Winter Solstice
““The Winter Solstice is a time of ending and beginning, a powerful time. A time to contemplate and to make a fresh start. A time to awaken.”
~ Frederick Lenz
A Solstice Ritual: Releasing the Old, Inviting the New
With love and blessings, I wish you a happy Solstice.
This is a time of reset. In the Northern Hemisphere, we get to feel the ultimate intensity of the dark days and how the light rises from inside the most intense darkness. If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, you're having the opposite experience, the feeling of expansion that comes with the lightest days of the year. And I know that many of you have been contemplating the nature of this time, and what you want to create within it.
In Taoism, it's said that when the darkness reaches its maximum intensity, light rises from within it. Then, when the light becomes greatest, the dark arises. So, light is always arising in darkness, and darkness is always arising in light. This play of light and dark is going on every day and every turning of the seasons. It's also happening in your own psyche and in the collective psyche, which also reflects these fundamental rhythms.
We are part of this world, and the rhythms of the planet are reflected in our own hearts and in our human society. Right now, most of us are very aware of dramatic polarities of light and dark in the world. Like me, you are probably recognizing how darker energies are playing out through our governments, in culture—but also how the light of awareness is making so many people more conscious, and more and more willing to work for change. Seeing the darker energies at play in the world, you may be feeling confusion or even despair about all this. At the same time, you may also be experiencing a new sense of resolution, an inspiration to be more active in transforming the world, a creative urgency for radical and creative change.
This time we are living in—on the seasonal level, on the macro-planetary level, on the political and societal level, and for many of us, on the personal level—invites us to ask ourselves the deep questions, tough questions, like "What do I really want?" and "What am I doing with my life?" and especially, "What is of ultimate concern? What is important?" By asking those questions, questions that take us into the depths of life, we can realize that the bottom line, the place we can really take refuge, is in the inner space where we can touch our own awareness and realize the love that the universe has for us. So, at this moment, let's recognize that this night of nights, this time when the season of darkness has completed itself and the light is beginning to rise, we have the opportunity to allow ourselves to rise with it, and to open ourselves to the light and love that are always beaming down on us from every corner of the universe. It's always there, but unless we attune to it, recognize it, and open ourselves to receive it, we may feel bereft, cut off, or scared.
What the solstice energy asks us to do is release our fears into the great womb of the dark mother, to recognize the love that surrounds us, and accept its presence, her presence as the light that rises in the midst of darkness.
During the time of year surrounding the Winter Solstice, from within the heart of darkness, that love wants to shower itself on to us from every side—from above, from below, from in front and from behind. That love wants us to recognize that it belongs to us, that it is what we are made of, and to create our new year from within it.
The Ritual
Here's a Solstice practice for all of us, whether we are in the darkness of Winter or illuminated by the light of mid-Summer. We'll use fire as the medium of release. For those of you who don't have a fireplace or a grill, I suggest that you line a metal pan with aluminum foil, to use as the container.
Light a candle. This will serve both to illuminate your meditation, and as the medium for symbolically releasing what you are willing to release.
Tear a piece of paper into strips and keep a pen handy. Also, keep your journal or a notebook to record any insights that may arise.
You can use the following steps fo a centering meditation, allowing the heart to tell you what is ready to release.
- Find a comfortable, upright posture.
- Find the flow of breath, focusing on the movement of breath in your nostrils, your chest and ribcage.
- Let the breath draw your attention into the heart.
- From that inner place, ask your heart: What am I ready to release now? Which old beliefs, which fears, which attachments that are holding me back?
- Write them on slips of paper. Not too many, just one or two or three.
- Bring into your heart the thought (using these words or your own): "I offer these fears, beliefs and attachments into the great womb of the divine Mother, she who appears as darkness and as light, she who is the love that makes all things new."
- One by one, light the slips of paper on the candle flame, and drop it into your metal vessel. Let it burn fully, then repeat with a new slip.
- As the last one burns, say into your heart (using these words, or your own), "I am ready to know a deeper layer of my Self. I am ready for deeper wisdom. Show me how to receive the love that is flowing towards me now, as it flows in every moment. Let me celebrate the love that is my essence, even when love seems distant."
- Sit for a few minutes, cultivating your awareness within the heart.
- Offer the mantra, "I am love" into your heart.
- When you are ready, make an intention for the new season, one that you know will be of benefit to you, your friends and family, and to the entire world.