once we begin to see that over and over again and [00:17:00] understand that these sacred moments, they, they really are so powerful because we are all collectively in a given culture, right? Pausing and saying, this is what’s important. We’re all pausing together and we’re all directing our attention in one way, in, in one direction.
And so, you know, not only is that powerful because. I personally believe that human consciousness is divinely creative, but it’s also powerful because we’re informing the upcoming generations. This is what’s most important about being human right? And so they’re learning how to be a part of this culture.
And right now I would say that we are teaching the future generations that shopping sugar and alcohol are what is most important, right? These are our sacred moments and, and this is what we focus on, and this is what’s most important about being human. So yeah, I’ll pause
KELLY
there and let you respond. I would love to pick your brain, and I imagine it’s like a weekend workshop to [00:18:00] go over each and every holidays, you know, potentially nefarious origins.
However, um, before we get to the 13 nights and what that means and what this practice really consists of and where your deck comes in, I would love to touch on maybe like. Three or four to just sort of get a little glimpse into this pattern you’re referencing, because I think that a lot of folks listening are aware that the church, quote unquote, often veils the occult, meaning, like that there are occult practices masquerading as Christianity.
And that the co-opting of these so-called pagan rituals was very deliberate, as I I hear you. Um, insinuating and the representation of them as, uh, as, as Christian and, or even like, sort of secular, right? Like so, so [00:19:00] taking, I’d love to hear about Valentine’s Day, for example, taking these, these holidays that have origins that, that are never actually overtly revealed, right?
Like nobody, if, if you went around and pulled people, like, you know, where actually does. Valentine’s Day come from like, oh, St. Valentine’s, you know, like, it’s like some parroted, superficial, probably nonsense. So I’d love to start with, with Christmas, uh, and whatever other ones were like. Wow. That’s interesting in your journey to, to discover sort of what a, a brief summary of the truer story seems to be.
LARA
Yeah. So, um, so the pattern that I mentioned and that, you know, you, you referenced is really, it’s kind of like a four layer cake, is the way I describe it. And so originally we had all of these various pagan traditions and cultures and religions and pagan just meaning not part of the mainstream chosen religion, right?
And so already. [00:20:00] That’s already a tangled mess in and of itself because they’re already sharing with each other, influencing each other, conquering each other, trading with each other, you know? And, and so some of these traditions are already really, um, mixed up in their origins, right? So it’s not like all of these, um, you know, pagan holidays like popped up already complete in, in one culture, and that’s where we got X, Y, or Z from, you know, so it’s already complex.
But then you do have the Roman Catholic church that came in and in order to unite all of these different beliefs under one umbrella, they overlaid the Christian story, right? And the Christian, uh, themes and, and meaning, and so. So that’s the, the sort of first two layers, right? Is you have this, the original pagan religions that for the most part were, their traditions came from, um, observing nature and being more in tune with nature and the rhythm of the seasons and the stars and [00:21:00] the, the behavior of the sun and the moon and um, and, and you know, just being cultures that were much more closely, um, living much more closely with nature.
So, um, a lot of the original traditions, you know, are, uh, they are born from aligning and celebrating the equinoxes, the solstice, the cross quarter days like that. So because of that, a lot of the themes tend to be the same. In the spring we have rebirth, you know, which became resurrection and fertility rights.
Again, Valentine’s Day, same. These are early spring rituals. So, um. Okay, so that’s the second layer. And then the third layer would be that, um, darn those pesky pagans, they’re really hard to stamp out. And so around the Victorian age in the 17 and 18 hundreds, a lot of the original Pagan traditions, which were often more ruckus or rowdy or promiscuous, were still bubbling up through the surface of.
The, the veneer of Christianity that had been overlaid, [00:22:00] right. And so what happened was the, the, the upper middle class sort of wanted to further domesticate or really stamp out those rowdy and ruckus behaviors. And so there became this Victorian age domestication, further domestication of the holidays.
And each holiday kind of did that in a different way. And so that would be the third layer of, of the four layer cake. And then the fourth layer is, um, commercialism and really just opportunistic, you know, the opportunistic association of different industries and, and, and shops and whatnot with the Victorian overlay.
And so it was really this four layer process of arriving at where we are today and, um. I love what you, um, what you mentioned that, you know, you’re, you’re watching all these people kind of sleepwalk through these traditions and we just have no clue where they originally came from, why we do things the way that we do, you know, and if we understood that, [00:23:00] uh, largely these rituals have been spoonfed to us in order to change our behavior.
