Yesterday, we celebrated the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, and also the beginning of the 12 days of Yule, which begins on the eve of the Solstice and ends on New Years Day.
In our local community I co-created a ritual of release and celebrating our light with some beautiful friends.
In the centre the bowl is filled with beach stones & water. Each person walked the spiral and placed a stone in the bowl to represent what they are releasing/letting go at this time and then lit their own candle from the main central candle to represent bringing their light/gifts to the community.As the last candle was lit and we stepped back from the spiral, I felt the truth of where we are in the year settle in my bones.
We are nestled within a liminal time now.
If you are in the Northern Hemisphere like me, you know the nights are long and the days may be storm filled. The only luminosity comes from candles, fires, electricity and perhaps the moon and stars. The sun seems to be anywhere but here.
I hope you are cozy, and am saying special prayers for all those who may need more warmth now, either for their bodies or their tender hearts.
This evening as I write this, the wind and the ocean rage outside (I’m housesitting for friends who live right on the beach – it’s very wild!!)
This week is a time of deepening into the dark, with the knowing that as the wheel turns, the light returns.
Everything is always changing – this is the most unarguable rule of life.
The bereaved know this without any illusion otherwise.
And so here we are, deep in the dark…
So many critical life processes unfold in the dark – the germination of seeds, conception & gestation of new life, dreaming… to name just a few.
In a society that focuses primarily on light, growth and progress, we have somewhat lost track of the critical nature of darkness.
I don’t think it’s too bold to say that we are afraid of it.
And yet like many things we fear, (such as grief & death) when we can actually allow ourselves to experience darkness, it is often the exact medicine that we need.
So can we just be in the dark for a moment, knowing it will change?For centuries our ancestors gathered together against the cold, gathered around the hearth to tend to one another. This is the time when we are designed to pull our loved ones close, and yet so many are living in isolation. It’s important to remember that others are yearning for connection at this time also, and to find little glimmers of this where you can.
Even if you have little companionship, you might find a glimmer in a moment of connection and kindness towards a grocery store clerk, or someone else who may be working in service over the holidays.
No matter what kind of suffering we are experiencing, we can know that there are likely many others experiencing this suffering too.
It is good to remember that we usually don’t know what people have been through.
A little bit of kindness goes far.
Many traditions have recognized that there are opportune times of the year to rest deeply and also to send out our prayers.
Times when the Earth supports our deep rest, our manifesting and our releasing.
Ritual is wonderful and a good place to bring our prayers, but the truth is, prayers can happen from where ever you are.
It is said that the prayers of those who are grieving are especially powerful.
🔥 That said, if you are seeking a small simple ritual to mark this solstice-time, and have access to fire, writing down things you would like to release, and then burning the paper in the fire is a really beautiful & potent practice.
Then, write down what you wish to call in/let go into this coming year, and place it on your windowsill, mirror, fridge, altar or somewhere you will see it regularly.
Alternatively, you can light a candle and speak what you wish to release into the flame, and then speak to & write what you wish to call in. (This is a great alternative if you don’t have access to somewhere you can actually burn stuff!)
Remember to thank the fire/candle when you are finished for either ritual! 🔥
After any ritual or process, I love to dance (and I highly recommend it).
This is the playlist I created for us to dance and move energy through during our Winter Solstice Releasing Ritual last week. Dance/movement is a really wonderful way to move grief and trauma energy through the body and transform it into something more nourishing. I hope it is supportive for you through this time. xx
And if you don’t have energy for ritual or dance right now, that is 1000% okay too. This time is also a good time for deep rest, dreaming and simple prayers.
If you’d like a more quiet, reflective listen, I recorded this podcast several years ago, and all the same things still apply: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5oue2yOqLEHh5aTfF7sMT1
Lastly, I’d like to leave you with these beautiful seasonally fitting words from some of my favourite writers & poets
~ Grá mór (with so much love), Josea
White Owl Flies Into and Out of A Field
Coming down
out of the freezing sky
with its depths of light,
like an angel,
or a buddha with wings,
it was beautiful
and accurate,
striking the snow and whatever was there
with a force that left the imprint
of the tips of its wings —
five feet apart — and the grabbing
thrust of its feet,
and the indentation of what had been running
through the white valleys
of the snow —
and then it rose, gracefully,
and flew back to the frozen marshes,
to lurk there,
like a little lighthouse,
in the blue shadows —
so I thought:
maybe death
isn’t darkness, after all,
but so much light
wrapping itself around us —
as soft as feathers —
that we are instantly weary
of looking, and looking, and shut our eyes,
not without amazement,
and let ourselves be carried,
as through the translucence of mica,
to the river
that is without the least dapple or shadow —
that is nothing but light — scalding, aortal light —
in which we are washed and washed
out of our bones.
~ Mary Oliver
“In the dark and invisible world, life thrums. Deep under the earth, the seeds, covered and fed by all that has been let go of, all that has been given up in offering, are held, forming, rooting, opening and shaping.
Within the blackened transformat matter, life begins. In the death of the old, medicine is born. All beginnings start in the darkness, in the fecund earth, in the pulsing womb. It is not spring where life suddenly appears out of nowhere, but now, in these inward months. Spring is not a saviour of winter days, it is birthed from winter, born because of winter.”
~ from writer & herbalist, Brigit Anna McNiel
“The grief and sense of loss we often interpret as a failure in our personality is actually a feeling of emptiness where a beautiful and strange otherness should have been encountered.” – Paul Shepard
“I don’t remember how I got here. I saw shooting stars, but I couldn’t count them. Maybe it was a dream, or maybe I was a star too.” ~ Selcha Uni ~ Image & quote ~