MOTHERING THROUGH THE DARKNESS: LESSONS FROM THE SPIRAL BY JULIE NEALE
The months before writing this piece for the Almanac have felt incredibly heavy. In my own motherhood journey and in our country and the world, it has seemed not only that things were in crisis, but that they were collapsing. Past stories, systems, and patterns revealed their cracks, leaving me disoriented and searching for new footing. I returned often to the Mystics Almanac and drew cards from the Mystics Oracle Deck. Again and again, I pulled the "Fear" and the "Beneath" cards, mirrors of all I was experiencing in the not knowing. As I sat with these cards, I realized that my personal feelings were also reflected in our collective story.
Echoes of History
As I listen to historians, I keep reflecting on how much this moment echoes others in our history. The turbulence and backlash of Reconstruction, when newly won freedoms were met with violence and suppression. The Gilded Age, when vast inequality and political corruption left ordinary people struggling while the wealthy few consolidated power. The 1930s, when economic collapse and widespread fear created conditions that allowed authoritarian movements to rise across the world.
Each of these times brought real devastation and loss. Yet they also carried seeds of transformation. Reconstruction, though violently cut short, planted the roots that later grew into the Civil Rights Movement. The abuses of the Gilded Age gave rise to reforms in the Progressive Era. The despair of the Depression led to the New Deal, the creation of social safety nets, and labor rights that reshaped American life. And though the 1930s brought the world to the brink of war, its aftermath renewed global commitments to democracy, human rights, and rebuilding, even if those commitments have always been fragile and incomplete.
History does not repeat, but it does rhyme. Life moves in spirals, not straight lines. We return to familiar struggles, facing injustice, violence, and division, but when they arrive again, we are not the same as before. We come with new perspective, new resilience, and often hard-earned wisdom we did not have the last time around.
Guiding Lights
This summer, I found myself asking "how should we navigate this new ring of the spiral?" How might we mother ourselves, our children, and our communities through the darkness of collapse without losing faith that something transformative is taking root beneath it all?
Just as the Mystics Almanac draws on cards to illuminate the energies of the year, I decided to turn to the Mother's Quest Podcast as my own kind of oracle, revisiting conversations from episodes with mothers whose wisdom can light our way. Three voices called to me most strongly: the Mystics Almanac's own intuitive strategist Lindsay Pera, From Scratch author, producer and screenwriter Tembi Locke, and the Revolutionary Love Project civil rights leader Valarie Kaur.
Lindsay's words deepened the concept of the spiral itself as a guide. Life, she confirms is not linear but more like a nautilus shell, circling back with new perspective. Challenges return, not as failures, but as invitations to greet them with greater compassion for ourselves and others. She likens our lives to the rings of a tree, each year holding stories of hardship and growth. What once felt like collapse can, with time, be recognized as part of a larger pattern of healing and becoming.
Tembi reminded me of the power of ancestry and constellations. Raised by an "ecosystem of women," her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, she carries the resilience and faith they instilled. She told the story of the Drinking Gourd, the Big Dipper, which enslaved people once followed north to freedom when no maps existed. Her wisdom for now: when the path ahead feels uncertain, we can still orient ourselves by what is larger than us, our ancestors, the stars, our deepest faith, and we must remember that no one travels alone.
Valarie recalls the birthing room, her mother's hand on her forehead, whispering "You are brave" as she felt generations of women standing invisibly at her back while she labored. In the midst of growing authoritarianism, she has famously posed the question: "Is this the darkness of the tomb, or the darkness of the womb?" Her story reminds us that every labor, whether giving birth, raising children, or rebirthing a nation, calls for courage, community, and the breath of our ancestors at our side. Even when the contractions feel painful and relentless, transition always comes before new life.
Going Deeper
Together, these voices remind me that we are never meant to fi nd our way alone. For more connection, I recorded a special episode of the Mother's Quest Podcast inspired by this Almanac entry. The episode weaves together clips from Lindsay, Tembi, and Valarie to illuminate these lessons for our times in their own voices. You can listen at www.mothersquest.com/podcast or on your favorite podcast app.
I also invite you to pause and reflect and notice how these themes are showing up in your own life. What wisdom might you want to carry with you into The Year of Puzzlement?
Questions for you:
• Where in your life right now are you navigating crisis and collapse? What might help you trust it as part of the spiral?
• Who are the mothers, ancestors, or teachers at your back that you can call on for courage and light?
• What lessons have you been circling back to? How can you meet the return of familiar challenges differently this time?
• If the darkness of this moment might be both tomb and womb, what must you release, and what are you quietly nurturing toward birth?
Closing Wish
As we move into the year ahead, may we meet the spiral with compassion and perspective, may we orient ourselves by the constellations and the strength of our ancestors, and may we trust that even in the most painful contractions, something new is waiting to be born.
ABOUT JULIE NEALE
JULIE NEALE is a leadership coach, facilitator, and connection catalyst who helps women changemakers open doors for their next chapter of voice, leadership, and
impact. She is the founder of Mother's Quest, an award winning platform and podcast that inspires mothers to live their E.P.I.C. lives, and the creator of the Live Your EPIC Year Planner. Through her coaching and her Connection Studio offerings at julielneale.com, Julie guides women to reconnect with themselves, clarify their leadership and legacy, and amplify their voice for greater social impact. She believes in the power of storytelling, reflection, and community to help us mother ourselves, our children, and the movements we are building.
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