Winter Solstice, Yule, was celebrated with ceremonies centered around the energy of rebirth as the longest night and shortest day begins to turn around. Transformation, creativity, new beginnings, and release of all that holds one back from their potential was celebrated through rituals of the energy of going within. Darkness on the longest night was where the soul’s yearnings and new inspiration and commitment emerged as does the season of the sun. Unwanted habits are to be released as we attune our self to the cycle of nature. The going within is akin to the bear’s hibernation, the black of the west on the Medicine Wheel, the time when w move into our adult self and our journey deepens with deep soul meaning. Transitioning.
We change, with or without our will to do so. It is either random, or it is conscious effort to shift into growing vitality, as Mother Earth draws in the changes of the growing warmth and the dormant come awake. It is the time of shedding off our dormancy and with gratitude for the harvest of our endeavor’s, we set intentions for the new year.
In order to set appropriate intentions (not Resolutions), we have to sit in our darkness and consider our place and space in the cosmos of night turning into daylight. Introspection! What is our physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual ‘footprint’. Consider our connections to Mother Nature and to others of creation. What needs to be made aright? Who and What should we be showing more gratitude for? What ceremonies and rituals have we made common in our lives to express that connectedness? Are we taking care of Mother Earth and each other as was promised to Creator in the very beginning? It is time to sit quietly before your smudge and contemplate how best to continue on The Good Red Road of your journey. Winter solstice is a time for reverence and gratitude. It is a time of more deep Hope and a renewal of vows we have made. It is a time to honor and endure. Are we drawing on our spiritual resilience to reman steadfast to our journey down here on Earth?
Expect to feel more sentimental, expect old acquaintances to reach out to you, expect to feel your ancestors around you. Are you in tune enough to be able to sense that? I know that I have felt closer to my daughter that passed this year. And, I no longer feel grief for grief’s sake. I have accepted that our difficult relationships is over and I sense she is working hard on some things she could not work on here. I feel a sense of peace around her. I light a bonfire Christmas Eve and fed her. I made space for her. Our Christmas was quiet and I spent many middle-of-the-night hours remembering the good things and honoring that I had mothered her the best I could and honored her reason to withdraw betimes. I am grateful that she is where she can heal. I smudged, often, and asked that the memories stay positive. The fire grew high and sent sparks and smoke all the way to heaven, carrying my prayers and intentions with it.
I felt the spirit of the Bear with me. I am connected to a Bear bundle. Bears are drawn to me, and I have conquered most of my fear of them. I try to keep track of the Sow and two cubs that live at the mill, by us. We have ha her visit other years. I await the visit this year.
I keep lights outside so that, when I go out during the night, there are the joyful twinkling lights, in my night. I honor the change of daylight each dawn. I know, when the fog is thick, that I am to sit quietly with my thoughts and intentions. When the night is crystal clear and the stars look like fairy lights in the curtain of night, I contemplate the depth of
What a sacred time this is as the longest night gives way to shortening nights and longer days. Fit our cycles to the cycles of Mother Nature. Den in and make yourself ready for the coming Spring.
©Carol Desjarlais 12.27.23
No comments:
Post a Comment