Why the Gregorian Calendar Keeps You Disconnected (And What to Follow Instead)

This week, I'm exploring the disconnection caused by the Gregorian calendar and advocating for a return to natural rhythms, particularly through the lens of lunar cycles. We'll delve into how ancient cultures measured time in relation to nature, emphasizing the importance of emotional fluidity and renewal. We'll also discuss the significance of the Apache New Year and the Otter Full Moon, so you can reconnect with your own rhythms and the cycles of the universe. 

In this episode:  

00:00 The Illusion of Linear Time 

01:08 Ancient Timekeeping and Natural Rhythms 

03:09 Cultural Perspectives on Time 

05:04 Apache New Year and Lunar Influence 

05:48 Embracing Flexibility and Renewal 

07:13 Connecting with Natural Rhythms 

07:54 Reclaiming Time and Cycles 

--

Watch Gutsy Chick Podcast on YouTube!

Check out more from Amanda:
Website: Body Whisper Healing
Instagram: @Amanda.G.Smith
Facebook: Body Whisper Healing
Pinterest: AmandaGSmithBWH
LinkedIn: Amanda (Ritchie) Smith

Take the Gutsy Chick Quiz to find out how your type A, high achieving mindset might be holding you back from healing your chronic health issue: https://gutsychickquiz.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Ancient Timekeeping and Natural Rhythms
• 1:20 The Illusion of Linear Time
• 1:23 Cultural Perspectives on Time
• 3:21 Apache New Year and Lunar Influence
• 5:29 Embracing Flexibility and Renewal
• 6:12 Connecting with Natural Rhythms
• 7:39 Reclaiming Time and Cycles

Transcript

0:01

We've been told time is linear, measured in months, deadlines, and Gregorian boxes. But what if the very calendar we live by was designed to disconnect us from nature, from the moon, and from ourselves? For thousands of years, cultures all over the world, from the Apache to the Maya, from the Hebrews to the Chinese, followed the cycles of the moon. Their calendars flowed with the Earth's rhythm. Then came the Gregorian system, rigid, mechanical, and patriarchal by design. In this episode, I'm going to show you what it might look like and what might happen if we stopped following it. You'll discover how the Otter Full Moon marks the Apache New Year this week, what changes when we live by the lunar calendar, and how syncing with cosmic cycles could shift your entire sense of time, your energy and power. Let's dive in. Time wasn't always something we counted. Before clocks and calendars, humans marked time through observation and relationship. Ancient Egyptians followed the heliacal rising of Sirius to predict the Niles floods. Babylonians tracked the moon phases to guide planting and ritual. The Celts celebrated cross-quarter festivals between solstice and equinoxes, honoring balance, not deadlines. time was a living rhythm. Something felt in the seasons in the body and in the breath. Then came the Gregorian system. In 1582, Pope Gregory the 13th introduced the Gregorian calendar. It was an attempt to fix Easter, but it also fixed us into uniform months, seven day boxes and an idea. that time could be controlled. That shift didn't just organize time, it colonized it. Time became something to obey, not something to honor. The universe doesn't move in straight lines, it spirals. The moon waxes and wanes, the tides rise and fall, your body, your hormones, your creativity, they all follow cycles. Something I've been studying for the last six years with Mellissa Seaman and Maria Yraceburu. When we ignore that rhythm to fit into a linear schedule, our bodies revolt. Burnout isn't a lack of willpower, it's the body begging to return to its natural rhythm. If you've ever wondered what time looked like before we started measuring it by machines, this is where it gets fascinating. The Mayan Tolkien calendar connected celestial cycles with human gestation. The Hebrew and Chinese calendars blend lunar and solar timing, recognizing that life needs both intuition and logic. Yin and yang. The Islamic calendar remains purely lunar, beginning each month with the sighting of the new crescent. These systems didn't just tell people when they were. They told them who they were in relation to the cosmos. And if you want to dig deeper into how our current version of time evolved and what we lost along the way, there are some incredible reads that opened my eyes. calendrical calculations, how civilians measured time before clocks. A brief history of timekeeping, our obsession with order, the power of ritual, reclaiming sacred rhythms in modern life. One of my favorites, breeding sweetgrass, listening to nature's timing. The Moon Within, a story of lunar living and initiation. And some fictional suggestions, also some of my favorites, Einstein's dreams, worlds where time flows differently. The Time Keeper, a parable about the cost of control. And The Disposed, imagining societies that live beyond clocks. Each one reveals a truth. Time has always been a mirror of our values. And maybe it's time we chose a new direction. Among the Western Apache, time is measured both by the sun and the moon, the circadian rhythm and the cosmic rhythm. They observe the movement of the sun for daily alignment, waking, eating, working, resting in harmony with the light. But the greater rhythm, the spiritual pulse, follows the full and new moons. Each moon carries a name, a teaching, and a theme, just like chapters in a sacred book. This year, the Apache New Year begins on November 5th under the Otterful Moon, the moon of play, adaptability, and renewal. And this year marks flexibility. a time when we need to look and move more like a reed in the wind. It's a celebration of curiosity, lightheartedness, and emotional fluidity, the energy of starting anew with joy rather than striving. The Apache live by both the immediate rhythm of the sun, the daily pulse of life and light, and the overarching rhythm of the moon. the emotional and spiritual tides. It's a holistic system that honors both productivity and rest, light and dark, body and spirit. Imagine if your year began not with resolutions, but with renewal. Try this. For one month, follow the moon. Journal how your energy and mood shift with each phase of the moon. Notice your circadian rhythms, too. Try to naturally rise with the sun. Now, the sun's rising quite a bit later now that we have hit daylight savings time. So if you've got a clock that you've got to manage. a schedule that you have to manage. Maybe get yourself one of those clocks that allows you to rise with a false sun with the light. This is your body's own calendar, your own rhythm with nature. And in this practice, you'll start to see your personal map of time emerge. Journal it. When we move beyond the Gregorian calendar, we remember that time was never meant to be conquered. It was meant to be co-created with. Every culture that honored the moon also honored the feminine, intuition, rest, and rebirth. When we return to cyclic time, we return to our full selves. The Gregorian calendar may have standardized time, but it also standardized separation from nature, from spirit, and from our own cycles. This week, I challenge you watch the sky, track the moon, let her pace remind you that you're not running late. You are right on time. Because when you sync with nature's rhythm, you don't lose control, you gain connection.