Then we might be less protective and defensive of them. Because what I find is that when I start talking about, well, is Santa Claus is that really what the, the, the myth that we wanna teach our children and, and does, is that have a, a positive, you know, influence on them and their psyche and, and everything else, or, you know, start picking apart some of these traditions.
People get angry, you know, really, really defensive of their, like you, you know, holiday killjoy, you know, like, oh, you’re, what, what terrible parenting, you know, why would you, why would you take away our Santa Claus? You know? And it’s like, well, I’ve been there. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s like, do you, do you even know where it came from?
And, and when people start to understand a little bit more of the history, then that defensiveness, you know, softens. And I believe that it’s time for us to really consciously choose how we wanna celebrate these sacred moments [00:24:00] because they are so powerful. So, you know, that’s kind of where I’m at.
KELLY
So it sounds like.
You’ve come to the conclusion that there’s a lot of like iCal coding around the even astrological transits and, and markers, uh, throughout the year in what we are calling holidays. Right. So you mentioned the, you know, the resurrection, the spring equinox, and I’m sure you’ve encountered the perspective that the Gregory Calendar is like designed to kind of throw us off these cycles.
So we have like 12 instead of 13 moon cycles that, you know, September is actually the seventh month. October’s the eighth month. It’s in, it’s built in to the actual linguistics. And so do you think that there’s like, I mean whether it’s intentional or whatever, I always assume everything’s intentional, but you know, is it sort of throwing us off the, the path, uh, [00:25:00] of our relationship to.
The natural world, is that a part of what ha maybe one of the consequences intended or otherwise of these commercialized holidays?
LARA
A hundred percent. You know, I think it’s just everything’s become so materialistic, so, so commercial and um. I mean, that was one of the, one of the great gifts of stepping into the 13 Sacred Nights practice, uh, was beginning to just pay attention because you’re doing this ritual and, and, and just, you know, in a sneaky way, not because I suddenly decided I was gonna sit down and, and pay attention to the rhythm of the seasons, but, but it’s inherent within the practice.
So it begins to just help us, um, notice that the seasons are passing and notice how our inner world is in flack reflected in, in nature or, or vice versa, you know? And, um, and so I’ll often say that, uh, the 13 Sacred Nights practice is the co-creative process amplified by aligning ourselves with nature.
We’re planting our dream seeds in the [00:26:00] fertile soil of the darkness, or what I call the womb. Of winter, they’re sprouting in the spring, in the summertime, we are living the dream that we planted in the darkness back in the peak of winter. So everything is fully expanded, you know, in full bloom. And then there’s this richness in the fall where we’re harvesting the fruits of our labor, reflecting on the year gone by, maybe deciding what you wanna throw on the compost pile, what you wanna keep for another cycle of seasons before diving back in.
So, um, so we really begin to just. Step back into relationship with nature, which we’re so removed from, and, uh, and it doesn’t have to be, you know, some profound, you’re not studying the lunar cycles or the stars or anything. It’s just little, little ways that we can begin to pay attention and, uh, and step back into relationship there.
KELLY
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After six weeks, you can return it for a full refund, no questions asked. Enjoy. Tell us before we move on a bit more about Christmas and where you’re at, because I’m sure there are many layers that you’ve [00:28:00] come up. Upon in these years of, of truth, you know, when it comes to Christmas,
LARA
Christmas was, was my favorite researching.
There’s a book called, uh, the Battle for Christmas by Stephen or Stephan Nisenbaum. That was, um, one of the most revealing books for me. And he really details how Christmas, in the early days in the colonies looked nothing like what we call Christmas today. And in fact, in Massachusetts in between 1659 and 1681, Christmas, what we call Christmas was outlawed.
And you would receive a five shilling fine if you were caught celebrating Christmas. So that doesn’t make any sense to us today because why would you get, you know, fined for gathering with your family and giving presents to your children? You know, it’s like, what? But, but Christmas in the colonies in the early days looked more like Sael, which was the ancient Roman Festival of Midwinter that was a festival of Miss rule and.
Complete [00:29:00] societal inversion. So it was really like a society-wide release valve where slaves were served by slave owners and children ruled the household. And a fool was crowned king. There was cross-dressing, there was promi, public promiscuity, there was gambling, debauchery, gorging, you know, just, just complete upheaval.
