While not universal, many Pagans honor a seasonal cycle, we take note of the way the world changes throughout the year, and we often use this as a guide to our own changes. But even if we don't follow the wheel of the year, when the outside world conflicts with our concept of what 'should be' it can leave us feeling off and ungrounded.
Like most people, I grew up with very clear cut ideas of the seasons. Christmas was in winter and the time of snow. Summer break was hot and sunny. Spring was mild and green, and fall was breezy and brilliant colors fading to monocrhome. As an adult, I learned that depending on where you lived, that wasn't always true (having lived in Hawaii, where you really don't get proper seasons....just 'less warm than usual' and 'extra-rainy')
But nature is a wild and uncontrolled thing, and even if you live somewhere with four semi-regular seasons, there will always be times where the weather outside does something wacky and you are getting snow after the flowers have started to bloom or wearing shorts a week before Christmas.
When the weather is off, it's like the whole world is out of kilter. Things just feel off. We may struggle to deal with the changes, or to tap into the energy of the season in the way that we normally would. We may find ourselves with lower energy or fighting harder to stay healthy (especially with serious temperature changes).
I love the idea of seasons as tides, and I think it's a great analogy for the actual energy of a season. When the tides are in, there are still waves. At any particular point, the water might be higher or lower, but if you watch over time, the whole edge moves up or down.
I do feel there are ways to keep in closer touch with the overall seasonal tides. I find that if I include more seasonal decorations inside, in places where I will see them often, it helps me keep touch with that energy. This is one reason why I decorate my altar for the Sabbat (and leave it up), but I also use my devices (desktop, tablets, phone) to help. I will set my backdrops and themes to reflect the season, and it helps me stay in that mood.
I actually love nail polish for this too. I'll paint my nails based on the energies I am wanting to feel, and it's often seasonally inspired. Winter is blues and whites and silvers (sometimes red and green), while spring is pastels. I see my hands throughout the day, and it always brings me back to how I want to feel.
I think that seasonal eating is also helpful. I'm not a big stickler for 'traditional' foods, and our holiday meals are often more "what do we really feel like eating" rather than "what is symbolic of this holiday", but I do find that I am drawn to more seasonal styles of food and cooking throughout the year. Winter is stews and chili, summer is salads, spring is often grilling. Again, it's a tide thing, and while we can and do eat all these foods all year long, we eat more of them in their season.
It's interesting, but the more we build up rituals for seasons, the more they become part of our seasonal experience. I put snowflake window decals on the back window for winter, and sometimes that is more of a 'now it feels like winter!' cue for me than the actual weather (which is often very not-snowy....sadly...I love snow). And when I am done with winter for the year and ready for spring, I take them down.
In a way, it's my modern take on the old rituals to help make the sun rise and keep the wheel turning. I don't literally think that my taking the snow decals off my winter stops it from snowing anymore (it definitely doesn't lol), but it is my way of honoring and celebrating the season, and one of the ways I send energy back to the earth. It's a little bit of 'fake it until you make it' and when I'm ready for a change, I'll change my world so that it calls what I want to me.
This is also one place where I think making note of the Sabbats (even if you don't celebrate them in the technical sense) gives us a framework of seasons, with the 'start of' and 'midpoint' of each season being marked. My local weather doesn't always mesh up, but that doesn't bother me so much (especially as I am very much an indoor person, so the outside weather has less effect on me...my year is sort of temperature controlled as far as my day to day life is concerned).
Being modern Pagans also puts us often finding the weaving between our natural rhythms and the secular holidays, many of which have a seasonal 'feel' to them. So we are caught up in seasonal celebrations no matter what the weather is like. It often surprises me when Valentines rolls around, which I tend to associate with spring...and it's still freezing out (it does make for interesting compromises between date clothes and weather appropriate attire!)
Knowing how to adjust, so that the changes in weather doesn't take us out of our seasonal experience, allows us to tap into that energy. Whether you have a regular seasonal practice or not, highlighting the current seasonal energy puts you in tune with the world at large. You may find yourself drawn to different types of activities, and you can focus that pull to work for you, instead of against you. It puts you back in the drivers seat, no matter what is going on outside.
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