Winter Solstice ~ A Time for Rest

As the sun sets on the shortest day, the longest night of the year begins. There is a quality to the unknown, to the mystery of Winter Solstice, that is even more fleeting, even more tenuous, it seems to me this year. Perhaps it's because so much is changing in our world, transitioning, and unknown.

In the longest night's embrace.

Where shadows kiss the earth's cold face.

There lies a whisper, soft and slight.

A winter solstice blessing, bright.

~ Author unknown

As we enter into the silence of the dark night there is a spaciousness, like an "eddy" off to the side of the rushing river of hustle and bustle that can so easily carry us away around the holidays. An eddy, like an invitation, entices your weary self to step out of the fray and to let the world carry on without you. This is okay. Your soul is being called to be held in the stillness and dark.

Join me in curling up like a fox with its tail wrapped over its nose.

Embrace silence like the communal presence that arises when the sun sets on the day, when the wild creatures know innately to stay quiet, hushed, and still.

Settle in as you would with a cup of tea gazing out from your window seat perch, seeking to dwell within the hues of purple, gray and midnight blue, there out across the sleeping folds of land, picking out with your weary eyes the patterns of beauty amongst the textured, bare-branched trees.

Breathe deeply, and again, breathe deeply, and again,... feel your skin relax with every exhale; watch as your breathe gathers on the chilled window pane, the steam from your steaming tea adding dampness to the air.

Solstice... the time when the sun stands still.

Allow what wants to be, to be. The rest will sort itself out. The quiet speaking stars, the sea upon which the truth of your being floats, they are magical company, companions present, witnessing you on this cold, dark night.

Surrender... just for now.

Let yourself be. Rest.

The light will return, the days will grow longer, this you innately know.

But for tonight rest within the dark.

Sink, as the sun, into the sea and rest.

Wishing you a blessed Winter Solstice!

Love,

Janet