Time Goes By... Gathering Momentum
By Darkwing
@Darkwing (21583)
February 22, 2009 10:01am CST
A friend's discussion made me think about life, and my beliefs. As you possibly know, pagans use a Wheel of the Year for their calender. The Wheel represents an eternal circle with no ending, and it came to me today that as life goes on, and we grow older, time seems to pass so much more quickly. Do you find this?
I sat and thought about my friend's discussion which involved the dawning of each new day, and I came to considering the fact that we actually roll the Wheel down a hill in some of our rituals and celebrations. We watch the wheel as it gathers momentum on its journey down the hill, reminding us that the Wheel is ever-turning, and that there is no end to it.
So, from this, I drew that in the Wheel's gathering more speed as it travelled further down the hill, that our lives are the same. We start at the top of the hill, at a fairly slow speed, and as we get older and further down the "hill" of life, we move faster through time. Ok... maybe this is due to our increased wisdom, or maybe that we take on a lot more responsibilities as time goes on and thus don't notice how time flies, but what are your thoughts on this?
Can you relate the Wheel to your Life Path? I'd be interested in your thoughts... or am I going completely mad? ha ha ha!
6 people like this
15 responses
@Anora_Eldorath (6028)
• United States
22 Feb 09
Oh, I definately think that my life works very much like the Wheel. It has it's highs and lows just like anyone else's. It seems that there is definately a correlation between what occurs in our life and what season we are in. For example, during the Yule we were blessed with lean meats, great food, and lots of quiet time. Now that the Ostara is almost here we're finding ourselves busy with cleaning, market runs, and lots of family activity.
I also find that for me personally, I run with the esbats. My moods and activity correspond with the cycle of the Moon, and I take that time to always connect with the Goddess at that phase to help me through that portion of my life.
Namaste-Anora
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@Darkwing (21583)
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22 Feb 09
Yes, it seems that the Wheel tells the story of our lives, don't you think? You're right about the Moon too. I think it's more a women's thing to connect with the Moon Goddess, whereas the men connect more with the fiery strength of the Sun God. I'm looking forward to Ostara. My Son was born on that day, and on Mothers' Day. This year, Mothers' Day in England is the day after Ostara, so the feasting will continue! 
Brightest Blessings, my friend, and thank you for your contribution.
Brightest Blessings, my friend, and thank you for your contribution.1 person likes this
@Darkwing (21583)
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22 Feb 09
Woooo... you sound a bit distressed, my friend. Ok, you don't like the pattern... then get out the paint and paintbrush and change it. You're quite capable of making the pattern you want to, in a positive, productive way. Don't mind me saying this, but negatives are a bad thing... they need to be put behind you and a positive approach to be taken. Move forward, my dear friend... paint your patterns exactly the way you want them to be, then live them! Only you can do that, and you owe it to yourself, surely?
Brightest Blessings in love and in light, always.
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@imaginearea (363)
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22 Feb 09
So well said, darkwing...yours are wise words indeed.
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@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
22 Feb 09
Makes sence.
I know the days are no longer or shorter than any other day for ythey are all 24 hours long but I know one thing now I am older they sure do fly by.
I remeber back wehn I could hardly wait to be 21.
And after I got there life and time sure picked up and flew and now I am 69 and think back to all the good times I had!
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@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
23 Feb 09
Havent been able to set out much lately at night to cold and I have ahd a damn cold for 2 weeks now!But I set in here in puter room on Sunday nights pull up my radio station and if the songs are right I can still drift back.
and dance with my feller!
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@Darkwing (21583)
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22 Feb 09
Yes, I know you do, my friend. When you sit on your back porch, you drift back, don't you? It's a wonderful thing to be able to do, but don't dwell there too long... think of how wonderful the Autumn of your life can be but also, take time to smell the roses which are a product of your past, every now and again.
Brightest Blessings, my dear friend and thank you for your contribution. x
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@deeeky (3667)
• Edinburgh, Scotland
22 Feb 09
Time certainly seems to go fast when we look back over the time that we have spent on this world of ours.Sometimes it seems to go slow when we are waiting for something to happen more quickly than it does.
Life has its stops and starts due to the obstacles that are in the way and need to be moved away so that your so called 'wheel' can progress on its normal path again.
We also have to guide that wheel along the right path so as not to stray left or right on unforgiving territory.
Time waits for no-one so we have to make best use of it while we can each precious day.
Have a great life from Deeeky.
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@Darkwing (21583)
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22 Feb 09
'Tis true what you say about the obstacles my friend, but keep that Wheel in mind. Haven't you noticed that it either rolls over those obstacles on the way down the hill, or glides off and goes around them? That's how we must think... know we're never going to be stopped by the obstacles, but keep a positive thought in our head that we can conquer them, and roll on through life. There's nothing wrong with straying into forbidden territory from time to time.. in fact it's an inevitable thing, but we must just know how to find our way back, don't you think?
