The sacred holiday portal at the end of the year
A Deep December. Mini-letter #8
Hello, love.
It’s a new week. A deep one. A magical one. One that initiates a shift in the energy in nature. The question is, will I be able to move through the week slowly enough so that I experience the depth, the magic, and the shift within my own soul?
I took a break from writing this weekend, so I skipped over one of my letters to you. And, I missed writing to you. But, I needed the space. I needed a slow weekend. My body is extra tired these days, I can only assume due to reasons connected to these deep, dark days of December and my own natural rhythms and cycles. However, my soul is also quite weary after a very difficult and emotional year, which seems to be never-ending. And, while I know that this is the rhythm and cycle of life, I have had to work harder right now to make sure that I have balance in my life, which is also exhausting.
In any case, here we are. Together. On this Monday of Solstice week. Just one week before Christmas Day. And two weeks before the new calendar year.
After the longest, darkest night on this coming Friday, the sun will be reborn. In a week, the magic of the nativity will be celebrated. And in two weeks new year will be toasted.
Because of all of this, I cannot stop thinking about endings and beginnings. About the beautiful, difficult, magical cycles of life and the rhythms of the seasons.
Maybe the magic of this season is that it calls me to slow down and really feel the shift. It is a chance to come home, light candles, keep warm, and mark the passing of time in real time. It is a chance to be aware and to feel the shifting of the seasons. To feel the endings and prepare for the beginnings. And I really need that this year.
The solstice, Christmas, and the new year are not magical days that suddenly change everything in an instant though. Or are they? Things don’t change overnight, and yet, they sometimes feel like they do.
On the one hand, life on the outside does not change. We still have responsibilities, work stress, family issues, hopes, dreams, worries, and so on. But, inside, since this time last year, we have been changed. Slowly, over the days and months and seasons, we have been changed and transformed. We have grown and evolved.
These next two weeks are like a liminal, mysterious, time-suspended portal. How, last year as we celebrated the solstice and the holidays, everything changed at once. And yet, it took all year for everything to change.
If we move slowly through this end of the year, holiday, solstice portal, then we have the space where we can gather all of our memories and lessons and reflections on all that has happened in the past year. We can see and understand how we have been changed. We can find and hold onto those things that we want to keep safe in our heart. And we can release all of those moments and memories that we no longer need. Then, we can begin to dream, envision, plan, and intuit how we want to move forward, who we want to be in the new year, how we want to live, what we want to call into our lives.
The shifting of the seasons, the approach of the winter solstice, Christmas hope, and New Year’s magic… these are the festivals and traditions that help us mark the passing of time. This is the portal of preparing for our way forward.
I pulled the Smudging Ceremony card today - and it suggested to me that this is the perfect time for a simple smudging ritual. Smudging is a ritual of purifying and cleansing. Exactly what I need as I begin to say farewell to one year and cross over into a new one.
The only thing that is needed is incense, a smudging stick, or even a candle. Just light it and then blow it out. As the smoke rises, simply walk around your home or office or wherever you want to cleanse, purify, and prepare for something new. It is a tangible, symbolic way to say out with the old, in with the new. A way to freshen, lighten, shift, and change the energy of the space.
Perhaps my first smudging ceremony will be on the solstice on Friday - to welcome the sun’s return and the shift of the energy of nature. And, then, again another smudging ceremony on New Year’s Day so that I may gently greet the new calendar year.
Welcome to this very sacred holiday portal, my friend. I wish you deep peace as you slowly move through these next few weeks filled with magic and wonder. Mark the tiny moments, breathe deeply through it all, carve out some nesting time just for yourself, and drop way down into your soul so that you can gather all that you want to carry with you into the new year - and bury all of the rest deep in the snow, give it back to the earth.
xoxo. liz.
Thank you for your lovely letters! What divination deck did you pull the smudging card from? Love hearing about others divination rituals. 💗 Seasonal blessings. 🌟
I am so grateful for you sharing these letters with us. They have lifted me in my own difficult time -and given me a way to view all that has changed, and is changing, in a deeper more positive way. All the best to you as we begin our next trip around the sun.