Why Celebrate Winter Solstice?

On this day we honor the darkest night of the year and we await the return of the sun. These potent transitional times are an excellent way to align with the cycles and the sacredness of life's flow. It's a time to take inventory and reflect on what has been, what needs to be released and what you are embracing in. By honoring these transitional times we mark the transitions of our own lives, who we were, who we are and who we are becoming. It is a way to honor life, live with intention and gently touch the sacredness and mystery of life.

More and more it has become my favorite time of year. There is a certain beauty to the darkness that is not there with the light. Maybe it's the way it calls us back home, home to the deep center within ourselves, the dark cave of our own being. This can be profoundly healing. I am beginning to really love this place, to really love my darkness, my shadow, the parts of myself that I prefer to keep hidden, the parts that are sad, that can feel heavy, hopeless and depressing. The more I love them the more empowered and whole I feel. I am free to stand in the wholeness of who I am with full compassion and love for both my shadow and my light. Society has a way to demonize the dark, we tend to want to push it away and always be in a state of light but the truth is we are both.

On this darkest night of the year, I invite you to take some time to enter the dark cave of your own being, see what needs to be seen, held and touched with love.

Here is a Burning Bowl Ceremony that will help you do that.

You will need:

A paper and pen

A burning bowl

A Candle

Take time to create a sacred space where you are comfortable and will not be disturbed. Bring in all that makes you feel comfortable, a cup of tea, your favorite relaxing music.

Then take a moment to enter ceremony any way you'd, you could light incense, sage, sit quietly in silence, meditation, prayer.

And then take your candle and light it as a symbol of returning to your own divine light within, the return of the light of who we are, and the light of goodness, truth and beauty being made manifest in our world.

Take time to reflect on these questions and look back on 2021 with great tenderness for yourself, remembering that we are living in unprecedented times.

What are some of your biggest wins this year, what can you celebrate yourself for?

What can you be proud of?

What are 3 patterns that you would like to release into the fire of transformation?

What are you embracing as you enter the New Year?

What are you calling in for yourself and for all of humanity?

What is the highest vision for your life?

What supports do you need to achieve this?

Who or What are you grateful for?

Then take a sheet of paper, write down the 3 patterns you are releasing and place them in the burning bowl. Bless them and watch them be released once and for all.

Stand up, make a movement, a gesture, a sound, a "Yes!", feel it in your body, hear your voice speaking it out loud.

Spend as much time as you need to and when you're ready you can bring your ceremony to a close by bring your hands to your heart, whisper your words of gratitude. And I offer you mine, "So it is and so it shall be: Blessed Be"

Listen to my Winter Solstice Meditation on Insight Timer:

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