Announcement: You may now take down your Christmas tree. The twelve days of Christmas are over. The Magi have officially arrived.
Ok, maybe you’ve already taken down your tree. But you may remember from my post on Holiday Traditions that, in my family, we always celebrated Epiphany. (With the camels and Magi making their way slowly across the room to the creche, finally arriving at the manger on January 6th.) If you celebrate Epiphany, then traditionally Christmas decorations stay up through the full twelve days of Christmas.
I’m curious, if you left yours up, did you do that because of Epiphany or because you like having them up and aren’t ready to take them down? Or for some other reason? I have a friend that is turning her tree into a bird feeder. Such a clever idea! Read how to do this here.
Ah, but Epiphany! A word that almost always requires an exclamation point. An event which arrives early in a month that is still more about reflection than action. Which is to say, you may have a great idea but it still needs time to come to fruition. There is still time needed before it can be put into action; there are still plans to be made and much to be considered.
Remember, the Magi saw the star and it still took them twelve to fifteen months for it to lead them to Jesus. First, there were preparations. It’s not like they just jumped on their camels like cowboys in a western. And there were stops along the way. Remember how they knocked on King Herod’s door and asked for directions to the new king of the Jews? Yeah, definitely a misstep there. And that happens to all of us. Even when following a star, we can make some wrong turns.
Epiphanies are wonderful – and – they still require work.
An epiphany alone won’t get you anywhere. An epiphany is just the beginning. An epiphany is just the romance that requires a huge amount of attentiveness to make the relationship last. Yet, without the epiphany, nothing is new. We are in the same place (emotionally, intellectually, spiritually). Epiphany is the spark that moves us forward. Ephiphany is possibility.
May this day be one of introspection, hope, and even joy for you.
Happy Epiphany!
Forgive the poor formatting of the poem below. Substack doesn’t hold proper formatting, alas. And yes, there will probably be some words you’ll have to look up. Resulting in yet more epiphanies. :)
REGARDING EPIPHANY
The Thesis
Epiphany is
the 12 days journey
the 12 times 12 times 2
Not
the sudden manifestation
the dawning of sight
the return of the light
That
was the easy part.
The Discourse
Epiphany is
an episiotomy
an epistemic episode
an epitaph on extinguished epithelium
an epoch of equivocal equity
eradicating Erebus
erewhile ergastic
erotic and erratic and eruptive.
Epiphany is
exhilarating
exasperating
ex-communicating
not explicative.
It is exploding
exploring
expressing and expounding.
It is extending
extemporaneous
exteroceptive and extreme,
extrinsic
extraordinary
extruding, exuding, and exuberant.
The Conclusion
Epiphany is
the sight once seen:
the memory the journey and the returning;
the spiral upward toward
the light, spiked with snakes
and ladders;
the deja’ vu;
the resting too;
the falling, the crawling, the weeping,
the leaping, the seeing, the meaning, and,
the forgetting.
The Love Song
Epiphany! O, Ephiphany!
esteemed, ethereal Epiphany!
I am estranged from my ethos
and esurient.
Espouse yourself to me!
Meet me at the estuary where your Etesian ether
will etch my everything entirely –
ensign me with your essence
That I might wait patiently
until you come again.
- Jan Kristen Peppler
Originally published in Between Literary Journal, Vol. 18, Beyond (2015)
Thank you for this, Jan. Illuminating and funny too (knocking on Herod’s door)! My epiphany - literally - was realizing that I wanted to write. Be A Writer. It happened to me when I was on an acupuncturist’s table simulating a pin cushion. Did not expect that going in. But it was, as you say, only the beginning. No magic wand. The road from there was (and still is) hard, scary, exhilarating, unsettling, and confirming. With lots of shitty first drafts without which there would be no final versions. My epiphany was like a trail head: “Start here, and I promise you the journey will be worth it.”
Epiphany:
"the Magi saw the star and it still took them twelve to fifteen months for it to lead them to Jesus."
It seems to me that time as an ally to our epiphanies if only we allow it.