Winter Solstice

The longest night of the year

One special Winter Solstice, I invited the people most important to me to my home. We set a fire in the yard, and filled it with beautiful warm scented herbs. We cast a circle, shared our wishes dreams and plans, we shared what we meant to each other and declared what it was we wanted to create, we told stories of the goddess giving birth to the sun. We bought things that no longer served us and we burnt them in the fire, we bought things that symbolised that which we wanted to create. Together we wound a beautiful sun with yellow cloth and tree branches while we ate good food and drank warm mulled wine. We slept soundly and in the morning we arose to hang our woven sun in the large tree in the back yard. Within the woven sun we hid the items we had bought to symbolise that which we wanted to create. We did this together and by doing so, we found comfort, joy and a sense of hope and inspiration for what was to come.

I love mid winter.

I don’t really like the cold much so when Winter Solstice comes along, I feel like I can start to breathe again – I begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Ritual is an important part of my life, and when there are celebrations like this, I love nothing more than sharing these with loved ones. There is a sense of community and connection in sharing these times, speaking your joy, being vulnerable in your dreams and sharing your hopes for the days ahead.

To envision how these celebrations fit together, I find it easy to think about the year as a circle, with the circle following the life cycle of the Goddess and God. However, you also have to consider that at times through the cycle, the deities can be two different beings at the same time almost. I find it easier to think of the masculine and the feminine energies and the various forms and aspects in which they are offered to us in this cycle. The cycle that brings us to mid-winter, has it that the God, or the Father Sun, impregnates the Goddess, or the Mother Earth with himself in summer, then he dies in Autumn, and is then reborn in winter. The God / Father sun is also the Holly King who is replaced by the Oak King at Winter Solstice, effectively banishing himself to the dark of winter, but at the same time, allowing himself to be reborn from the great mother. This seems weird and a more than a little confusing at times, but paying attention to the cycle provides us an avenue to understand the cycle of birth, growth, fulfillment, decline, and finally death – which again turns to birth and the cycle continues.

Through winter our days have been getting shorter and our nights longer. During this time, the Goddess / Mother Earth has been resting as her belly has been swelling with the new Sun. The Moon, sometimes referred to as Grandmother Moon , Mother moon, old woman Moon – has been staying longer as the old Sun is slowly stepping back into the shadows. Winter solstice marks the change in this cycle as it is this night that the old Sun has finally left us all and the Earth Mother finds herself giving birth to the new Sun. This is such a wonderful night when you think of a full rounded belly mother earth who spends the night birthing a new cycle of life to light our way. Over the next few days, that new and baby sun will grow in strength and we begin to see the days getting longer again and the nights getting shorter.

I have two alters in my house, one in the lounge and one in the art studio. Around a week ago I put out an offering specifically so help sustain the Goddess while she was resting. I made a small bowl for each space and filled it with chopped apple, and nuts, dates, seeds etc. Tuesday Night I will light a candle in the dark to help her and then a wine or a mead to offer thanks and celebration.

So, go out there Tuesday night – look to the moon, offer you’re thanks to her for looking after things as the sun dies and the earth births a new sun.

Experience yourself in a state of rebirth, take notice of the freshness in the air, the anticipation and the excitement – just as if you were having a new baby come into your family. There is so much to think about and plan. We have cycles each month with the moon, but every year we have this large celebration that has the whole year begin again. In the northern hemisphere, this celebration is done at Christmas time, so think about that excitement and the celebration of Christmas and that period of anticipation leading to the new year and the start of a new cycle.