Solstice Blessings & Reflective Practices For The Holidays
What new possibility does the darkness hold for you?
At 9.21 this morning Dublin time, the Winter Solstice was exact in the northern hemisphere. As those who have followed me for a while will know, this is my favourite day of the year. I love what the day represents; in the darkest of moments, the light is being reborn. A moment of renewal, personally and collectively. There are many reasons to feel despondent about what is happening in the world right now. This day reminds me that, even though there is so much unnecessary pain and suffering in the world, there is still hope. We can always choose again.
Personally, I find its sister solstice - the Summer Solstice, a little too performative. With the light at its peak on that day, there is more pressure to be out in the world and completely visible. I don’t like that level of expectation in life. I feel most attuned to the balance of light and dark in Spring and Autumn than the ‘always on’ energy of the Summer. My natural rhythm is to oscillate between being out in the world and being able to retreat and restore when needed.
This morning, I rose early to join a solstice ceremony and welcome the light back in. It is a day I always try to mark for myself because it reminds me I, too, am seeding new possibilities in my own life. While I can feel something new is emerging, I do not fully understand what it is yet. Drawing on the wisdom of our ancestors who trusted the darkness, I’ve learned to embrace this unknown. These moments of not ‘knowing’ are not to be feared but welcomed. While the spark of new possibility has arrived, we cannot fully see what it will bring us as yet. We must trust its pace and allow it space to grow. It is not our place to quicken the natural expansion of the light.
This time of year is a season of incubation. In the darkness, we enter a ‘dreamtime’—a space to lean back from the ceaseless action our modern culture so often demands. Next week, when the world is filled with talk of New Year’s resolutions and goals, my encouragement would be to break rank. To follow the rhythm of nature which does not expect new life or green shots until February. While a new spark may be seeded today, your role now is to nurture and care for it with the time and space it needs. Embrace the opportunity to attune yourself to nature and sink deeper into dreamtime. Create space in your life to let new insights reveal themselves to you. Allow intuitive nudges to expand and take root. Pay attention to what is trying to emerge.
Happy Holidays,
Fiona x
If you feel called to carve out some time for reflection as you transition from one year to the next, I have put together some journalling prompts for you below.