Explore Your Dreams: Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice, arriving on December 21-22, marks another turn of the Wheel of the Year, the point in the cycle where the Sun once again ‘stands still’ in the sky for three days in the far South (where our southern neighbors are celebrating Summer Solstice!).  Winter Solstice is the birthday of the Sun and of the year.  It is a time when we experience the greatest darkness, when the hours of darkness are so much greater than the hours of daylight.  And yet, it is within this time of greatest darkness that the Light of the World is reborn, for soon the hours of daylight will begin to grow and the hours of darkness will lessen.

Our ancient ancestors celebrated this promise of the return of summer with feasts and gift-giving and decorations of ever-green branches to remind them of the life that had disappeared under the snows of Winter.  This is another fire festival, the wheel of life marking a change in our relationship with the Sun.  Don’t forget to light a fire and look into the flames, opening your imagination to the pictures there. Let your imagination soar!  What are you going to Birth in this next year? In the next few weeks, although it might not feel like it, the light will slowly begin to return in the northern hemisphere – with the promise of summer to come.

Whether we celebrate the rebirth of the Light at Winter Solstice as Yule, Hanukkah, Christmas or Kwanzaa, let’s remember the Mother who gives birth to the Light of the World.  She is Mother Earth, Mother Mary and the Feminine Spirit within each of us.  We all get a chance to give birth to our deepest Light in this darkest time of year.

Until Next Time,

Sweet Dreams!