It was more like carnival, really very carnival esque. And, um, so those were the traditions that were bubbling up in the colonies in the early days, and then alongside the Puritans, right, who were just not having it. And of course, it was their belief that Christ was not born on, on, on the 25th or Christmas day in the first place.
And they were more, Easter was their, was their more important holiday. So they just weren’t having all of this Christmas, you know, shenanigans. And, and, and then basically what happened was in the 18 hundreds, the elites or the upper class were also pulling away from these traditions. So in the old world, the whole [00:30:00] society willingly participated.
And, uh, it was almost like, well, if we entertain this, you know, two week period and, you know, go along with this little game, then for the rest of the year we’ll be, ensure good service. And the, the, you know, societal ranking order will kind of go back to, to normal. And it was almost ensuring that everybody would stay in their place by allowing for this, you know, two week.
You know, let the steam out of the kettle. So, um, so in the, in the 17 and 18 hundreds, the elites in the United States were pulling away from these traditions. So if you can imagine a group of rowdy, probably drunken young men, uh, showing up at a wealthy manner to, uh, perform their songs, which they called Osling.
Here we go, AWOLing. Right? And or if you think of, um, you know, some of our Christmas carols, um, you know, oh, give us some fgy pudding. We won’t go until we get some. That was, these groups, these bands of youths going door to [00:31:00] door asking for, um, alcohol, money or suites in exchange for their performances. Ling and or Moming, which was putting on plays these sort of ridiculous plays that they would put on and then expect gifts in return.
So it was a, it was a mingling of the upper classes with the lower classes. Right. And again, the elites were pulling away from this. So they started closing their doors and saying, no, we’re not gonna give you any of our cider that we have in the cellar, or whatever it was. And you can imagine how that escalated very quickly into violence and vandalism and uh, and, and, you know, it was not a good, it was not a good scene.
So this very small group of intellectual elites, New York intellectual elites, they called themselves the snicker bockers, they got together and they quite literally rebranded Christmas in order to quiet down this rowdy. Undesirable behavior. And it was, it was very intentional and it wasn’t just a nostalgic yearning for roots.
It was like, we need to put an end to [00:32:00] this mayhem. So it was, uh, first was Washington Irving. He wrote a satirical history of New York, which later years, a lot of it, uh, sort of became urban myth, or even taken as truth, even though it was originally meant to be satirical. Um, followed by, um, John Pinard, who was a, a Freemason and then some other individuals.
Thomas Nast was a cartoonist, who, he was the one who came up with the donkey and the, the elephant cartoons for Yeah, political cartoons. He was a political, um, cartoonist, but he really further developed the, the imagery of Santa Claus Clement Clark Moore in 1823 wrote the poem the night before Christmas.
That home actually really solidified a lot of our imagery around what we now call Christmas, but it was this. It was this very intentional effort among these elite intellectuals to dream up a romantic version of this [00:33:00] holiday that would have the masses feeling like they were plugged into their old world roots.
Yet it would, you know, change the holiday so that it was within, celebrated within the walls of the parlor. And we have, you know, the Christmas tree that they borrowed, they, they sort of cherry picked old world traditions and curated this more domesticated holiday that would do away with the loud street parades in the middle of the night.
It would do away with momming and waffling and, and the exchanging of gifts or money between the classes and it would be about the children. That was a very commonly used technique was to refocus the holidays towards. Children and, and the family unit and these more Victorian aged moral, uh, domestic values.
So we have in Clement Clark’s, Clement Clark Moore, in his poem the Night Before Christmas, he talks about, uh, the jolly old, the jolly old elf, St. Nicholas, and [00:34:00] the eight Tiny reindeer, the original depiction of Santa Claus was that he was, um, an elf. He was this tiny, you know, little, it was this, this, he was sort of beginning to create this imagery.
And then, um, Thomas Nass, the cartoonist that I spoke of, was the one who kind of made him larger than life and had this round, jolly belly and, you know, added even the, the color red became solidified through Thomas. Cartoon. And so it wasn’t an overnight holiday that they created, but, but it was very intentional and they were communicating with each other and, oh, what if we do this?
And yes, that would, you know, again, the Christmas tree Oh, and the, and the presents for the children, well, that would keep the, the activities centered within the family and within the walls of the home. And, um, so it was very intentional and that is why we have all of the traditions and, and the imagery that we do surrounding Christmas today.