I agree time waits for no-one and that we must make the best use of it while we can. Each dawn is a new beginning, and the opportunity to change what we don't like about ourselves or our path... we have to take those opportunities, day by day.
Brightest Blessings my dear friend and thank you for your contribution. x
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@Darkwing (21583)
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22 Feb 09
I'd just like to add something as a bit of an afterthough, my friend.
At the bottom of that hill is a Field of Gold... our harvest. If we're lucky, the gate will be open for us and the Wheel will roll right on through, but if the gate is locked, we may make the choice to climb over it in order to reach our field of Gold. It's well worth the effort, believe me!
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@SpitFire179 (2536)
• Canada
22 Feb 09
Hey!!! I am online when you posted here, AND i got the email for it!!! haha...
okay so i totally agree with you here, the only thing i might add is that i think that time also goes by a lot faster because we take so many things for granted as we get older.
When we're young everything is fresh and exciting, but I've noticed all over the place that as we get older we forget about how special and meaningful every moment is and get used to things.
It's actually something I'm scared to do, take things for granted i mean, because i know that if i do, i will lose those things, and also at the same time, a piece of myself. So i personally won't let myself take anything for granted, and if i catch myself doing just that, i take a step back and re-evaluate, remind myself of why those things are so special... It doesn't matter what it is.
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@Darkwing (21583)
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22 Feb 09
Well... look who's here!!! Merry Meet my friend... I've missed you!
I see where you're coming from as regards taking things for granted as we grow older, but with me, the freshness and excitement is still there, as I feel I'm learning something new with each day that dawns. I won't ever give up on that... I'm an explorer of knowledge and I love to be at one with nature, so there will always be something to remind me of the gifts we have been given, and how to use them. I feel you're right to an extent though because a lot of people become tired of these activities, and feel that they "can't do what they used to" any more. I feel sorry for these people, but I never want to become like them. Collecting gems of knowledge and pearls of wisdom is imperative for a smooth life path in my instance, and also imparting that knowledge and wisdom to others who desire it.
I never wish to lose the part of me which is so treasured either my friend, so let's take each others' hands and walk on, even if we do gather pace! lol. Brightest Blessings my friend and thank you for your contribution.x
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@CRIVAS (1815)
• Canada
22 Feb 09
I think that you are completely right. As we start out as children, we don't really think abuot life and the passage of time. As we get older and more wiser however, things start to change. When I had my children I noticed it even more, it is like they grow up so fast which in turn, means that I myself get older. It is difficult when you are older not to think about the passage of time more frequently. When someone we know passes away it is another reminder that life goes on and unfortunately there is no way to stop the circle cycle. I think that you and your friend have a very good way of looking at life, and I couldn't agree with you more. Life is a very big cycle that is forever revolving and changing, we are constantly following that cycle throught our lives and deaths. I think that you are far from going completely mad,LOL. Happy mylotting.
@Darkwing (21583)
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22 Feb 09
Oh, just partially mad, huh? 
I wouldn't have it any other way, or how else could we laugh at life when a laugh's most needed?
I like your view of things too, my friend. It makes so much sense doesn't it? As you say, the children seem to grow so quickly but I found there's a period in life where they seem to slow down again, and not age so quickly. I don't know whether you've reached that time yet.
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.
I wouldn't have it any other way, or how else could we laugh at life when a laugh's most needed?
I like your view of things too, my friend. It makes so much sense doesn't it? As you say, the children seem to grow so quickly but I found there's a period in life where they seem to slow down again, and not age so quickly. I don't know whether you've reached that time yet.
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
23 Feb 09
exactly when I was a little girl, I couldn't wait to become and adult, and my grandmother always told me, that when I got older I would find that time was moving too quickly and she was right.
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@Darkwing (21583)
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23 Feb 09
We should always listen to the wisdom of our elders, my friend, but I'm afraid that when we're younger and still exploring life, we think we are the better educated. Alas, we can't see the wisdom of our parents and especially our grandparents. All becomes evident though... they're always right you know!!! 
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, my friend.
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, my friend.
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
25 Feb 09
I can certainly relate to the wheel of time my friend. Sometimes as it is rolling merrily downhill it will hit a rock and fall over. Then there is a struggle to get back up. Sometimes the road is up hill and we need all our strength to get moving and we need to pace ourselves and keep our equilibrium to get anywhere. You are definitely not mad...a little crazy perhaps but I like that in a person...lol. Blessed be dear one.
@Darkwing (21583)
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26 Feb 09
I think we all have a little crazy in us, my dear friend, but yup, you're right, there's the uphill climb as well, but if we've gathered enough momentum on the downhill run, then it's all the more easy to get up the other side, huh?
