Photo by Jordan Wozniak on Unsplash
Today is the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. As of tomorrow, the days start getting longer, and the nights shorter.
Having grown up in Venezuela, I had no awareness of the winter and summer solstices. In the tropics, there is no great variation in the length of days throughout the year. We only have a vague awareness that in December, dusk comes about 6:00 pm instead of 6:30 pm.
But I actually find deep meaning in the solstice.
For millennia, people celebrated the winter and summer solstices as great festivals. The winter solstice, being the deepest dive into darkness, is also the point at which the sun begins to return. It's the return of light and warmth, where all of life can flourish again.
It's also the promise of the return of the light within.
During the longest night, and deepest dark that precede the return of the light, we have an opportunity to look into the depths of our hearts and minds. To find the pieces of ourselves that we wish to release from the shadows and be brought into the light of awareness.
So if you read this today or in the next few days, as we begin to emerge from the depths of darkness, I invite you to journal and pull out what can be shed and dissolved with the growing light of your awareness. Here are some journaling prompts you can use:
What fears or worries lurk in the shadows of your mind?
What hopes and dreams have you buried and not acknowledged?
What old hurts, wounds, or resentments have you swept under the carpet that you would benefit from releasing?
Write them down. Bring them to the light.
Tonight, if the weather cooperates, I will light a small bonfire to celebrate the deep darkness and welcome the return of the light. I'll do some writing, and burn some of my fears, worries, and limiting beliefs. And open a new canvas for the shaping of the new solar year. I'll write some intentions and spend some time in the sacredness of inner-being with which the darkness gifts us.
Yes, the light is beautiful, and the darkness is too.
I send you highest wishes for a beautiful, joyful, peaceful holiday season... whether it's Christmas, or Yule, or Hanukkah, or the winter solstice, or simply a time to be with family.