Wow. So
KELLY
it sounds like the, you’ve explored a lot of the, the social driving forces behind the [00:35:00] re. Envisioning or even envisioning of this holiday and that the, the role of Jesus, right. And its moniker Christ Mass. Right? Like to, to this day seems quite, I mean, I didn’t hear you mention it once in this story, right?
So like, yeah, no,
LARA
in fact, they said the house of the house of God will not vanquish the house of ail. So they came up with a new deity. Which was Santa Claus and the commercialism. Right. And the gift giving to the children. And yeah. It was God wasn’t working. Christ wasn’t working. Right,
KELLY
right. And it’s not even actually a part of the, the, whether it’s a story or a real history, depending on your belief system that he was actually even born that day.
LARA
Right. Well, and I think actually most, most Christians, maybe some don’t know, but, but, but most Christians and, and even the church readily acknowledges that, that nobody knows when Christ was actually born and that, that day was actually chosen. Um, that was back with Constantine the great [00:36:00] in the year, in the century three, the three hundreds of after AD or whatever they’re calling it now, BBCE, common Era, ce common era.
So, um, they, um, they aligned the birth of Christ with. The solstice essentially, or the 25th because, so solstice means the sun stands still soul meaning sun and re to stand still. So in Latin, that comes from the sun standing still. So what happens is the solstice is around the 21st, give or take. And then the sun appears to stand still on the horizon for three days.
And then after that third day, it begins to move again. So, so on that third day, we get incrementally more and more light. And so the light is being reborn, right? The sun is born, the sun is born right? It’s the light is streaming back in. And so for all of those, um, ancient sun worship religions and, and cultures, that was a very powerful time to, to overlay the birth of [00:37:00] this new, the, the new deity that they wanted everyone to focus on.
So, so there was a very. To rewind back to those times, that was a very conscious way of, they felt it would be more effective in bringing along all the pagans if they allowed them to maintain some of their, some of their festivals, some of their rituals, some of their timing, but to then give it a new meaning, right.
To Christianize the existing holidays. So the 25th was the birthdate of So Invictus, which was he, he was the, you know, Roman. Sun God, the unconquerable
KELLY
sun. God. Do you think that there is any veracity in the, the sort of like Anita mascara, like, you know, psychedelic, reindeer, urine? You know, descent is
LARA
just a mushroom story.
That one always comes up. I think, again, like all these cultures were already borrowing from each other and themes were already blending and mixing. Um, that one comes up a lot, especially in the circles that you and I tend to tend to run in. Um, they’re fond of the [00:38:00] Amita musca, um, theory. I think it’s incomplete.
I think that, um. Yeah, I think perhaps Thomas Nast, uh, maybe unknowingly borrowed from that tradition. Um, maybe red, you know, was already established as a, as a mid-winter color because of the mushroom. I’ve also heard that. No, it was just because of the holly berries and the snow. You know, the red and whites, um, and certainly reindeer, were liminal seen as liminal creatures that, um, there were many cultures that had myths of reindeer, or maybe not reindeer, maybe it was horses and some, or an eight legged horse.
In one case with Odin, the, um, the Norse, um, God and his eight legged, um, horse that he rode across the sky in a mid-winter hunt. Um, so, so again, um, you have to remember these intellectuals in the 18 hundreds, they cherry picked, so they, they drew from existing traditions and, um, and then incorporated those, the, that imagery and in, into the, the holiday that they were [00:39:00] curating for the masses.
So is the Amita Musca mushroom in there somewhere? Perhaps, um, certainly the reindeer, you know, and this, these Siberian cultures where reindeer were so crucial to their survival and were seen as, as sacred animals. But I think it’s an oversimplification that the story that you and I both have heard, that the red and white of Santa Claus is from the mushroom and the stockings hanging by the fires, the mushrooms hanging over the fire and the, you know, the shaman, um, climbing up and down the tent pole to bring, uh, gifts from to the family, from the universe or, or source or God or spirit, or, it’s an oversimplification, but it’s, it’s, it’s in there, you know, it’s, it’s certainly part of the imagery that they were drawing from.
KELLY
And what about the way that Waldorf represents, you know, the, I remember from, from my Waldorf days with the girls, like there’s a char, like is it rumpus or something? There’s a character, uh, right, that is like bringing of this. Certain vibe.
LARA
[00:40:00] Yeah. So there’s Lata. She was even worse than the Krampus. He was, um, yeah, he was said to, I think, bring gifts for the good kids and, and then maybe even like, take steal children that were bad and maybe drag them to the underworld.
