Two Messengers of Winter**

English version

The first day of winter is not a date on a calendar; it is a state of mind. It is the threshold between light and darkness, when the focus turns from the outer world to the inner. At this threshold, two messengers appear.

The first is the raven. He soars above the landscape, seeing the totality in the frost. He is the symbol of thought, of the grand vision required to form an idea. He understands the darkness and is not afraid of its expanse.

The second is the mouse. She is bound to the earth, to the details. She is the symbol of craft, of the meticulous precision required to gather each stalk for the nest, each pixel for the canvas. She survives the winter by focusing on what is nearest to her.

The artist must possess both visions. To have the raven’s overview, so as not to lose purpose in the darkness, and the mouse’s grounding, to survive the details.


Creation is the act of surviving the winter.


– Refur Geirdal