{"id":1705,"date":"2025-11-18T23:04:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T23:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/?p=1705"},"modified":"2026-01-06T20:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T20:36:13","slug":"janus-the-sad-witch-in-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/18\/janus-the-sad-witch-in-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Janus & The SAD Witch in Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Crafting A Life With Seasonal Affective Disorder<\/h2>\n\n\n
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When the light shifts as winter approaches each year, I become a different person. Like a witchy Janus, people who see me in the winter time say I even look different. I am not the summer Runa that is cheery, active, and social. I am the winter Runa that is slow, introspective, and solitary. This is life with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), aka seasonal depression. The fact that I suffer with this disorder is no secret, but I have many new folx reading my work, and it made sense to address one of the challenges I face in my life regularly and how it impacts, shifts, and informs my life \u2013 writing, food growing, and my Practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This disorder is a form of depression that shows up in a seasonal cycle, usually lasting around four to five months each year. It presents a lot like clinical depression, but has its own seasonal twists since different symptoms tend to show up in the winter-pattern versus the summer-pattern SAD. As its acronym suggests, sadness and other depressive symptoms dominate the winter season for SAD sufferers, including having little or no energy, changes in sleep and appetite, physical aches pains, and bodily system problems (think digestion, breathing, or reproductive) and thought processes become cloudy. SAD sufferers are not immune to suicidal ideation either. Let me spotlight here that if you are feeling like you may cause yourself harm, please seek professional healthcare support.<\/a> Witches have therapists, too. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Witch, the awareness of these energetic cycles is helpful. It helps to acknowledge SAD as the real mental-health condition it is. That said, it\u2019s important to remember that SAD doesn\u2019t make you broken, or \u201ctoo much,\u201d although the overculture wants you to think you just need to shake your head, pat yourself on the back, and \u2013 wa-la! you feel better. Instead, it\u2019s been helpful to me to approach this time of year and the onset of SAD, as a natural response to seasonal changes in light, energy, and routine \u2013 like a Witch does. The Land is fallow, so sleeping more, eating differently, and needing more physical comfort and deeper roots & connections seems more aligned with our planet’s natural rhythms.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo by Runa Troy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In naming and acknowledging SAD, it both grounds you by giving you language for an experience many others share, without labeling yourself as a problem. It\u2019s about understanding your rhythms so you can care for yourself with more compassion and intention. Once you\u2019ve named and acknowledged, you can weave practical support with not just treatment routines and actions, but with Witchcraft and\/or energetic practices. There was a moment back in 2016 \u2013 a decade or so after my diagnosis \u2013 where I literally yelled out the back door after like the 30th day of gray skies, \u201cI fucking have SAD, give me a break!\u201d It was a crude acknowledgement, but it was a positive energetic step in reckoning my shadow. If you are reading this and have SAD, I hope your reckoning is more graceful and kind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both times of the year suck for having a seasonal depression. But in both cases the overculture \u2013 capitalism, the patriarchy, and living under a surveillance state \u2013 wants you to behave the same 24\/7, 365-days of the year. Practitioners know this is unsustainable. However, when depression shows up \u2013 seasonal or otherwise \u2013 your brain may not be your best friend at any given moment and you will need to have in place ways to cope, destress, and build tolerance and grace to get through. This may be especially important if you\u2019re like me and cannot take or have an atypical reaction to typical medications prescribed by western doctors. Also, the typical length of time it takes for many of these medications to \u2018work,\u2019 are about the time the disorder fades again. This means med management is often complicated depending on the individual (per the American Medical Association<\/a>). And if you\u2019re past your second Saturn return you may find that the SAD symptoms are hitting you harder than earlier in your life. But giving it a Saturnian perspective \u2013 developing infrastructure to support your life even under SAD has been helpful for me. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Foundational to that structure is a combination of psychotherapy, Vitamin D intake (all year), and light therapy. Treatment focused on this combo has been the most helpful for my body. Your mileage may vary. As I write this, I\u2019m under the glow of a full-spectrum light box. I do this early in the day to not disrupt my sleep. Also, there are grow lights in my greenhouse, and working with my plants while those lights are on is also helpful. If the rare and brilliant sunny day in the midst of the Big Dark here in the Pacific Northwest <\/a>shows up \u2013 You will find me outside getting all the sun rays I can. Before having access to artificial sunlight, I went so far as to split my time between the PNW and the Mojave to try to battle SAD. But the Land called me back, so I had to come up with new tactics. It was normal to then approach SAD with my Craft.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Craft practice is rooted in the ebb and flow of the natural world, so seasonal cycles become more than just weather. They\u2019re invitations. Each turn of that \u2018Wheel of the Year\u2019 as many before us dubbed it, brings its own lessons, energies, and rhythms. These annual rotations shape how we move, rest, create, and connect. In the bright months, I rise with the growing light; in the dark months, I descend into reflection, stillness, and deeper magic. By honoring these shifts instead of resisting them, a Witch learns to work with the season\u2019s current, letting it guide spellcraft, intuition, and the pace of daily life. <\/p>\n\n\n