Really? They were really terrifying. Yeah. Um, Lata was even worse. She was called the belly slitter, and if you were a bad child, she would like slit your belly and take all of your, your intestines and your insides out. And I, I mean, there’s some
KELLY
really brutal, it’s nice to have some punitive, uh, energy to deliver.
LARA
Yeah. There’s a really brutal, um, myths that were, that were, that were around. And so, you know, Santa Claus knows, knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good. So, so they drew from those traditions as well? Um, you know, as, as part of, as part of their, their new holiday that they
KELLY
were offering.
Amazing. Fabricated, yeah. Fabricated version of this holiday. Amazing. So in the. Sort of decentering of this [00:41:00] holiday. You have fallen in love with, it sounds like a new experience of the whole season. And that these 13 nights, I want you to explain what the 13 nights mean to you and sort of more generally and have found that there’s like a way to relate to the entire year through the lens of this season.
And I, you said this initially like that, that we all feel there’s something important, right? There’s something deep, there’s something even sacred about this transitionary period, these short days and this kind of like, you know, hibernation imperative. So, so yeah, tell us about the Holy Knights as you know, uh, and.
Another way to experience this moment.
LARA
Yeah, so for me, just more and more, one of my underlying kind of core beliefs and philosophies is that the more we align with nature, the more we uncover our own highest human potential. And as again, as I already said, that can [00:42:00] be in really simple ways. You know, just getting outside to get the sun on your skin and in your eyes, checking out the phase of the moon at night, not on your phone, but by actually stepping out and looking at the sky, you know, um, eating seasonally, whatever it is, all these simple ways.
But, um, this particular practice just supports us in tuning into the season of darkness. And, um, so what do we notice if we take a look around during the winter solstice season, the holiday season, the trees have dropped their leaves, animals are slowing down or hibernating. Plants and grasses have often receded back into the earth, right?
Seeds have descended deep into the soil and, you know, everything. Is kind of drawing inward or conserving energy. And then yet here we are in the northern hemisphere shopping compulsively overindulging in sugar and alcohol, which is taxing the body as opposed to conserving energy jam, packing our calendars.
It is the busiest time of year for most people flooding our lawns with LED lights, which is just like a [00:43:00] slap in the face to the darkness. You know, like, no, it will not be dark. We’ll, you know, we will not dive into the darkness. So, um, so it’s this opportunity to just notice that and to, um, also. Bring yourself into a much more inward state of being.
And the, the structure of the practice is really sweet and playful can be, you know, you can make it as profound and deep as you want. You could crawl into a cave for 13 days, or you can keep it light and playful. It’s, everybody can make it their own. That’s something that I love about this practice. But it is 13 days long and, uh, the number 13 actually was originally associated with the goddess and the divine feminine because we have 13 moon cycles in the year, and therefore 13 female fertility cycles.
And so it was the nu the, the, the number that represented and honored the divine feminine. And then again, the Roman Catholic Church came in with their campaign to destroy and erase [00:44:00] all the goddess worship. And so the number 13 became bad luck and creepy and, you know, associated with darkness and evil.
And, uh, and now we have cruise ships with no 13th. Room and whole cities with no 13th Avenue and the Empire State Building has no 13th floor, you know, and most people don’t even recognize why. Or Friday the 13th. And in fact, in Chile where I lived for a year, it was Tuesday the 13th, which is random. But you know, all around the world, we have this superstition about the number 13.
So originally a practice like this, and this is a, a re a modern take on this ancient nature-based wisdom and worship, right? So, uh, so originally a practice like this would have been done with the 13 moons, and yet most of us live by a 12 month calendar. And so it’s been reimagined to make sense for us and to make it work.
So each of the 13 days corresponds to a month in the coming year, [00:45:00] with the exception of the first day or. 24 hour cycle, which is a reflection of the entire cycle to come. So the way that I think about it is as above, so below as without, so within again, that light is beginning to stream back in. Right on the first day of the practice is the day when the sun begins to move again on that third day after the solstice.
And it’s as if we’re catching the tip of the fractal that’s gonna continue to unfold throughout the remainder of the year. So we are doing two things. The first thing we’re doing is receiving. We are receiving download, we’re receiving, we’re capturing that first bit of the fractal. So what does that look like?
