There are two short polls at the end of this letter. If you have a minute, I would love to hear your opinion, so please cast your vote and help me prepare for my Substack journey in 2025. Thanks!
Hello, you.
Wow. This week has snuck up on me. How is it almost Christmas already? Even as I have been intentional about moving through December slowly, one week at a time, I found myself in some kind of chaotic energy during this past week. It is as if December’s cold, long nights full moon ushered in something completely different than I had felt during the first half of the month. In addition to the powerful energy of the full moon, we had a wild, blustery storm of wind and rain that seemed to literally blow in a week of unrest, chaos, stress, and sleepless nights for me. I felt completely and utterly off, unable to recognize myself, my feelings, and my way of being. As for my holiday spirit? Well, I was struggling to feel anything but exhaustion, irritation, and rage. But, I don’t really know why.
Anyway. Friday finally came. Of course, with its own chaos and stress at work after a well-known local 20 year old rapper was gunned down just down the street from where I both live and work. So, in the midst of our holiday celebration at work to close out the semester, we had to calmly counsel and care for teens who were worried and upset after seeing the horrible murder make its way around TikTok. It was a horrific and beautiful morning all at the same time.
In the afternoon, I breathed a deep sigh of release, logged out, closed my laptop, locked my door, and headed home for a 17 day holiday staycation. Oh how I had longed for this moment.
As I walked home, I stopped by “my tree” to feel her energy. I wished her a happy winter solstice eve and asked her for some grounding energy to help me find some hope, light, and peace during my time off.
How are you doing, my friend? What are you feeling and experiencing as we enter the often busiest time of the holiday festivities?
The festive week ahead has the potential to be, well, a lot. Plans, travel, social gatherings, cooking, baking, wrapping, last minute shopping, must-do traditions, and food and drink and a general buzz of activity.
To be honest, all of that is the last thing I need. I need things to be calm and bright. Peaceful and quiet. Slow and soft. Of course, even as I try to create the coziest, calmest atmosphere around me, even as I set an intention to keep things slow and soft, life happens. Shit happens. Unexpected, unwelcome, and upending moments find us because, well, that is life. Tough, chaotic weeks are a part of it all. Storms and wind blow in and stir everything up. But, just as they blow in, they blow out again. All of life, all of nature, all of our weeks and months and years move in cycles and rhythms of pause and transition.
For me, the most important part of living in rhythm with the seasons, is to actually live in rhythm with the seasons. To remember that change is constant. To not hold on too tight, but to also not give into despair.
The winter solstice
Amazingly, as almost right in the nick of time before all hope is lost, we have just crossed over the winter solstice threshold and find ourselves in the middle of what I like to call “the yuletide portal”, a liminal season from the winter solstice to the 12th day of Christmas (January 5). A portal of shifting and transitioning and dreaming and resting. This is a time of hope and magic and peace and quietness.
Before entering the portal, we found ourselves deep in the depths of winter, a reminder that we are mortal. Filled with the knowledge that earth is cold and bare right now and the world is filled with despair and disappointment. But, just as we began to if we might survive these eternally long and dark winter nights, there came a shift. Right in the middle of the darkest time of the year, when it felt as if there was no hope left.
Every year, the arrival of the winter solstice brings us that shift and ushers in a mysterious, otherworldly season of magic. The sun stands still in the sky. The darkness is heavy and mysterious and wise. The whole world breathlessly waits and whispers silent cries for help. And then, in the cold, dark silence, on the winter solstice, the sun reverses course, the light begins to grow again, and hope is quietly born in the middle of it all.
Today, as I connect with you here, we have moved into the yuletide portal. The shift from darkness to light is underway. And this week, all kinds of traditions all across the world celebrate this shift in many different ways. But, we can be sure that in the deepest parts of our own religions and beliefs and practices, we are all celebrating the same thing.
The return of hope and light.
This year, the winter solstice felt like a gift of release to me. As a lover of all things moody and dark, I often feel a sense of sadness when the winter solstice has come and gone. But, this year, I feel as if I moved with the solstice. I moved in rhythm with the sun. The darkness had most definitely begun to take its toll on me during the past week, but on the winter solstice morning, I felt the pause. I felt the stillness and the quiet. And it is almost as if I can feel the shift deep in my bones. I definitely feel the hope and light that the return of the sun brings.
Of course, the winter solstice shift happens so softly that it is easy to miss. Nevertheless, just being aware and present creates a sense of magic as we continue our slow journey around the sun - and down here on earth the seasons change and life moves on.
So, even though the focus of the week ahead is often filled with buckets of holiday cheer and people-filled festivities, there is space for it all. No matter how we are feeling or what we are experiencing this holiday season. There is space for sharing moments of yuletide joy with friends and loved ones, for celebrating the return of hope and light together. But, there is also space for yuletide simplicity and silence, for dropping into the liminal, mysterious energy of winter. The beauty and challenge of the week ahead, for me at least, is to create a balance for both “Silent Night” and “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
Now that we have crossed over the threshold, there is no obvious change in the darkness of our winter days. And, there is no reason to rush it either. Just as the darkness began to slowly creep in all autumn long, so will the sun’s strength slowly begin to return. And, to me, that is my invitation to continue to move slowly through the entire month after the solstice, to move slowly through the yuletide portal, and to move slowly through the week ahead and the beginning of the new year.
There is no rush. And there is much magic and rest to be found in the long winter that lies ahead.
Even though life is in constant transition, even though there love and grief are always together, even though quietude and festivities fill the week ahead, I do believe that all is calm and all is bright.
There is much to celebrate, much to grieve, much to hope for, and much to believe it. This week, I hope that we can all share in some of these moments both together and on our own. Moments of laughter and joy around the table or by the fire. And moments of silence and solitude during cozy, dark mornings at home or wandering the streets and pathways where we live.
My friend, I wish you the most merriest of holidays and celebrations both great and small this week. But, mostly, I wish you blessings of peace and love that fill your soul and spill out into your life.
Thank you so much for sharing this space and this time with me.
Until next week, Merry Christmas and Blessed Yuletide. xoxo. liz.
One more thing: The rhythms of my Substack
Over the past two months I have published my letters once a week, both on Substack and on Spotify/Apple podcasts. It has been such an amazing schedule for me, both in keeping me disciplined; but also keeping me focused on the week ahead (instead of a whole entire month). But, I wonder, how has it been for you?
I have a few questions to ask of you as I set my intentions for 2025 and I mostly want to know if you, a) like having month or weekly letters focused on the energy ahead and b) like having the letters as a podcast/voice note or prefer simply reading.
So, would you please take a few moments and fill in these polls? Thanks so much! 🫶
☀️ Sunrise/sunset times in Norrköping, Sweden (4th week of December)
23 December - 8:45 sunrise / 15:03 sunset
🌙 Sacred Days + Folk Festivals this week
22 December - Fourth Sunday in Advent
24 December - Christmas Eve
25 December - Christmas Day, Hanukkah begins
26 December - Annandag jul, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa begins (My 15th wedding anniversary. 😉)
🎵 The playlist
The sun stands still. The darkness is mysterious and wise. The whole world waits. And then, in the cold, dark silence, the light returns and hope is quietly born in the middle of it all.
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