In the Celtic tradition, the winter solstice honours the darkest days of the year when the light is reborn again. Celebrated at sacred Newgrange in Ireland, it is evident that this time of year was of great significance to our ancestors from that part of Earth 5000 years ago.
As the seasons changed this fall and I celebrated Samhain (the Celtic New Year) I was feeling unsettled. I wasn’t feeling ready for the long dark nights and short days I knew were coming, and was grieving over the end of the season of abundance and harvest. The pictures that I share in these emails are from a pond near my house, and with each passing week this fall, the absence of birds and activity was a solemn reminder for me of loss - totally in tune with the season’s theme of letting go as we enter the dark time of year. Today, as you can see, no winged creatures.
It wasn’t until this past week that I started to feel things shift as I began to contemplate entering the darkest days of the year. The resistance to the darkness I felt in fall had softened and receded, and I could feel myself wanting to explore it. A curiosity awoke. I have been sitting awake in the wee hours of the morning contemplating what the darkness contains for me, for us all. “What are the gifts here for us at this time?”, I asked. The answer I received was, “nurturing, stillness, and inner-knowing”.
So I have been as still as I can, feeling comforted by the darkness, and the promise of returning light. Sitting here writing this I have one cat on each side, napping, also reminding me that this is a time of rest (even though the commercial push of the season tells us otherwise). I don’t know about you, but I feel like there is so much going on in the world outside right now that it’s making me dizzy - my attention isn’t able to focus! It seems as though distractions are at an all-time high, and over these past three days I have committed to minimizing them to see what lies within, and what gifts will emerge from the silence.
As I find myself now looking forward to the time when the light leaves the day, I am eagerly awaiting what is going to come visit me in a dream tonight, or a deep feeling of connection and belonging to something greater, while observing the light of the moon in the dark sky. Over the next few days I invite you to try out the same and get curious about what messages might be waiting for you in the stillness, in the dark? How can you let go of your preconceived notions about this time of year in order to feel or experience something new, something of wonder, and maybe feel a little spark of magic from within?
For centuries now, many have been looking outside of themselves for “the truth” and the answers about how we ought to be living our lives. In our hyper-technological world, the search for these answers is becoming more and more muddied, often adding confusion instead of clarity. The more we continue to look outside of ourselves for answers, the more lost we are going to feel. 2025, this quarter century mark, is a time of learning to find and listen to our own knowing. It’s time to learn to let our lives be directed by our own inner wisdom and light, instead of the written (and unwritten) social norms and status quo. It is a time for big questions: “who am I?”, “why am I here?”, which I know many of you have been contemplating lately.
It is a time for change.
I welcome replies with your thoughts and sensings around this time of year and the coming one. If you are looking for support on this journey, feel free to reach out.
May peace, hope, and love hold you and yours over these coming days as the light embarks on its return.
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