It just looks like simply paying attention. So getting present, being mindful, noticing what’s going on in the external world all around you, all the random things that are happening, as well as what’s happening internally, your thoughts, your emotions, and everything else. And you’re writing that all down in a journal in addition to drawing [00:46:00] an Oracle card each night.
So, um. Some people just draw the Oracle cards. That’s enough. Some people get really into the journaling. Again, you can make it your own. And if you have children, you know, they’re not gonna be journaling when they’re younger. It’s just kind of fun to look at the cards and to maybe, you know, you’re not even reading them.
Probably the whole explanation. ’cause as you know, they’re kind of long and deep and so maybe you’re just pulling out a sentence or two that, um, or summarizing for your child something that they can connect with. You know,
KELLY
for a few years now, I’ve been using a flower remedy set by Lotus Way called Sacred Awareness.
I use the mist on my face, the oil as a perfume, it smells so good. And the elixir in my matcha. You may have heard me speaking about how I’ve been maturing my inner caretaker, rescuer, and savior, and really seeing the shadow in my desire to change the world and be the perfect holistic mama. With the support of this remedy set, I’ve seen deep changes in liberation from [00:47:00] controlling, anxious murdery energy inside of me, and permission to be a different kind of activist.
So if you’re curious about what Remedy could subtly and powerfully shift you into deeper, more coherent, energetic states, head to lotus way.com and use the code Kelly 15 for 15%. The link is in show notes for you. And there’s three different types of cards because there’s nothing worse. I, again, ’cause I come from, you know, I was a hardcore atheist, scientism practitioner for many, many years, and there’s no bigger eye roll that I have than when, you know, I see these like cards, you know, that my friends have or whatever, and it’ll be like, you know, today is the day that you, you find the full expansion of yourself and you let go of what no longer serves you.
Like there’s no tropes. It’s extremely. Deep. And so there’s three categories, right? So there’s GI don’t know if I, you would [00:48:00] call it gems, um, flora, like plants and animals. Oh my gosh, the animals are so amazing. Yeah.
LARA
So in that first night, you draw one of each, right? And those are sort of your themes to think about as you make it go through the year, the cycle of seasons, winter, spring, summer, fall, and, and then each of the following nights, you’re just drawing one card.
That gives you kind of further insight. It helps you almost reset every month. I, every, every month as I go through the year, I sort of take a look at the month that’s gone by. Was there any synchronicity there? What lined up? And then I take a look. Okay, now I’m working with Rabbit. All right. Okay. What’s this theme all about?
And it just helps you get a little bit more conscious about what’s going on in your life. So, so that’s the receive bit is the Oracle cards, the journaling, the getting present. Yeah. Right. And the, the second piece, because it’s co-creation, is planting your dream seed. What do you want for the coming cycle?
And rather than just writing down your New Year’s list of resolutions, this [00:49:00] practice is like resolutions on steroids because you’re actually doing those things during this 13 day window. So if you want to, whatever it is, cook more, meditate, more hula, hoop, more. I don’t, you know, it doesn’t matter. You’re, you’re making sure that you do those activities during the 13 nights.
If you want a certain person in your life, make sure you reach out to them, whether it’s a text or an email or a phone call, or you’re actually making space to hang out. You know? So, so you are giving a, a real physical imprint to this 13 day window of time that. I swear after it’s now been, this will be my 17th year practicing.
It just gets swept right into your future. Like it’s writing on a rip tide of energy in a way that makes you laugh out loud, you know, goosebump inducing, it just blows your mind year after year. The synchronicities that tumble out of your journal or the way the cards that you drew line up with your life and help you just, yeah, your dreams.
So many prophetic dreams, you know? Um, so it’s wild. It’s really [00:50:00] wild. It’s, uh, it helps you concretize and build your faith and the unseen world of energy and spirit or whatever, you know, whether that’s God or source or the quantum field, however you think of that, something greater. It’s just, there’s the, the synchronicities year after year.
You cannot deny that there’s some greater magic and order going on here. And that we have the opportunity to consciously step into that dance and to consciously co-create and it, it gets more magical and more delightful
KELLY
every year. So, amazing. I have, I write, this would be my third year, uh, practicing with Your Deck, and I have it all written out on one page of the front of, I’m not a big journaler to be honest.
Um, but I I do it this way very succinctly, right? Like, so each month, right? Because just in case people didn’t hear it quite clearly. So each day that you’re pulling a card corresponds with a month in the [00:51:00] following, quote unquote calendar year, right? So that you can, like, I can look at my February and any notable things that went down that day or that I dreamt and I can look at the card that I pulled in February of the next year.
