The in-between time. Time out of time.
There is a particular stretch of days that I quietly wait for each year.
At this time of year, there is the pressure to create something meaningful, to hold everything together, to make it ‘special’.
And for several years now I’ve been trying, quite intentionally, to let some of that go. Much like my self-proclaimed mastery of ‘convalescing when poorly’ (a highly underrated art form which I recommend), I’ve been practising the skill of making space for myself.
I can’t remember exactly when I started marking them.
But it was around the time I made little Omen Days packs as Christmas gifts one year (did I give you one…?).
Since then, it’s become a quiet, personal ritual: a notebook close by, a card pulled, a short meditation or reflection, one small act of noticing each day for 12 days.
The Omen Days are rooted in Celtic tradition and span from 26th December into early January.
Each day is sometimes said to reflect a month of the year ahead, but I don’t hold this in a rigid or predictive way. Instead, I experience them as a liminal space – a “time out of time” – much like Samhain, when the veil feels thinner and life softens at the edges.
And maybe that’s why they feel so necessary now.
Why the Omen Days matter, especially now
We live in a culture that rarely pauses with intention. Even rest is often scheduled, productive, or immediately filled.
The Omen Days offer something else entirely: permission to slow down without needing an outcome.
They invite us to stop. To notice. To listen beneath the noise.
This isn’t about manifesting, forecasting, or trying to control what’s coming. It’s about cultivating attention – and allowing meaning to emerge organically.
Cards might be pulled.
Dreams might be remembered.
You might notice the quality of the light, the feel of cold air on bare skin, the way weather moves through your body. These can feel like whisperings for the year ahead… but what’s often more revealing is what you notice at all once you take the time.
✨When we pause, patterns surface.
✨When we soften, connection becomes possible.
✨When we slow down, our creative instincts can finally be heard.
What might you notice during the Omen Days?
There’s no “right” thing to notice, and that’s important.
You might notice:
✨Repeating words, themes, or symbols
✨A particular emotion that keeps returning
✨Images in dreams or daydreams
✨A pull towards rest, play, grief, or creativity
✨Small moments that feel strangely alive or meaningful
✨Resistance – boredom, frustration, numbness (these count too)
Sometimes what shows up feels profound. Other times it feels utterly ordinary.
Both are welcome.
The practice isn’t about assigning meaning – it’s about paying attention and seeing what wants to be seen when life slows down.
How the Omen Days offer connection at this time of year
The end of December can be surprisingly lonely or disorientating. Routines fall away. Social intensity peaks and then collapses. The new year looms, often carrying pressure to reset, resolve, improve.
The Omen Days offer a different kind of connection:
✨Connection to yourself, without expectation
✨Connection to rhythm, rather than productivity
✨Connection to something older, cyclical, and shared
When practiced collectively, as we’re doing inside The Wild Creative, they also offer a gentle thread of community. A way of being alongside others without performance. Sharing reflections, noticing similarities, helping each other keep count (which I very much need).
There’s something deeply regulating about knowing others are also pausing, noticing and listening, even quietly, in their own way.
Things I’ve learned from practicing the Omen Days
Each year teaches me something new, but a few things keep returning:
✨Starting gets easier when I prepare gently – having pages ready, space held, expectations softened.
✨Continuity matters less than kindness. Some days are rich, emotional, or clear. Others are flat or foggy. Both are part of the practice.
✨Less is more. One page a day. One card. One word. A few things to notice. That’s enough.
✨Noticing is the practice. Not interpreting. Not fixing. Just noticing.
✨What emerges later often surprises me. The meaning of what I noticed rarely arrives immediately – it unfolds over time.
Perhaps the biggest learning is this: when I give myself permission to pause, something inside me remembers how to lead.
An invitation
If you’re feeling called to slow down, to resist the rush into the new year, to listen for quieter truths – The Omen Days begin on Friday 26th December.
✨You don’t need special tools.
✨You don’t need certainty.
✨You don’t need to do it “properly.”
✨Just a willingness to notice. To pause. To be with what is.
✨The whisperings for the year ahead are already there.
✨The magic is in giving them space to be heard.
I look forward to seeing where it takes you…
Sally x