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
23 Feb 09
I don't know, it seems like maybe my wheel has always been spinning rather fast...no matter how much I want it to slow down.
Responsibilities may have something to do with it. I've been responsible for alot since as long as I can remember. For me, the wheel which represents like and is constantly turning the seasons...does tend to seem very in sync with the progression of each year, even though I often struggle to find time for each sabbat and to just focus on spirituality in general.
It feels like the first few times I went through the seasons of my life it was such a blur that I hardly knew what hit me. And now, I move into spring again, after a winter...and it seems like I can already see the summer of my life returning.
What I mean by this is, my life's events I tend to subconsciously think of in seasons. Winters represent hard times, isolation, and desolation -- even though winters may span years in terms of life events. Spring represents new beginnings, new life, and the return of warmth, this tends to be much shorter lived than winter in general...but is always looke upon fondly by me. Summer represents maturity and everything my life was meant to be. This tends to be only slightly longer than spring periods. And autumn is none of those...and simply just IS. My favorite season, obviously, heh...and it lasts sometimes longer than winter periods.
There's alot of symbolism, and I try to pay attention. The wheel of the year has alot of significance for me...and as for time, well, I try not to measure it since it does tend to speed by me. It seems so weird that it's already 2009, well...well into it, now.
But hey, maybe I'm a little crazy too xD
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@Darkwing (21583)
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23 Feb 09
Well, join the Crazies' Club then, my friend. Happy to have you on board, I'm sure!
Don't you see Autumn as a time of abundance... a time of reaping what you sowed in Spring, a time when growth ends for the year and when you take in your harvest, ready to store for the harsh days of Winter? To me, that's what Autumn is, and from August, through Winter, I spend my time reflecting on how I've grown throughout this turn of the Wheel. What I've accomplished, if you like, my harvest. All the useless stalks left after the harvest are burned by the farmers... no doubt you've seen the fields burning in Autumn. This is symbolic of all you have no further use for in your life... you've harvested your accomplishments, and now, you have to burn the waste that's left. This waste will go back into the earth, to help the seeds you sow next year, grow. My ritual follows this symbolic route. Cast off what you have no further need for... burn it... then put the ashes back into the earth, so that your growth the following year, will be even more abundant. (I hope you understand what I'm trying to say here. I'm speaking in riddles a bit, but not everybody here would agree with our ways, so I don't put it in plain English! ha ha ha.)
I'm sorry... I got away from the subject a little there, but I'm sure you won't mind too much! Autumn is my favourite season too... it IS my season of birth, and my direction is West, so it's bound to be my favourite. Brightest Blessings, my friend and thank you for your contribution.
@Darkwing (21583)
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24 Feb 09
I think once the harvest is in and the celebrations begin, then Autumn is probably a time of satisfaction, and security, I suppose, in knowing that come what may, you have enough to see you through the Winter.
Funny you should call it a time of balance, or equilibrium. I'm Libra... born October 3rd, so you're definitely spot on with that one! Sign of balance and equilibrium that's me, and I despise when things are out of balance! lol.
Thank you for your further response. It makes a lot of sense to me... harvesting is a backbreaking time for farmers, and fruitgrowers alike, but once the work is done, a long rest can be had, huh?
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
24 Feb 09
You're definitely right, somehow though autumn's always been much more laid back for me than actual harvests (hoo boy, almost as much work as spring planting, with the mad rush of picking what to plant and where, and the actual physical labor of it -- I'm a farmer, I've got plenty to compare this all with xD)...and the reflections are more solemn than the cold hard realizations I get in winter say, or the fiery ones of summer.
Autumn definitely represents the foundation of taking responsibility for one's life and the consequences of the actions you took throughout the rest of the seasons.
That might be another reason I love autumn, I'm all about responsibility and facing consequences, it seems xD
I don't know, I was born in the summer...it's just that autumn represents balance, an equilibrium of sorts, to me the most. It's not too hot or too cold, it's the dusk of a year but it doesn't have the bouncy intensity of the twilight of the spring. Calm but still alive.
Oh! Don't worry about going on, I tend to do that a bit myself xD and this is an interesting subject to discuss and hear others' views on! Alot of insight and...well, for some anyway, "outside the box" type thinking. Very worthwhile, ^_^
and I definitely get what you mean.
1 person likes this
@raydene (9871)
• United States
24 Feb 09
Hello Doll
Life like toilet tissue goes faster the closer to the end it gets
You are not going mad or we all are..lol
My days do not drag...
