Sacred Darkness, Holy Light

We are in a season of changing Light. Slight as changes may be, we acknowledge, and even celebrate, them. Of course, Solstice is the most grand, being one of the Cross Quarters humanity has long ritualized.

Seeking to describe this change of Light, I found this poem. Its stunning opening:

The voyager that   

Travels the furthest

Light is a traveler. Its mission: traveling across miles & miles & miles of space to reach us.... collectively and individually.

Humanity has always worshipped the Light, whatever its Source. The Sun. The Moon. Volcanoes. Stars. Fire. Each of these Sources produces awe and wonder. Our first keeping of time was by Light: Sun and Moon for the day; length of SunLight and MoonLight for the seasons, the year. We mark our lives by those same sources of Light.

We also acknowledge the changing faces of the Moon. Light as Traveler finds its way from the Sun to the Moon. From there, Light turns its reflection our way. What an odd way to travel! Currently, we celebrate the New Moon ~ a time of no reflected light. Does that mean Light is not traveling? Not possible! And then, there's the Solar Eclipse. The New Moon and Solar Eclipse occurring within hours of each other. This Solar Eclipse brings opportunity for expansiveness, generosity and big dreams. In Capricorn, it leans us toward regaining control over our life, embracing maturity, and forming a practical plan to achieve goals. With Solstice less than a week past, this is a season in which we notice the Light....and pray that the Light notices us.

This is the season of Change. Winter Solstice: the turning from Sacred Darkness to Holy Light. Summer Solstice: the turning from Holy Light to Sacred Darkness. This Voyager, this Ambassador reaches us for the shortest or the longest of days. It's all about the turning of our world.

On our travels through our lives, our personal world turns. Sometimes it's joy and warmth; sometimes it's too hot and bright. Most people prefer the light times, just as most people prefer the yearly season of Light. It feels more comfortable.

Without Sacred Darkness, we would not recognize Holy Light. One is found in the presence of the other. Darkness replenishes us. We sleep at night. In a darkened room. Our circadian rhythms shift with the shifting of the Dark and Light. We need sleep which finds us during the Sacred Darkness. Sacred Darkness enfolds us as we grieve or have needs or fears. Comfort comes from this enfolding when we allow it, when we open our hearts to let the breath of Sacred Darkness breathe us as well. We know this place instinctually, yet often ignore or even run away from it. As with Holy Light, Sacred Darkness is a gift.

How do you celebrate the season of Light? What rituals do you perform? Do you do them with a community? or on your own? How do you differentiate between the Holy Light and the Sacred Darkness? What do you feel this Solar Eclipse brings to you? How do you address the Shadow cast by the Light? and the Aura that's left?

Longest Night, Shortest Day

Tonight in the Northern Hemisphere marks the longest night of 2016. How fitting! The world has been through many changes this year ~ including an explosion of violence (phrasing intended).

Tonight we embrace the long darkness. Tonight we encounter the shadow within ourselves. Tonight, no matter which side of any quarrel or battle we may be on, we share as a collective in that reflective shadow.

We are entwined with that Shadow ~ the collective and the personal ~ through this long night. In many of the ancient traditions, fires were lit to stave off that darkness. Stories were told throughout the night. Tales of encounter and battle with unseen and unknown foe would be told by the many of the elders. Children would be allowed to stay up or, if they fell asleep, would be kept close to the fires themselves.

In some of the even more ancient places which were built like Newgrange in Ireland to catch the first rays of the Winter Solstice sun, the night was spent in other forms of rituals. We have no clear knowledge of them except that the very building of the passage place would have taken much planning. Some of the labyrinthine caves and rock passages may have been used for the same type of encounters with the Shadow on that darkest night.

In our day and age, we have electric lights or candles or kerosene lamps. Most places have some way to insure the longest night doesn't have to be encountered in the dark. But when we do, when we allow our spirits to face the Shadow, we find the energy and strength to face it. We get a better understanding of the palpable Darkness and the Spirits that inhabit the dark spaces. After all that's been done and come undone in 2016, we would be wise to spend the time gaining that understanding.

Tomorrow brings with it the shortest day, with the moment of Winter Solstice at 10:44 UT. Light is often described as wan on short days such as this. Yet it also brings with it the reassurance that the nights are growing incrementally shorter and the days ever longer. Warmth and sunshine will follow close behind. Bleak, overcast, dreary days will continue for awhile longer. Soon enough, we will find ourselves in the midst of greenery and bright colored blooms. But for now, the Shadow remains our sole comfort.... or discomfort, as the case may be.

What do you see when you encounter the Shadow? How do you embrace the darkness? What do you want to find when you awaken into tomorrow's light? What does the Shadow mean to you? How will you continue to prepare for the lengthening light of the days?

