January illustrated almanac
the Wolf Month of visions and impatience
This is an illustrated digital almanac of the internal emotional climate, as influenced by the external natural and astronomical events. I wanted to capture visually the shared experience of how it feels to be alive as a tiny human, enveloped in the greater cyclical movement of this planet, throughout one calendar year. Welcome to January!
For the majority of January, sun’s in Capricorn. You don’t need to be into astrology to embrace this, but I look into it for its language and an inspiration of how it could be translated into “the vibe” of the month. So Capricorn is that practical CEO-type of a character, a high achiever that knows how to utilise resources and practice the art of restriction and delayed gratification. It is ruled by Saturn, which is a damn slow planet that takes 30 years to return to the same spot in the sky - demanding your patience. The way I translate the Capricorn vibes is that in the beginning of January, we’ve been planning our year with ambition, but not moving forward yet - starting slow and delaying that gratification of seeing results. We’ve been saving our energetic reservoirs this winter, as the year is long and only starting.
January tends to be the coldest month in the Northern hemisphere and a dark one too, although the light is already returning. It brings with it the awareness of mortality and the sense of grief for another year gone by.
The name January comes from Roman god Janus, who stands for new beginning, transition, passages, doorways, duality and ending. It’s usually depicted as having two faces. Both the light returning in this darkest, coldest month and the two-faced Janus represent to me the last peek backward into the year that has passed, before collecting ourselves and facing the year in front of us.
The first full moon of the year is called Wolf Moon and it’s the actual energetic beginning of the year. It gives January its alternative (Saxon) name Wolf Month. An old Slovene name for January is prosinec, associated with millet bread and the act of asking for something.
In the traditional Roman calendar, the year has consisted of 10 months, with winter being considered a month-less period. Both January and February weren’t on the calendar because no time tracking was necessary as this was a break for farming and wars! To me January feels as if it’s a made up month, existing only on calendars, when in reality the time is standing still.
And lastly, we are highly influenced by our immediate natural environment, of course. In my little spot of the Earth in the Alps, this means frozen soil, still landscapes and easier to spot larger animals foraging for food to survive the winter. I have included these big birds I see carefully picking through the still-laying fields around me. To me they represent fresh visions and ideas.