Seems that I used to always be waiting for this or that
I'm not waiting on much anymore so
maybe that is why..
xoxoxoxoxo
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@Darkwing (21583)
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24 Feb 09
That's a good comparison, my friend... a roll of toilet paper. Something else that spins around. lol. I know where you're coming from with the not waiting much any more. There never seems enough time in the day for us.
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, my dear friend.
@faith210 (11224)
• Philippines
23 Feb 09
Hi Drakwing! Oh yes, I can relate to the Wheel of Life! I feel that I am rolling very fast and sometimes, I am surprised that months and years have already passed without really feeling it did. I have promised myself that I will be more aware of what is happening in my lie as days passed by. It seems that I am always surprised that I am on this age and time already and I am now wanting to enjoy every minute of it. I just don't want to let my life pass me by.
Take care and have a great day!
lovelots..faith
@Darkwing (21583)
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23 Feb 09
Yes, my friend, I agree... it's almost Easter (Ostara) and Christmas only just seems to be over! lol.
When I feel the way you describe, I take myself out somewhere quiet in the countryside, and slow my life down. I love to be at one with nature, as you probably already know. I also like to sit atop a high hill, with the wind blowing through my hair, and watch the people below busily going about their daily routines, while I'm relaxing and breathing the fresh, clean air whilst time passes slowly. I find that a terrific way to slow the turn of the wheel, my friend. Sometimes, I'll go and sit out by the millpond, or in my sacred space in the woods, or maybe just under a tree on a bench in the local churchyard. I think we all need those solitary times occasionally, where we can stop and take stock of what our direction is.
Brightest Blessings my dear friend and thank you for your contribution. x
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@faith210 (11224)
• Philippines
24 Feb 09
Hi dear friend! I do agree with you that we need solitary times once in awhile just to regain some perspective and drew again some energy from nature for us to go through life every now and then. I wish you all those peaceful moments my friend.
lovelots..faith
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@imaginearea (363)
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22 Feb 09
I am so glad to know that you are a pagan...i had somewhat guessed it before because of those lovely words 'brightest blessings'.
I am noticing time passing by much more now, but I don't know if i understand the reason why i am noticing it. I am 48 and will be 49 in September, I am very aware that I'll be 50 next year...noticing such big numbers in relation to myself is a strange thing for me because i literally feel as though I am about 28years of age...its as if my life wheel is going fast but the one in my head wants to slow down or stopped completely when I was 28. I like the wheel analogy though, i have often noticed that some events in nature can find symbolic representation in our human lives...it is an interesting thought...thank you for introducing it into my thought processes. Brightest Blessings To You Darkwing.
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@Darkwing (21583)
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23 Feb 09
I don't think our minds do age after a certain time in our lives... the problem is, our bodies do and although we want to continue to do the things we enjoyed when we were young, we're constantly reminded that we're unable to quite reach those desires... more's the pity! I certainly don't think I act my age because I was invited to a 26 year-old's birthday party at a nightclub last weekend! ROFL. All the kids kept asking me if I would be going, but I declined this time! Maybe next year!!!
If you think about it, most of the important things related to time and energy are circular, or spherical, aren't they? They all travel in a never-ending spin... planets, the Sun, the Moon, the Wheel, the Earth... so there's a lesson there, if we stop and think about it, don't you think? I'm happy to welcome you into my thought processes my friend. I'm quite a deep-thinker, at heart! 
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, as always.
If you think about it, most of the important things related to time and energy are circular, or spherical, aren't they? They all travel in a never-ending spin... planets, the Sun, the Moon, the Wheel, the Earth... so there's a lesson there, if we stop and think about it, don't you think? I'm happy to welcome you into my thought processes my friend. I'm quite a deep-thinker, at heart!
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, as always.
@renemouche (843)
• United States
24 Feb 09
I don't think your going mad. This is a very good look at life cause I feel the exact same way. Life is a wheel, going round and round. Life seems to be going by very fast now, faster than it did when I was yonger, like when I was 10 or 12 life was slow. It can be overwheleming at times because I think oh the years are going by so fast and there is so much that i want to accomplish and every year that goes by and I don't accomplish what I want, I begin to wonder if I ever will cause I feel like time is running out. I know its crazy and we shouldn't put age or time limits on certain things but I can't help it on certain things. Everything to its season, but i feel like I have been waiting many seasons for somethings that i don't know but hope will come.
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@Darkwing (21583)
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25 Feb 09
You'll get there my friend, as long as you stay positive. We're all capable of reaching our goals with a bit of determination. Some will take longer than others to reach, but one by one, they'll come to you.
Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.
@royal52gens (5488)
• United States
22 Feb 09
It does seem that time moves faster as we get older. I can't seem to get everything done that I used to be able to do in a short amount of time. There is not enough time for me to get things accomplished. I don't think time is actually passing any different than it did when I was young. I think my perception of time is what has changed.
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