Winter Solstice 2014

Winter Solstice ~ the shortest day and longest night of the year. Many ancient civilizations created monuments aligned with the sun rising on the Winter Solstice morn. One of the most famous is Stonehenge in the England. Also, Newgrange in Ireland and Chichen Itza in Mexico. The oldest known is the Goseck Circle in Germany, circa 4900 BCE.

The one in the picture is the temple of Karnak in Luxor, Egypt. The massive stone walls rise to look like hands holding the sun in the sky. Quite an incredible feat to create!

Winter Solstice is one of the markers of the rhythm of the seasons. Although in our modern culture, we label it the beginning of winter, its alternate name is Midwinter. Celebrations filled with rejoicing in the return of the sun marked it as a central seasonal feast.

I love Winter Solstice, Midwinter. My very being recognizes the rhythm it marks. Despite all the modern ways to mark time, I feel the shift within as readily as I see the days afterward begin to lengthen. For many years, I marked this time with a week-long retreat, my personal time of hibernation, to reset my internal clock and prepare for the coming new year.

Do you feel the shift from darkening days to the beginnings of more light? What do you do to mark the Winter Solstice? How do you honor the shifting season?

The Time of Waiting

Nearly Winter Solstice. The time fields rest, wild creatures hibernate, darkness reigns. Considering all that, patience should be readily accessible ~~ hah!

It's also nearly Christmas. The time when everyone, from the very young to the very old, is focused on giving and getting. Stores are looking to increase their bottom lines which are so necessary to their existence. Everyone is wrapped up in wrapping up their gift purchases. Within this cultural context, patience is nowhere near.

Individually, we have the opportunity to pause, to reflect, to be mindful of what we are doing and why the season is significant. I'm not referring only to the birth of the Christ ~ the "reason for the season" to many people. I'm referring to the deeper and broader reason.

Let's turn back the clock ~~
Before, and even after, the beginning of the Christian Era, winter was the darkest, longest time of year. Yes, longest. Even though we now know 24 hours is 24 hours, time seemed different then. Think about it. If we didn't have artificial lighting, winter nights would seem interminably long. Candles and oil lamps only hold back the deepest dark. They don't dispel it as electricity does.
So the darkest time ~ the Winter Solstice ~ became a time to celebrate, to acknowledge one's kinship with others, to cajole the gods and goddesses to return the light and the food sources. Light became personified, Someone as well as something to honor and re-call. Ceremonies, celebrations and rituals for this time abound in the mythologies from around the world.

Winter is the natural time to hibernate, to rest, to take stock of what is most important in life. It's the time of year all of nature waits, expectantly, for the return of the Light.

How do you cultivate patience? What does winter signify to you? How do you balance gift giving and waiting? celebration and ceremony?

Be Yourself

Today, my Teabag Tarot showed up with this gem: be yourself. I chuckled.

"Wow," I thought, "that's one tough thing to do."

The past few weeks have been rough. No particular reason ~ everything on the outside is going well: work, family, finances, even the weather. Yet ~~ yet ~~ I had no motivation to write my blog posts. I'd been doing so well ~ and recently found my brain more void than fruitful. Every time I attempted to write, I'd reach a spot where the words stopped flowing. Or I'd fall asleep. Or I couldn't stop looking at something useless and trivial online.

It wasn't that words weren't there. It was that I couldn't quite access them. As though I was reaching through a fog toward an unseen and unknown spot.

That's who I was in that moment. My belief in myself, in my ability to draw words onto paper, remained in tact. The surface itself was shifting following the direction of the wind. I settled in. I allowed my deepest center to hibernate, to find rest and ease, to settle into the rhythm of the coming winter.

Allowing the space for that to happen isn't easy. I want more to happen; I want to move, to create, to feel the lightness of what's within me bubbling out. Recently, though, it's less a bubbling and more a slow drip.

As the Winter Solstice approaches, I feel that inner compass turning toward the stronger sun. I'm thrilled to feel the pull.

What do you do when your creativity rests? What does it mean for you to "be yourself"? How do you let go of the "shoulds"? What do you feel when you do?

Solstice Helleborus

 

It may be the Winter Solstice here, but my Helleborus is trying to bloom. Despite freezing rain. Despite below freezing temperatures. Despite early morning frost. They look so delicate, so fragile, so beautiful. I'm amazed at how hardy they truly are!

This is so true of us humans as well! We blossom in our own time. Despite pain. Despite failures. Despite grief. All the things we often believe will destroy us or stop us or prevent us from going on. We may appear delicate or down-trodden or desolate, but we find a connection with the deep-rootedness of our souls.

Winter Solstice brings the longest night.... and then the Light Returns! The reason for our blossoming, for our breaking forth from the Earth Mother and reaching for the Stars.

What do you wish for as we begin to emerge into the coming light? What keeps you blossoming? What lights your way from the depths?