Twas the night before Solstice … and a few nights before Christmas, but we can honour the holiday moments  together right? Does it really matter what holiday you are celebrating? Isn’t the key thing to acknowledge in our hearts core principles that cross religions and cultures?

Truth. Love. Compassion. Creating a life of meaning.

Heck I bet we can celebrate year round if we gathered together all of the beautiful family rituals and positive affirmations and cultural traditions and indeed listened within!  

But if you are looking for a specific ‘holy day’ for the beginning of the week how about Winter Solstice? It falls on the wee hours of December 22nd this year and is a celebration that pagans and non-pagans can acknowledge in their own way. Why?

Because each of us have faced long dark nights and know that to move forward on our journey we must welcome the light. 

We cannot heal an issue if we are not willing to name it. And as much as we may wish to rush from the darkness rather than embrace it, there is a natural flow and rhythm. There is a turning towards the light and letting it envelop and bring hope to the darkness. You can not push the healing, just like you can’t push the seasons.

Not everyone is a big fan of winter. I am good with it provide I keep myself cozy warm wherever I am. I really came to love it most recently a few years back when I was living in a rambling old wooden house perched on a cliff on the edge of the Bay of Fundy. When a winter storm would come in I knew I was going to be housebound for a few days, save for the walks with the dogs who still wanted to go out no matter what the weather was doing. It was lovely really. Very contemplative as I’d bundle up and we’d  trounce through the snow to get to the magic forest that lay between the house and the covered blueberry fields on the way to the water’s edge.

What made it most spectacular, however, is when I would sit inside looking out one of the large and long picture winters that offered a view of the changing tides in the distance and closer in the waves of snow that would blow about in dancing dervish type swirls of snow across the field that led to the magic forest. It was gorgeous! And inspiring. Winter was a great teacher that year.

Our darkness. Our winter. It can be a great teacher, if we allow it.

 

Reflection Questions:

1. How do you feel about allowing the winter and darkness wrap around you this year?
2. What helps you have the courage to face a difficulty and move through it? Could any of these techniques be helpful now?
3. How often do you give yourself time for reflection and introspection?
4. If you could bring more light to one aspect of your life, what would it be?
5. What is one contemplative practice you use or would like to learn to use in your daily life?

 

Take your time to reflect on the questions above and if you feel comfortable, please share below in the comments section. In the meantime, I have found a poem that is perfectly fitting for today’s blog. Enjoy!

Winter’s Cloak

This year I do not want
the dark to leave me.
I need its wrap
of silent stillness,
its cloak
of long lasting embrace.
Too much light
has pulled me away
from the chamber
of gestation.

Let the dawns
come late,let the sunsets
arrive early,
let the evenings
extend themselves
while I lean into
the abyss of my being.

Let me lie in the cave
of my soul,
for too much light
blinds me,
steals the source
of revelation.

Let me seek solace
in the empty placesof winter’s passage,
those vast dark nights
that never fail to shelter me.

Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr, “Winter’s Cloak” from The Circle of Life

EagleSpirit, a Contemporary Shaman, has worked for over 20 years to help clients relax their bodies, release limiting beliefs and radiate their most authentic selves.

As the creator of Empath 101 Empowerment program she speaks to groups internationally, facilitates the month-long course that has changed lives and is often featured in the media for her grounded approach to spirituality.

Visit here for more details about Empath 101 and contact us if you would like to sponsor the program in your area. Email to find our about personalized Soul Journeys or private sessions. You deserve to feel Soul Good!