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That doesn\u2019t mean that I\u2019m constantly doing spellwork, divining, building altars, or not just completely overwhelmed with magical work during the SAD season. I took a hint from the things I do for my body to apply to my practice. So you will find me focused on getting more \u2018light\u2019 into my Craft. I do more candle and fire magic in Winter. Fire scrying in front of the fireplace is stillness and depth. Even on some of my worst SAD days in the season, sitting by the fire feels healing; adding divination feeds my spirituality. Candles, bonfires, and wood stoves can also be healing like sunlight, if not simply comforting. On those sunny days when I\u2019ve plopped myself out under the sun rays, there may just be a jug of water I\u2019m charging to drink later \u2013 this is especially nice when it\u2019s Capricorn season in the Northern Hemisphere, since it\u2019s very grounding energy. I have found that using that grounding energy to make my tea (of uplifting and comforting herbs, for sure) or brew my kombucha.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychotherapy can be like an energy clearing \u2013 you talk it and clear the air. When I feel that the SAD season is approaching (each year it shows up in a slightly different time, but by Fallow Thursday*, it\u2019s here, I remember to reset any and all stagnant energy in my life, especially within my home. \u2018In the preparation there is a cure,\u2019 as my Gigi used to say. I prepare by doing lots of energetic clearing and boundary setting. I create simple charms to ward off gloom or overwhelm, and each year I perform a cord-cutting from seasonal obligations and social pressures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next is where grace comes into my Practice. I upend any baneful thoughts with kindness towards myself, especially my higher conscience. I give myself the grace to allow winter to be a teacher of rest, surrender, and deep magic. I planted seeds in late summer and early autumn to honor both the struggle and the beauty of the season. Do I always get it right? No, but I learn, forgive (there\u2019s that grace), and start anew. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This grace leads to thankful recognition: I am able to move at that darker, slower pace because I\u2019ve been blessed to work for the Land, Kin, and Seekers of Magic. It also helps that my gnosis is strong in \u2018this too shall pass\u2019 and it does every year. In the midst of coping with the winter blahs (my former name for it before diagnosis), I approach each day with gratitude. Finding that gratitude can be a magical spell in itself, especially when SAD is beating a Witch up pretty hard. When all your brain is saying is to sleep, that gratitude can change the tide. I find this by winter introspection journaling, making rest sacred, and creating a small section in my BOS\/Grimoire for winter mood tracking, dreams, and energetic tides. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Like Janus, the god of doorways, gates, boundaries, thresholds, SAD can often feel like being suspended between who you are in the light months and who you become in the dark ones. That\u2019s a liminal space, and Witches love liminal space. So it still sucks, but it doesn\u2019t last forever, you\u2019ve already overcome this before, and there are choices and exits when things feel stuck \u2013 like a door having two directions. The Witch reframes this season as sacred and not punishing. May your season bring you that reframe, even if SAD has you by your witchy locks. May you find and step into a different type of power that centers, grounds, reframes, and is gracious and grateful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve read this far, let me leave you with a bit of a Big Dark blessing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May the dark months wrap you in gentleness, and may your inner flames glow steady and sure. May you honor the light you carry and the rest your spirit craves, trusting that both are sacred, both are needed, and both will guide you through the winter\u2019s quiet magic.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go drink some water now. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blessed Be,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~R<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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**Fallow Thursday<\/em> is my term for the US\u2019 Thanksgiving holiday. In 2024 our Covenstead finally decided we were not going to stress everyone out with this middle-of-the-work week holiday. Instead it\u2019s dedicated to being fallow as the Land is doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crafting A Life With Seasonal Affective Disorder When the light shifts as winter approaches each year, I become a different person. Like a witchy Janus, people who see me in the winter time say I even look different. I am not the summer Runa that is cheery, active, and social. I am the winter Runa…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[543,541,542,544],"class_list":["post-1705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-post","tag-living-intentionally","tag-sad","tag-seasonal-affective-disorder","tag-wheel-of-the-year"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1705"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1718,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705\/revisions\/1718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runatroy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}