Winter Solstice

The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of Winter, in the northern hemisphere.

Many of the customs associated with the Winter Solstice derive from stories of a mighty battle between the dark and the light, which is won, naturally, by the light.Celebrated in many religions and by many cultures we often forget the real meaning of this winter celebration.

Earlier traditions focused on the battle between the dark and the light, but we know both are valuable. Honor the dark before calling in the light. This is the season when animals hibernate and nature sleeps and we can turn inward too. Perhaps some of the depression people feel during the holidays comes from not providing a space for feeling the sadness associated with this season. Set aside time (hard to do amidst the frenzy of the holidays) for sitting in the dark and quiet. I like to spend a little time of the Winter Solstice in silence and reflection.

It is a time of year when some despair, seem lost, confused, frustrated and money seems to go before we receive it; with all the Christmas shopping. We feel like we have reached the turning point and our strength recedes and/or declines. Such is the cycle of birth and death, elation and melancholy, strength and weakness, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, the harmony of change.

It is the time of year to have good friends around, and to be a good friend. Celebrate with the light of candles, yule logs on the fire and share your food and warmth. It is the time of year to be hospitable to strangers and travellers. It is the time of year for telling stories around the fire, the time for sipping hot drinks to warm the soul; the time to raise spirits...and a glass or too. A celebration of the promise of the Sun's return in all it's power.

You should enjoy yourself as much as possible on the Winter Solstice because this will bring back light (and lightness) into the world. Different traditions mention feasting, gambling, playing pranks, giving gifts, visiting, drinking, dressing up, putting on plays and staying up all night. During the dark of winter, invoke all the forces of pleasure and love which make life worth living.

This is a natural time for letting go and saying farewell. Release your resentments and regrets into the darkness, knowing they will be transformed. Write about them in your journal or write them on slips of paper which you can burn in your Yule fire.
Celebrate in the warmth and love of your friends and family and lighten the way into 2009.

Greetings from Dorothy

When Something Shifts----- there is no going back.

There has been a huge global wake-up call and nowhere more so than for those who thought that they had "made it." Striving through school, college or university, worked hard to hold the ideal job buy the designer house,with wife and children. The bills have always been paid and the holidays regularly, exotic and the children have every electronic gadget that they desired.

Until the world became greedier and seedier as bankers and the fat cats at the top became beyond accountability.The sad fact is that even those of us who have had less affluent lives have still become so complacent that we thought we were safe and secure.
People are losing their jobs and highly paid careers are crumbling along with the economy. Changes and shifts ripple and ripple and continue to leave a wake behind. The ripple effect has never been so dynamic not since we witnessed the visual effects of the tsunami one Boxing Day, not so long ago.
Let's us now work together to raise the awareness of mankind. May this global shift allow us to work together to create the new consciousness so desperately required for humans to become truly self -responsible and to stop blaming each other for the mistakes that we have either allowed to happen or contributed towards.

Let's remember this winter that as the snowflake falls from the icy sky it will never be the same. Nothing remains the same. The snowflake melts and slips away to make icy water which feeds the little bulb of a snowdrop which pushes through the frozen soil to bring life and beauty to the winter world.

Pray that the vast changes that our planet is witnessing will allow a freshness and beauty to evolve in the human race. If everyone chooses to be responsible for re-creating families, relationships and communities based on the very best of human values then 2009 may be a year worthy of celebration.

I offer you my seasonal wishes and ask you to reflect on your own contribution to the new global consciousness.
Dorothy