~ Winter Solstice ~
The Season of Light
This *Sacred Season* is About ...
Initiation & Renewal of the Foundation
Renewing Your Faith
Broadening Your Vision
Consolidating Your Efforts
Deepening Your Dedication
Acknowledging a Turning Point
Initiating a NEW One Year Cycle
Owning Your Power & Inner Authority
Assessing & Completing the Past One Year Cycle
Honoring the New Beginning ~ Return of the Light
Balancing Your Inner Feelings with Your Outer Actions
Using the Sacred Season to Rest, Replenish & Ruminate
Some people start their New Year on January 1st with the calendar shift, and some people start it in February with the Chinese New Year, and yet others start at March Equinox, which coincides with the new beginnings of Spring. But Winter Solstice, December 21st, is what truly initiates the solar year and when we take time to honor the Return of the Sun. There are many rhythms to choose from, and often the key is knowing your own rhythm in order to know how to dance with the annual rhythm better.
I love the change of Seasons! It gives us permission to wrap things up and move on, as is Nature's way: continuous movement & evolution. We track the Path of the Sun through Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall. Winter & Summer are the extreme points of light and darkness of the year, while the Equinoxes activate our points of balance, with equal day and night.
Winter Solstice is when we get to dream up the new year! Spring, we get started. Summer, we really blossom. And Fall we assess, integrate and release the non-essential ... just so we can get to Winter and start with a clean slate. It is the time of year when we honor the past, with gratitude, and invite the future with faith and joyful anticipation.
Now is the time to assess what has weakened, lost its life-force or run its natural course in the last year (or more), and where can you breathe new vitality & purpose into areas of your life, which for all good reasons, may have been put on the back-burner recently. It is time. And what is amazingly supportive and encouraging during times of such monumental personal & global transition, is the few things you can truly count on, like New Moons, Full Moons, Sunrise, Sunset and the Seasons. They help us reset our systems naturally and on a regular basis.
Part of the reset, at this time of year, includes an assessment of the whole structure of your life: how does your personal container & community actually serve & support you? It's time to step out of your personal, inside-out view of your life, and take a good look at your life from the outside-looking-in. Don't get it twisted -- this isn't about how others see you, but what you see when you look at your life as a whole.
Each year as you grow older, you begin to recognize how literally your choices reflect your beliefs and how your beliefs create your reality. This is the time to sit with your Inner Elder or with your Council of Grandmothers and review the reality you've created over the last year, so that you can make new choices that will embody a richer, more authentic (for you) belief system that genuinely supports & protects you.
During this Sacred Season, you are offered an opportunity to begin again, start over with a clean slate. Forgive your Self and others for any debts or trespasses and move on clean, into the new year. Though things may appear dormant in Nature, there is much life developing under the surface, in the darkness. So, too, do you get the opportunity to do some major work behind the scenes, away from distractions and prying eyes/ears. Any ritual or ceremony you do during this sacred time will be deeply supported and will deepen your connection to Spirit and your own intuition.
Know in your heart that you are joining with people all over the world that celebrate Life & Light during this time of year, no matter when you actually kick off your new year. This is a time of hope & miracles and the Ancestors, Angels & Animal Spirits are often nearby (energetically) during this time. They relish the opportunity to be *invited* to help & support you as you close out one year and initiate a new one. Welcome the Light!
