It might be that at one point in life I could have become a morning person. All sorts of people that I admire get up early to be healthy wealthy and not so very stupid. But when I was younger all those busybodies who were so concerned with getting things done retired at night and the important work of enjoying the space around me could begin.
Books and scary stories, comics and the subversive minds that poke at all the silly things we do in the light come at night. I fell in love with night. And now morning shuns me and tries to entomb me in bed.
I love how you always relate history, female writers and nature in one beautiful web of revelations Freya! Love this so much
This post reminds me of Joe March from little woman who would often burn the midnight’s oil to get her scripts together. The urge of working through night to reclaim who we are and hour of the wolf are the allegories I deeply need for self transformation. Thank you for providing me with such tools and knowledge. 💜🌼
This is so beautiful-a linguistic meditation on dusk and night. It's turned my attitude about the darkness that's been bringing me down this winter, more so than other winters.
Thank you for this! I recently became aware of the historical "two-sleep" phenomenon, also brought up by Roger Kirch. There is BBC article about it at https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220107-the-lost-medieval-habit-of-biphasic-sleep. For those of us night-owls living in places with dark winters, this could be an interesting answer to the lure of candlelight!
One thing I love about going off-grid is the immediate rewiring of relationship to light and dark. Electric lighting seems so offensive to the senses after a few days without!
your words are often a breath for me, and more in difficult moments like this last days, meeting some hard sorrows ; very interested too about the lonely nights lovers, because i'm one, definitively! Even too much, as I no longer know how to go to bed before dawn, even if I dont do anything interesting.. though it creates a real social disability - anyway, it's more extreme those last years and even increasing, I dont know if / how I will be able to reduce or limit this time difference in the future.. So, the words about ancient practice and creators who did the same is comforting ans consoling for me ;)
I just wanted to say you in french we say really "entre chien et loup", but not "loop" : this word doesn't exist in french; and in the mountains and in countrysides, Venus is often named "l'étoile du berger", -even if it's not a star (etoile)
Just lovely, Freya. So much to learn in here, as always. I, too, love the blue hour, but these days I choose the morning.
I'm writing this at 7:55, almost my bedtime! But I'll be up at 4. I'm a morning owl. I'm here to tell you that our duetting pair of great horned owls don't even wait until sunset to start in the late afternoon, and they're still up to serenade me when I get up in the morning for my quiet writing time.
So much in this and I will go back to it again to absorb more.
I love the idea of a pausing ritual in between light and dark or vice versa. Nature provides us with so many opportunities to live "well". If we just care to take notice.
Autumn is my favourite season.
And yes, finding that time to write, create, be with ourselves, is so important. I find mine before the house wakes by rising before 5am.
Thanks for another informative and thought provoking post Freya.
wow, this is so deep I need to come back and read it all! But every Christmas Eve (and Easter night) I think about how important the night is also for the religious stories. The biggest transformations happen in the dark of the night.
It might be that at one point in life I could have become a morning person. All sorts of people that I admire get up early to be healthy wealthy and not so very stupid. But when I was younger all those busybodies who were so concerned with getting things done retired at night and the important work of enjoying the space around me could begin.
Books and scary stories, comics and the subversive minds that poke at all the silly things we do in the light come at night. I fell in love with night. And now morning shuns me and tries to entomb me in bed.
You have captured perfectly why I’ve always loved the night. I feel most myself and free at night. 🥰
I love how you always relate history, female writers and nature in one beautiful web of revelations Freya! Love this so much
This post reminds me of Joe March from little woman who would often burn the midnight’s oil to get her scripts together. The urge of working through night to reclaim who we are and hour of the wolf are the allegories I deeply need for self transformation. Thank you for providing me with such tools and knowledge. 💜🌼
This is so beautiful-a linguistic meditation on dusk and night. It's turned my attitude about the darkness that's been bringing me down this winter, more so than other winters.
Thank you for this! I recently became aware of the historical "two-sleep" phenomenon, also brought up by Roger Kirch. There is BBC article about it at https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220107-the-lost-medieval-habit-of-biphasic-sleep. For those of us night-owls living in places with dark winters, this could be an interesting answer to the lure of candlelight!
Always loved the word “gloaming.”
One thing I love about going off-grid is the immediate rewiring of relationship to light and dark. Electric lighting seems so offensive to the senses after a few days without!
Lovely writing, Freya, thank you. 🧡
your words are often a breath for me, and more in difficult moments like this last days, meeting some hard sorrows ; very interested too about the lonely nights lovers, because i'm one, definitively! Even too much, as I no longer know how to go to bed before dawn, even if I dont do anything interesting.. though it creates a real social disability - anyway, it's more extreme those last years and even increasing, I dont know if / how I will be able to reduce or limit this time difference in the future.. So, the words about ancient practice and creators who did the same is comforting ans consoling for me ;)
I just wanted to say you in french we say really "entre chien et loup", but not "loop" : this word doesn't exist in french; and in the mountains and in countrysides, Venus is often named "l'étoile du berger", -even if it's not a star (etoile)
Just lovely, Freya. So much to learn in here, as always. I, too, love the blue hour, but these days I choose the morning.
I'm writing this at 7:55, almost my bedtime! But I'll be up at 4. I'm a morning owl. I'm here to tell you that our duetting pair of great horned owls don't even wait until sunset to start in the late afternoon, and they're still up to serenade me when I get up in the morning for my quiet writing time.
So much in this and I will go back to it again to absorb more.
I love the idea of a pausing ritual in between light and dark or vice versa. Nature provides us with so many opportunities to live "well". If we just care to take notice.
Autumn is my favourite season.
And yes, finding that time to write, create, be with ourselves, is so important. I find mine before the house wakes by rising before 5am.
Thanks for another informative and thought provoking post Freya.
Beautiful, glad for the reshare so I could discover this piece.
wow, this is so deep I need to come back and read it all! But every Christmas Eve (and Easter night) I think about how important the night is also for the religious stories. The biggest transformations happen in the dark of the night.
“wolf-light!!!” Love this so much. I have always been a night owl myself. lol “revenge bedtime procrastination“ Rude!
Brilliantly written