Right. I’m not explaining it very clearly, like I need to get better at this. ’cause I’m like such an ambassador.
LARA
So,
KELLY
so for
LARA
instance,
KELLY
um,
LARA
there was one year where, um, so fast forward, I’ve done the Holy Nights back during the winter solstice season, and fast forward to July, I am at the grocery store and I get a call from a really good friend, um, you know, and, uh, and he lives in North Carolina.
I lived in Colorado at the time, and he says, I’m, I’m coming from Wyoming. I’m dry on my way to DIA, are you and your family around? Can we get together for dinner? Go, oh my gosh, of course he comes over, we have this wonderful meal together. It’s, it’s just, we always have a great connection. And um, and then he left and went on [00:52:00] his way to the airport and I just kind of had this.
Nagging thought, like, did I, did I write something in my Sacred Night’s journal about Tommy last year? And I go and I grab my journal and I flip through open to the Sacred Night that corresponds to the month of July, which would be the eighth Sacred night. And there in my journal, I’d had a dream that night and I wrote down these exact words, A surprise visit from Tommy.
So much kindness and connection there. And wow. I mean, what do you do with that? You know? So, so that’s one of those faith building moments where I just go, okay, there’s a greater magic here. There’s, there’s something deeper going on. And at the very least, this practice, like I said, builds and concretizes your faith in the unseen and, and so, uh, so things like that.
And then. The year of my divorce, I, I drew star Sapphire as my yearly overarching mineral card. And that’s all about relationship heating up in either a positive or negative way [00:53:00] depending on how you channel it. And the nature of reflection within our relationships and how what we’re seeing. And somebody else is always reflecting back to us, some part of our inner being, you know, and wow, if that wasn’t a very timely and powerful dose of, of medicine, you know, the year that I’m getting divorced.
So, uh, like I said, the, the magic just deepens every year and continues to bring you back to a place
KELLY
of wonder. And it’s probably important to mention that there isn’t any. No CIC hexing, like, you know, potential.
LARA
You know what, I was very aware of that when I wrote the book. I really intentionally did not want to know SIBO anyone.
And so, so every single card for those, if anyone’s unaware of, you know, the placebo effect would be the positive effect that your mind can have on your body and your life really. Um, when you’re, when you have a positive belief. And, and likewise we can do the same thing. We can hex ourselves, um, with a negative belief, right?
And actually see that [00:54:00] negative belief play out in our bodies and or our life. And there’s been all kinds of studies done on that. So, um, so, so I was very aware of that and I did not want to, you know, curse anyone with, oh my gosh, my, my October is gonna be horrendous ’cause I drew this terrible card. So, um, a lot of the cards are very positive in nature.
And, and then there are cards where I do talk about maybe some challenge, but here’s the gift within that challenge and it’s always got a positive spin. It. There is one card that really freaks people out, and I get emails about it every year. People are in a panic because they’ve drawn the elder card.
Have you come across that one? No, I haven’t drawn that one. Okay. Well, again, it was so unintentional on my part, and so I did shift the I, I added two and shifted the language a little bit in the new edition because it was not my intention to freak people out, and yet it’s really ironic that that was the response because the whole card is about the crone and the full cycle of life and the facts that, [00:55:00] you know, from the moment we’re born, the only thing that we know for certain is that we’re gonna die.
And you know that, that when we live into that mortality, we cease to take for granted this incredible life that we’re moving through. It was really more about just, um, gratitude and, and not taking this life for granted. And, and so there was a lot of that, um, in the elder card, um, and the elderberry and the elder tree.
And there was an old myth that there was an old woman who lived in the elder tree and she was the re representation of the, and so, um, man, every year I get people e emailing or calling, oh my gosh, I drew this card. Like, am I gonna die? You know,
KELLY
very concrete.
LARA
Yeah. And, um, and so, uh, my response is always like, you know, well, nobody has died yet because I always ask them to please call me after the month is over and let me know how it went.
And inevitably, they’ve all said, you know, it was incredible. I [00:56:00] realized that this, this part or this season of my life was ending and there was a rebirth that was happening. Or, and, or. I just, um, you know, it, it was so, um, enlivening to, to live in that way where you’re, you’re, you know, living into your mortality, recognizing your mortality and, and, and, um, yeah, just being grateful for, for this one incredible individual and unique life that we are living.
