Winter Solstice and Celebrating the Spirit of the Season

If you've followed my writings for a while, you know that I love the holidays. I love celebrating them, decorating for them and sharing rituals and inspirational thoughts on how to connect with holidays on a deeper more meaningful level.

During the month of December, I celebrate the Holiday Season. What I love most is that no matter what religious or spiritual belief you connect with, they all focus on a return to light at this time. I think it's important to honor this special time of year as a season, meaning a collection of days over a period of time, rather than a focus on one day. This allows us time to have a conscious connection engaging with the sights, sounds, smells and scenery around us, as well as the time to reflect on the deeper meanings of the season.  We can take in the joy of the season, putting up a tree, hanging garland and decorating with shiny colorful objects, ribbons and of course, lights! The smell of pine, cinnamon, sugar, orange, and many other delightful scents fill our home. Ask anyone about what they love about the holiday and the conversation usually leads back to favorite foods and smells emerging from the kitchen.

What Does the Winter Solstice Mean?

When we connect to this time as a season, it becomes a season of light, a season of love, a season of reflection, and a season for giving.  We are affected by the seasonal cycles and at this time, Winter Solstice heralds the holiday season with the longest night of the year leading into the return of the Light of the Sun. We emerge from this introspective space back into a new connection with the light.  Basically, from the deepest innermost part of our soul, we return to embrace the light from within!

This time of winter solstice is a gift to us. It's a time to look within, to stand still, which is what the word solstice means. It's a time to look back at the year and consider what we have learned and how we can become wiser from the experiences. It's a time to rest and reflect upon the meaning of the season, to take stock of our lives and to regroup. It is also a season of Hope, that the light always returns, a new day dawns and that there is always an opportunity to embrace our inner light and be transformed.

Somehow over time, we've moved away from this understanding of the cycle of the season of Winter. We've forgotten that it's about quiet time, hibernating and going within, and connecting with nature and the beautiful plants and botanicals and scents around us as they also take a rest before the Spring. Instead of embracing this time to reflect on our lives and think about the world around us and feel grateful and generous, we've evolved into becoming busier than ever, rushing to and fro with holiday shopping and doing a million " I must do activities".

Were we to look closer we would see that this busy work has kept us from thinking, feeling and introspecting on what's occurring within us and around us.  This can be harmful, as the busier we are, the less time we have to process what we are truly thinking, feeling and believing.  When we fight against allowing ourselves this time to unwind, it leaves us feeling less than excited about the holidays. Without proper rest and time, we become grouchy and irritable and lose connection with the joy and meaning of the season.

The effect of the seasons on our mind body spirit have been noted since the dawn of humanity as every culture was aware of the effect it has on our psyche and our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being and connection.

Maybe this year it's time to look within and see if you are consciously connecting with the Spirit of the Season, or are you going through the motions of what others are making you feel that you must do or else you won't be good enough in some way?

There's Never Been a Better Time to Step Into Your Power. This is Your Time!

If You're Ready to Honor the Spirit of the Season and Consciously Embrace What It Can Do to Awaken Your Mind Body Spirit, Here are some tips:

1. When we acknowledge the Winter Solstice, we become aware that the only constant in life is change. Seasons change, people change, nature changes, everything changes. Life shows us the best of the times and the toughest. If we don't occasionally slow down and reflect upon what we have been experiencing, we don't give ourselves the opportunity to work through it and discern what it all meant and how we can move forward into a better future. When we don't take the time to look over what's happened to us this year, we can't reflect on what we could do differently or better in the future. 

2. When we awaken and have conscious awareness of what we experienced and how it is affecting our life on a daily basis, we can make plans for the new year on how we will take on new projects and endeavors with newfound wisdom and forethought. When we don't do this and just rush around keeping ourselves busy so we don't introspect or have to feel these feelings, we continue in a spiral of unconscious thinking and feeling. Eventually this spiral leads to exhaustion, burnout, anxiety and depression. Like that saying, "If we fail to plan, then we are planning to fail".  If you won't take the time to look at what's not working well in your life, you can't fix it.

3. There are a variety of rituals that can be done during Winter Solstice and you can go deep if you'd like.

   But I say, to keep things simple, do these four things:

- Open all of the curtains and blinds in all of the windows of your home and let the sunlight in on this day.  This year the Solstice is Saturday, December 21, 2019 at 11:19pm. So you could open the windows during the day today on Saturday Dec 21st or on Sunday, December 22nd to connect with this energy. Visualize the light cleansing your home and filling it with warm loving energy.

- As the sun sets, close the curtains and blinds in your home.  Sit quietly in the darkness of your home and reflect on the most meaningful and challenging moments, both good and bad that you have experienced this year.  Then light a candle or turn on your holiday lights as you visualize letting go of these feelings and see them dissipate and melt away as the light returns. See the light spiraling around your home in each room and visualize it being filled with love and joy.

- The next day, take a brief walk outside and ask Spirit to communicate with you through nature. Notice the wildlife that may appear to greet you, how the wind moves through the trees and any other interesting occurrences during this time.

- Honor the process through giving. Whatever pain you have felt this year, transform this energy by giving the opposite of that experience to someone else this season. If you have felt that your finances were tight this year, give money to someone this season. If you felt lonely during this year, spend some time with someone who may be alone. If you felt sad, find an opportunity to bring a smile and moment of joy to someone. Give what you wish you to receive in the new year, give joyfully and with the expectation and understanding in that by doing so, it lifts your energy as well. This announces to the Universe that you have released the past, you are not weighed down by negative thinking and emotions and that you are open and ready to receive the good!

These simple acts can transform your thinking, release negative emotions that are holding you down and open you up to creating and manifesting wonderful new cycles of positive energy and expectations for the New Year.

If you'd like to understand on a deeper level about the magical and transformational meaning of the seasons and cycles and how to incorporate them into your life, I invite you to join my Wise Woman Wisdom School, which is a year-long online course through my Academy of Mystical Arts and Spiritual Sciences. This course begins in January and is connected to the holidays and seasons throughout the year.

Give this gift to yourself and transform how you co-create and connect with the magical and mystical energies of the seasons.    You can read the syllabus and details here.

Speaking of the good, there are a lot of wonderful things coming our way in 2020. We are finally moving out of the dark cycle of time that we have been in for over a decade now. I'll be writing about 2020 - Dawn of a New Decade and how you can embrace this new energetic cycle soon.

Happy Holidays! May the Celestial Light Shine Upon You Blessing You with Health, Wealth and Wisdom!

Kala