Winter Solstice Guide
The Winter Solstice is celebrated on around the 21st December each year, this year in 2023, the astrological date is 22nd December at 3.28am, and it’s time for the Midwinter festival.
Seasonal Reflection
Despite the sun holiday a month ago, daily vitamin D and being conscious of minding myself, it feels like the pressure of work has subsumed me, trying to wrap up all the things before I finish, knee deep in thinking ahead to January classes, Seasonal Soul begins again for our third cycle on 31st January, a Spring 2024 Ballygarry Yoga Retreat and more.
My energy levels are low, I have little motivation left - this is normal and natural for this time of the year. The more-than-human world of the plant and animal kingdom is at rest now, doing just enough to get by, to save energy. Yet as humans when we are flagging, decide to throw a helluva party at Christmas, full of socialising, planning, organising, extra work. the stress of overspending and the pressure of buying "the perfect gifts" - it's no wonder burn-out at this time of year is rife.
A survey from Slumber Cloud found that one in three adults suffer from “holiday burnout”, with 36% of those surveyed claiming that that the affliction sets in before mid-December. A further 17% of respondents actually claimed that they felt burnt out before the festive month had even begun.
That's a lot of exhaustion, stress, anxiety and worry to deal with, at a time when our reserves are low and our energy rock bottom. I have a deep sense that rest and slowing down will put alot of this to right, for me at least. I have an inner voice calling me to close this laptop (!), to not worry about advertising and a bulging email inbox, that enough gifts have been made (I made mostly homemade pressies this year) or bought, because we have enough already.
I yearn for time away from have-to-dos, phone alarm reminders, running to and from classes. I want to wear my pjs all day and read by the fire, walk in wild weather without having to check my watch, to practice yoga in an old, baggy tracksuit, meet friends for steaming mugs of mulled wine, to roll around the floor with my nephews playing monsters. I yearn for warm, healthy food and not have leave right after a meal to go to work or be somwhere else, I frickin’ excited about falling asleep early. It's always the ordinary things we long for and often these simple rhythms we end up abandoning when under pressure, prioritising work and doing tasks, or even doom scrolling, instead of taking care of what really matters.
There's no judgement here! I've found myself smack bang in the thick of it too, despite being fully conscious of what I'm doing. I take some comfort however from knowing that what's in my awareness cannot control me. So today, I went on a little roadtrip to spend the day wandering, taking photographs and to drink silky hot chocolate from a flask overlooking the sea. Tonight as you read this, I hope to be sitting by the fire under the barn, watching smoke swirl to the night sky in honour of the Winter Solstice.
It’s a significant day in the calendar, as with all Celtic Festivals, it marks a point in the year and invites us to pause and reflect, to consider where and who we are right now and to appreciate all we have.
The Winter Solstice
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice occurs on 21st of December. The Solstices and Equinox cross quarter festivals have fascinated us and our ancestors since the beginning of time. Here in Ireland, our largest Neolithic tomb, Newgrange, Co. Meath, is aligned with the sunrise of the Winter Solstice and according to new findings, there may have been a second chamber that aligned with the sunlight at the Summe Solstice. At sunrise on the shortest day of the year, for 17 minutes, direct sunlight can enter the Newgrange monument, not through the doorway, but through the specially contrived small opening above the entrance known as the ‘roof box’, to illuminate the Chamber.
We know that the winter solstice has been marked in Ireland for at least 5000 years. This imposing and mysterious monument is a testament to the importance of this time of year for our ancient ancestors.
In the dark, harsh winter, the Solstice was a threshold of great celebration once upon a time. It is the shortest day of the year, the longest night. The earth is tilted as far as possible, away from the sun. These days are for resting and dreaming.
As an agricultural people, for our predecessors the return of the sun guaranteed growth and life. The light had conquered the darkness. Spring and Summer would return. Solstice means “sun stands still". At the Winter Solstice, Grianstad an Gheimhridh the sun reaches the depth of his descent in the cycle. The lowest point.
