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Winter Solstice Rituals
DECEMBER 17th, 2019 | BY CRISTINA SCHOOLER
Early nightfall. Crisp mornings. The sharp silhouette of leaf-bare branches. Misty mornings and red cheeks. Bare branches and starry nights. Do you watch the light fading on your pages as you read?
These are some familiar signs that winter is almost here. We often speak of turning inward during these darker months, becoming quiet and introspective, staying home more often, sleeping longer.
But there is this paradox that happens in the outer energy of our western culture. The push to buy and do more this time of year is strong and alive.
One of the reasons it can feel so chaotic within your internal world is because our primal needs are asking us to slow down.
Our bodies and collective psyches are asking to sit by the fire, take longer breaths and commune with the moon.
Well, this is your invitation and your right to choose a rhythm that feels closer to what your primal needs are telling you.
You do have a choice in whether you want to participate or not. Does that feel icky? Do you feel like you don't have a choice? If those feelings are coming up, it may be a great time to journal and reflect where those feelings are coming from.
Perhaps this year, with some preparation and planning, we can plant the seeds for a more intuitive, simpler, and natural holiday season. The Winter Solstice, which takes place this year on December 21st is the shortest day of the year in nature’s calendar and can be a profound way to tune into the subtle energy of you and nature.
Embodied wisdom consists in remembering one’s place in any given cycle of life. In remembering what actions or non-action is appropriate for each phase.
Life simply starts to make much more sense the more we can tune into the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly cycles that happen within us and around us in nature.
Attuning our senses to the subtle changes and cycles of the seasons might help us attune more lovingly to the subtle changes and cycles in ourselves. By performing simple rituals with personal meaning to celebrate the solstice, these rituals will serve as touchstones to help us cultivate an attitude of receptiveness and appreciation that will carry us through the holiday season with more ease.
Here are some rituals you can bring in to celebrate this winter season and solstice:
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A good starting point might be to make a promise this winter to spend more time listening, watching, and honoring the slower, quieter rhythm of the season.
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Consider watching the sun rise or set from your little patch of the world.
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Make a list of loving wishes for friends, family, coworkers—even people you don’t know that well.
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Build a shrine or altar in your home of nature’s found objects that remind you of the season.
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Maybe you’d like to prepare a simple meal from organic winter vegetables to share with friends or family, or cook a dinner to enjoy in the welcome solitude of your own company.
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Honor the Goddess as Great Mother. Goddess forms traditionally linked with this time of year include Tonantzin (Native Mexican corn mother), Holda (Teutonic earth goddess of good fortune), Bona Dea (Roman women's goddess of abundance and prophecy), Ops (Roman goddess of plenty), AuSet/Isis (Egyptian/multicultural All Goddess whose worship continued in Christian times under the name Mary), Lucina/St. Lucy (Roman/Swedish goddess/saint of light), and Befana (Italian Witch who gives gifts to children at this season).
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Contribute to the manifestation of more wellness on Planet Earth.
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Spend longer time in your meditations, journaling and reflections.
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Consider honoring the threshold of solstice with an hour of intentional silence for you and your household.
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Perform a ceremony with fire on the energies and cycles you are ready to release in 2019.
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Download an app like calm or insight timer that you can plug into for a few minutes when you are running around the airport in the midst of seeing family.
It is my wish to each of you reading this holiday season that you remember you do have the choice to reclaim your energy each and everyday.
And that the more you can drop into the laws of mother nature, the more everything will fall into place.
With so much gratitude,
Cristina
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