So
KELLY
amazing. So I shifted it a little bit. I know most people listening understand, you know, what I refer to as the maybe principle, which is that like, seemingly good things come from bad and seemingly bad things can come from good, right? Like, that uncertainty and the lightness of the grip on our attachment, you know, to whatever we imagine is gonna give us that coveted feeling.
So I am so, so grateful for the way that this has, this practice has, it’s, it’s almost like made. A, like a [00:57:00] fun game. I don’t wanna be diminishing, but like game out of, but yes, yes.
LARA
It’s, that’s what I love about it, is it’s, it’s playful and it’s delightful and then yet it’s profound. So it’s sneaky in that way.
KELLY
Yeah. And it’s such a beautiful compliment to the observation, if not just acknowledgement of the solstice. And you know, even of course if you are a Christmas girly, you know this, this is a way because it’s, the first night is Christmas Eve, right? Um, this is a way to really. Bring a dimensionality to the ensuing nights that otherwise, I think for a lot of people who are in the commercial swirl, there’s, I imagine probably, I mean, I remember even when I was like younger, it’s like a letdown feeling and then you’re just like waiting for New Year’s Eve and that like weird dead zone.
It’s like it’s the Christmas hangover
LARA
because this season, this season was originally. In, in, in a lot of cultures it was, it was like a two week period or a 13 day period, somewhere in and around there, or even a month long in some cultures. [00:58:00] So, so yeah. So I call that the Christmas hangover. Yeah. So let’s, let’s not, uh, participate in that.
And we are airy. Oh, can I really quickly add that they, that it doesn’t have to be either or, you know, like you can still, you can still maintain your current traditions and in fact, like we still do the Christmas tree. My daughter loves our ornament collection that, you know, a lot of it passed down from my grandmother.
If you have traditions that are nourishing to you and do fill you up, by all means continue. Right. And you can, you can add this in and it will just add another layer of depth and meaning for you. Yeah,
KELLY
totally. Totally. We are airing this so that folks have time to get the deck in order to observe this season.
Of course, if you’re listening to this at any other time in the year, I, you know, I always, I just, you own it and then you, you bring it out and you could bring it out, as you said, every month, right? So you can revisit. The card that you pulled representing the month that you’re about to start, let’s say you’re gonna check on that card March 1st.
You go in and you reread [00:59:00] it. So there’s like touchstones throughout the year, but you bring it out primarily in, in this season. And I, I believe you offer. Kinda of live support for the experience also, right?
LARA
Yes. I did not originally be, I was a little resistant to that ’cause I was like, I wrote the book like, like, you know,
KELLY
go do the damn thing.
LARA
What more do
KELLY
you want from me?
LARA
I know, Lord, I finally said yes. And so I, I do guide an online group. This year is the first year where we’re actually going to, we’ll do the 13 nights together. We gather live, I think, four times during the sacred nights, and I have prerecorded videos. It’s a combination of the Sacred nights and also Qigong practice, which is, um, which is my world.
So, so I do incorporate some of the Qigong. So if you’re not interested in that, it might not be for you. And then we are gonna meet up once a month at the beginning, on the first of each month, throughout the remainder of the year. It’ll be a whole year long 13 sacred nights guided experience.
KELLY
Yeah. And you know, we’ve talked about your deck this entire conversation, but you [01:00:00] are a neurogenic Qigong practitioner, and that is, like you said, it’s, it’s your world.
It’s your, um, very specific offering. And that’s like a whole other dimension of what you bring in terms of consciousness and awareness around body, mind, spirit, connection. And so what a beautiful thing to weave together. You know, these, these two. World. This is, that is an amazing offering. I am very excited about it myself.
Yeah. Thank you. So we will make sure that everybody has all the links to know where to, to reach you and access you, and certainly get ahold of the deck, which is just like a must try, must try once and then you’ll, you’ll be hooked. So I’m very grateful for your creativity and your work and now your, like, historical perspectives that you layer in.
I mean, there’s just so much that you’re offering to, to shift our paradigm around. Experience of holidays and the so-called calendar year, and I’m, I’m just very grateful.
LARA
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Well, it’s, [01:01:00] I’m so happy to be connected and, you know, we, we circle in a lot of the same friend groups and, uh, there’s just so, there’s so much brilliant creativity that’s bubbling up right now, and it, it gives me hope and faith and humanity.
KELLY
Absolutely. I couldn’t agree more. Amazing. Thanks, Laura.