It is a turning point, a crucible moment, when the light delicately penetrates the dark emptiness. A moment of rebirth. New potential is born out of the darkness. At the turning, the descent (letting go/surrendering) gives way to the ascent (a spark of potential). It makes it an ideal time for dreaming. Time to rest yes, but also for dreaming the seeds of new life, hopes and ideas that will grow into future changes and personal harvests.
A time when a delicate spark of new life is born and will slowly emerge and strengthen as we move from Winter Solstice to Spring. This is what we celebrate at the Winter Solstice. The return of the Light.
Solstice Traditions:
1.Fire and Feasting
This was a time of feasting and bonfires, where communities gathered to honour the darkness and celebrate the returning light in the knowledge that Spring and Summer would now be certain. Light a fire with friends and celebrate!
2. Evergreens
Bringing the outside inside, evergreens were a symbol of renewal and everlasting life. The tradition of hanging evergreens, wreaths and decorating the Christmas tree continue these rituals. Each evergreen had its own qualities of healing and ritual symbolism.
Pine – joy, healing and purifies when burned
Ivy – everlasting life, cycles of life, relationships
Holly – protection, repelling unwanted spirits. The red berries represent feminine blood and the returning fertility
Mistletoe – one of the Druid’s most sacred trees and connected to the supernatural, magic, protection, fertility and peace.
(Credit: The Celtic Wheel)
3. Nature Connection
At mid-Winter, many of the trees are now bare having released their leaves to the dark earth. We can see their elegant, resilient backbones. The leaves on the earth have turned black and decomposed. The life force is in a dormant state and the land barren. This period of rest and fallow is necessary for nature to restore, to draw her energy inwards so that she is ready to burst forth with new life in spring. Spend time outdoors, notice how winter has a very special stillness about it, on the surface everything appears dead and quiet. But deep within, new life is quietly unfolding. We are part of nature, this is our natural way too.
Wintering
The nourishment of the mid-winter quiet darkness, rest and drawing inwards to reflect. There is great renewal in quiet emptiness. If we are willing to surrender to the darkness of deepest winter, we can be nourished and renewed. Seeds need darkness to fulfil their potency for wholeness and growth – just as we and our ideas and dreams do too.
In Katherine May’s book Wintering she refers to wintering as a metaphor for those phases in our life when we feel frozen out or unable to make the next step, and that that can come at any time, in any season, in any weather, that it has nothing to do with the physical cold. Wintering calls us, not only to live with it, but to wrest from it what it can teach each of us. Wintering asks something of us. Katherine believes “We must learn to invite them (our winterings) in” and to stop wishing it were summer.
“Plants and animals don’t fight the winter; they don’t pretend it’s not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt. They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through.Wintering is a time of withdrawing from the world, maximizing scant resources, carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight; but that’s where the transformation occurs. Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible. It’s a time for reflection and recuperation, for slow replenishment, for putting your house in order. Doing these deeply unfashionable things — slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting — is a radical act now, but it’s essential. ” ~ Katherine May
Journaling Prompts
Here are some questions you might like to mull over……
How do I recognise and honour the potential of darkness to offer healing and restoration?
How easy or how challenging is it for me to practice stopping, hibernating, resting more, releasing and embracing the darkness?
What self-care rituals and routines could / do you enjoy at this time of the year and at this time in your life?
What new life, ideas and plans are you dreaming about?
Are you a Seasonal Soul?
If you enjoyed my Winter Solstice Guide and would like to immerse yourself in more nature inspired content, ideas and ways of living, the you will LOVE Seasonal Soul. My 12-month nature-based wellbeing programme for women. The doors are now open for new members to join our tribe, until 20th January 2024. If you’d like to learn more click the link below. You are so welcome.
Winter Solstice Resources
Loved this all about new findings at Newgrange, TG4’s Rún na Boinne
More Nourishing Winter Resources
Wintering by Katherine May
“This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year's threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath." Margaret Atwood