On Snow

Yesterday the snow fell in New York. It’s the first snow of winter but the first snow always comes firmly, falling fast in fine fat flakes. At first it dapples green grass and decorates tree trunks, but by evening a layer of slush builds up on the pavement, allowing whiteness to blanket the city.

Above: Snow on oak leaves

Snow, like quartz, forms a regular crystal. Seeing coldness enforce structure reminds me of Saturn’s heavy lessons, but angel-feather snow, white and nearly floating, radiates qualities feminine and pure. Even wind and rain can be scented with earth and grass, but in this cold I smell only crispness, nearer sensation than scent. Snow is one of the least earthly of all phenomena and is better compared with starlight than rain.

Above: Doodle by the author

Above: White decorative branches at the florist's

Many of our snow associations come from its white color. The associations of white include purity, virginity, and cleanliness, but it is also the inhospitable and dangerous winter of our survival-minded ancestors, and it can create feelings of coldness, loneliness, and isolation. More about the symbolism of the color white here.

Above: Domestic Bliss Amulet. The white stone veined with grey is howlite.

Just as doctors wear white coats, many healing stones are white in color; I have recently used calming howlite and protective white banded agate in my amulets, while pearls, white in color, have deeply nurturing properties they share with the moon and sea. 

Above: Inanna Descending Amulet with pearls

I love using the snow as a fairy disconnect – a trigger that puts my attention on the subtler fairy realms, the small and large etheric qualities of the landscape, rather than on familiar third-dimensional features. The snow, like the enchanted mists of the Mabinogion, transports one between realities.

A solitary walk in the snow can take us to other realms, there to obtain knowledge and treasure, but like Tolkien’s hobbits, we’re also grateful (and hungry) when we get back home.

Enjoy the snow!