I long to linger in the magic of the winter solstice 🕯️
A Deep December. Mini-letter #10
Shhhh. Hush, my friend. Pause for a moment. Listen. Feel. Breathe.
It’s the winter solstice. Outside my urban loft apartment way up on the top floor a winter is a storm blowing. Snow, rain, and fierce wind. The temperature is dropping. And it is so very dark.
The solstice has arrived. And I find myself right in the middle of the great pause as I write to you. In-between the early sunset yesterday afternoon and the late morning sunrise in a few hours. These are the literal moments of the longest night.
Every year on the solstice there is something in me that wants to linger in the long, dark night. For, even though it is long, it is also fleeting.
Ancient people perhaps thought that the night would literally never end, that the sun has just given up. It seemed to stand still in the sky, never really rising, and all must have seemed completely lost. So, it’s easy to imagine why, after experiencing this year after year (though they didn’t count years as we do), they chose to create festivals and rituals and traditions and myths around this season. Coaxing the sun to return, celebrating the victory of the light, feeling a sense of hope that all is not lost in the dark.
However, I know the cycles and the rhythms. I know that after winter comes spring and that after this moment, the days will grow longer again until the summer solstice. I know that the light has returned and that a new cycle has begun.
So, since I have the comfort of modern science teaching me about the rhythms of the earth and sky, I know that everything is always in constant change and that we are always cycling through the and seasons. And that longing to stay in the deep, magical pause of the winter solstice remains. I want to pause and capture all of the magic and insight and wisdom of the dark.
These ancient solstice festivals and celebrations, however, are not just one day. True, astrologically speaking, today is the literal shift of the seasons and the day where the light begins to grow again. But, the celebration of Yule can be much more than just one day. And, since I yearn for a way to extend the magic of this moment, I have decided to mark the season over the next few weeks as a slow, unfolding over the threshold of the new year.
Today’s oracle card seems to support this longing to nest down in these long, dark, magical nights. When I turned over the Sweat Lodge card, it was as if I was being given the gift of space. A space to which I can retreat, hibernate, and incubate through the winter.
Sweat lodges are dome-shaped structures used by indigenous peoples for cleansing and purifying of mind, body, and spirit. They are made of natural items, such as animal hide and wood, with only one tiny opening used an an entrance. Inside, a fire is lit and stones are kept hot, warming the whole space like a hot sauna . It is a dark, hot, steamy, enclosed sacred space meant to represent the womb of the Mother Earth. How grounding and beautiful is that?
The ceremony inside the hut cleanses and purifies through the release of the sweat. It is a literal and symbolic space in which to rid one’s self of negativity and old, stagnant energy. Once freed and cleansed, one might receive a vision or a message about one’s life’s direction. The most humbling part of this ritual and tradition, I believe, is that the focus is on one’s own cleansing and vision, but ultimately it is not just for the individual’s sake, but for the good of the community. The whole purpose is to connect with the creator, commune with nature, and restore order and balance in one’s own life and spirit and inner self.
I want to respect indigenous cultures and just leave it at that - my simple, very limited understanding of sweat lodges. I acknowledge that I do not fully understand or appreciate this most sacred tradition. But, I do feel that I have something to learn from it.
I felt so drawn to this card when I turned it over, because I understood the winter solstice and the season of Yule as an opportunity to symbolically enter my own “sweat lodge”. And after reflecting on this card, I decided to celebrate the long midwinter night very slowly over a few weeks.
In the dark of the winter season, surrounded by the warmth and light of candles flickering and fires roaring, with a couple of days off for the holidays, I am choosing to create my own sacred space in which to rest, sit, meditate, and listen.
From now until the 12th night of Christmas on January 5, I will be in retreat mode. It is my time to wait, dream, hibernate, and incubate. Even when it feels too hot, or too difficult, or too dark, I will continue to sit. And I trust that as this year gives way to a new one, a new vision, for me and for my place in this world, will arise from the depths of my soul and from the inspiration of the divine.
And, with that settled, I can relax in the pause of this magical winter solstice day, knowing that I am entering my own sacred space for cleansing, purifying, and visioning for the next few weeks. A quiet, dark, slow space of my very own. A space to linger this midwinter.
Blessed solstice, lovely you. May the sun’s return fill your soul with warmth, light, and hope.
xoxo. liz.
So beautiful! And yes I too have felt the need to linger here in the dark a little longer this year. I am enjoying seeing Yule as a process rather than a singular event xx
Exactly, Lyndsay! You so get me. Totally a process and not just one singular day and event. Perfect description! xo