The Winter Solstice: A Dance of Shadow & Light

The Winter Solstice beckons us deeper into the shadows.

As the year draws to a close, we are called into the darkness, both in the external world as the days grow shorter, and within as we look towards all that was in the past year.

Here we symbolically burn the old and embrace the beginnings that are unfolding as we dream of what we wish to manifest in the year to come. Death claims the husk of what was as we open to the possibility of what is yet to be. We find sacred communion with the dark Crone, her eternal wisdom seeping through our veins. She brings to us the lessons of release, of transformation and of rebirth.

Here we let go of all that was, sacrificing the past upon her sacred alter. Here we embrace the possibility that has yet to be, as hope is reclaimed once more in the emerging light.

During this time the Goddess gives birth to the new Sun King, and the world is filled with the promise of light returning once more.

Deep within the darkest times, we find the greatest illumination. The light pierces the darkness and hope pours in.

The journey of the Goddess Inanna into the depths of the Underworld is highly symbolic of our descent into the darkest time the year. Inanna was a Sumerian Goddess of love, fertility and war and Queen of Heaven. She journeys to the Underworld to meet with the shadow side of herself, her sister Erishkigal, and in the process she gives up all that she is taught defines her until she is stripped bear. She is killed and reborn by her shadow self, embodying both the darkness and the light aspects of herself in her resurrection. She shows us the necessity of embodying all the parts of ourselves, and of peeling back the layers and peering into the unseen.

As we move into the depths of the darkness, we too meet with the shadow aspects of ourselves.

As we illuminate and integrate the lessons they bring we move forward embodied deeper in our truth.

During this time, we can employ powerful practices to connect with the energy of rebirth and renewal. This is a favorable time to reflect on what was, looking at our accomplishments over the last year and celebrating what we have achieved. We can then look towards the coming year with excitement, putting plans and ideas together that we wish to seed for the future. We can symbolically release the past with clearing methods such as sacred smoke or we can clear away physical items that are no longer needed in our environment, making room for all the abundance of the new year to flow in.

This dark time offers us the perfect fertile soil to plant all that we desire. Here all things can grow and flourish as the light returns once more.

Winter Solstice Affirmation

I release all that no longer serves me I open to the changes that will bring forth my desires I embrace transformation and rebirth I am rooted deeply in my truth I trust in the unseen miracles that flow to me in every breath I open to the abundance and blessings that this new year brings So it is.

Blessings,