Why and How to Honor the Winter Solstice

Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England

Happy Winter Solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year!
For hundreds of years, travelers from around the globe gather the morning of December 21 at Stonehenge and other sites to witness the sunrise in the forever sky. It’s a sacred time for you to reflect, release, renew, and restore. The ancients and your ancestors understood this critical time for coaxing and celebrating the sun’s return.

Why? Death and hardship were imminent without the sun’s light and warmth. Imagine huge bonfires being lit where people connected around community feasts and rituals. Symbolically these actions coaxed the sun back into their lives. The dancing, singing, and feasting also physically warmed their bodies and minds to the hope of spring-- and the promises of life, food, and warmth!

Newgrange Monument, Ireland where the Winter Solstice is celebrated

How will you coax the “sun” to shine in your life again?
You’re invited to make a fresh start; think of people you are not spinning your gold with for whatever reasons and write them a Winter Solstice greeting be it a card, text, or email. Ask for forgetting and forgiving with a blessing for your relationship harmony. This can be a courageous act of reflecting your Spiritual Light to coax and expand the “sun” back into your life.

What miracle happens when you allow your Spiritual Light to return?

Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross (1541-1591) wrote a poem which someone else titled “The Dark Night of the Soul.” It’s said that while imprisoned, the only light came from a window so high up he had to stand on a stool to read. He compassionately knew that the things imprisoning you are not always clear cut.

“A bird can be held by a chain or by a thread. Still, it cannot fly.” - St. John of the Cross 

While reflecting on 2016, do you feel bound by the heavy chains of regrets, unhappy relationships, or addictions to unhealthy habits, worries or substances? If not, then perhaps you might feel bound by the threads of discontent, procrastination, judgment, or boredom. Though lighter than chains, these threads can keep you tied to the past, not allowing you to happily move into December’s final holy days and the New You, New Year.

You’re invited to go within to spin new golden threads of SELF-LOVE. 

Consider these three action steps:

1) Find five besties to tell you why they love and appreciate you in one sentence or paragraph. 
Tell them that you’re adding their message to your 2016 Love Letter. Consider making this an annual tradition after you tell them why you love and appreciate them!

2) Write yourself a 2016 Love Letter using a pen or pencil. 
Describe the many ways you love yourself. “How do I love thee, ____ (your name), let me count the ways.” Review previous texts or emails you’ve received acknowledging your gifts. Address an envelope with a stamp to YOU. Ask a friend to surprise you by mailing the letter sometime in January 2017.

3) Affirm phrases like: I am love, I am. I am loving, I am. I am loveable, I am. I am loved, I am.

Now with this lighter, happier energy, perhaps you will return to your Spiritual Sunlight and out of any “dark night of the soul.” 
By taking these three action steps, you’ll replace the chains or threads in your mind and emotional body so that you might not only fly, but soar in 2017!

P.S. An invitation is waiting for YOU to the Treasure Island Beach Writer's Retreat: Recharge Your Body, Mind & Creative Soul, April 23-28, 2017. Enjoy this travel article written by visionary author sister, Mihaela Lica Butler, of Pamil Visions PR and a reporter for Hospitality Net.

P.P.S. If interested in sharing this dynamic invitation with your tribes, inbox me as I have a special thank you gift for anyone who registers because of YOU. Of course!
Treasure Island Beach Writer's Retreat: Recharge Your Body, Mind & Creative Soul.

Copyright Lore Raymond, 2016. No portion of the blog post or information on this site may be reprinted, re-used or copied to another site without prior written permission from the author.