Welcome to this guided meditation and ritual for celebrating the darkest night of the year,
The moment where the sun seems to become still,
Almost to die in order to be reborn again the very next day.
If you haven't already,
Please gather a few items for your ritual.
You'll need a candle,
A paper and pen for journaling if you wish,
And a glass of clean water,
Plus any other items you like to work with in your ritual,
Such as crystals,
Stones,
Sage or any items representing your personal faith that you would like with you.
Like the candle.
If you're working with sage,
You might like to light it now.
Take a moment to get settled and close your eyes.
Feel your connection to the earth beneath you.
Offer some acknowledgement and honor to the land beneath your feet and to the indigenous people that settled on this land before you.
If you know whose land this is,
Say it out loud or in your mind,
In honor of the sacredness of this place.
Now imagine protection around you.
Perhaps you're surrounded by a translucent bubble,
Protecting you from any energies that aren't yours to work with.
Perhaps it's a woven shield of branches or flowers.
Perhaps it's a soft wind circling around you.
Perhaps you have spirit guides,
Angels or ancestors protecting you.
Whatever image resonates,
Call that up in your mind.
This is a powerful day in many religions and traditions.
It represents the descent into death in order to come back again to a new life.
In the Christian tradition,
Jesus appeared to have died for three days and then come back again to a new life.
The Mesopotamian goddess of fertility,
Inanna,
Went into the underworld to seek her lost love,
Causing the world above her to die,
And then to be reborn again when she returned to the land of the living.
The Greek goddess Persephone was taken into the underworld,
Causing her mother,
Ceres,
The goddess of the grain,
To grieve so deeply that the food of the world dried up,
Until Persephone was returned to her arms.
This is the origin myth of the seasons.
In most parts of the Northern Hemisphere,
We experience the death of winter and darkness for a while before we return to the light and the food of spring and summer.
So the winter solstice is a precipice of a big moment of rebirth and change,
A transition from one solar year to the next.
Before we can set our intentions for the next year,
Let's take a moment to acknowledge what came before,
What we're letting go of,
And what we might want to say goodbye to.
You may like to journal on the following questions,
Or simply contemplate them.
If you need more time to do that than I'm offering in this meditation,
Feel free to pause the recording to finish your thoughts before we move on to the next question.
How do you feel about the last solar year?
The time that has passed since the last winter solstice.
What did you learn this year?
What did you lose this year?
What are you grieving?
What did you gain?
What aspect of yourself would you like to let go of in order to make space for this new beginning?
As you consider what you're grieving or what you're letting go of this year,
You could name them in your mind,
And or write them down on a fresh piece of paper.
Without burning it,
Gently cross the piece of paper over the candle flame a few times,
Symbolically cleansing and releasing these items,
Concepts,
Or people.
Then set the paper aside.
Now place the glass of water in front of you.
Again,
I will offer you some questions.
Feel free to pause if you need more time with each question.
You may write down your thoughts if you like,
Or simply reflect quietly.
What do you hope for yourself in the coming solar year?
What inside you needs to be born or reborn to help you to move into the next stage of your life?
What are your deepest wishes for the coming days and months?
For your body?
For your mind?
Your heart?
Your home?
Your work?
Your relationships?
Your country?
Your planet?
What do you truly,
Deeply want?
If you can,
Distill down your wishes and desires to a sentence or two,
Or more if you need more.
If you'd like,
Write them down on a fresh piece of paper.
Hold the glass of water between your hands and tell the water your wishes.
When you're ready,
Drink the water,
Taking your wishes and intentions into your body.
When you're ready,
Bring your hands together in front of your heart.
Take a moment to thank the water,
The candle flame,
The sage or any other items you were using,
The air you were breathing,
And the sacred earth beneath you.
Thank any guides or ancestors that may have been with you on this journey.
Take the shield that has been protecting you.
When you're ready to close this ritual,
Blow out the candle.
If you have the piece of paper with the list of things or people you lost this year,
You may like to safely burn it or bury it in a safe place that will not harm any plants or organisms around it.
If you have a paper with your wishes on it,
Keep it with you,
Perhaps in your wallet or bedside table,
So you can refer back to it from time to time as the sun grows to fullness toward the summer solstice.
Thank you for sharing this ritual with me,
And happy winter solstice!
