I love being out in nature and immersing myself in its beauty,
Even if it is windy and rainy,
As it was when I marked the winter solstice and reflected on darkness and light.
Hello and welcome.
My name's Liz and you join me as I lean up against a burial cairn on the southern edge of Dartmoor,
Which is a moorland in the south of Devon in the UK.
And I'm leaning up against this granite boulder that would have been placed here thousands and thousands of years ago.
And I'm here to talk to you about darkness and light.
I'm here to talk to you about moving from sorrow and sadness to lightness and freedom.
And during this conversation with you,
I will take time to pause and allow you to reflect inward and just allow you to reconnect within,
Which is actually what all of us are being asked to do.
And why am I sitting up here on Dartmoor,
Leaning up against this grey granite slab of rock,
A burial cairn that was created probably around 4,
000 years ago?
I'm here because today is marking the winter solstice.
It's the day after the solstice.
And I've come up here because this is a significant place,
A place where people would have honoured the rituals of life,
Their ancestors,
And they would have looked at life gone by and the year that was going to lie ahead.
And as I speak now,
Even though I can't see the sun,
Because there's a grey,
Misty,
Drizzly cloud and a wind that is blowing across Dartmoor and obscuring much of the landscape,
Which is undulating,
Rolling hills with dark orange ferns,
Which have fallen back over the autumn and are disappearing back into the earth for the winter,
I've brought you here at this time because this is the time the sun is setting,
Even though I can't see it,
Because of the grey,
Misty,
Drizzly rain that is with me and with you as I speak.
And you know that misty rain,
It feels so apt because I cannot see the sun,
I cannot even see the sky because of the greyness.
And yet I know with absolute certainty,
Absolute certainty,
That the winter has lost its grip,
That the darkness that has been gathering in layer upon layer over the last few months,
That the darkness is going to start to recede and a new year with light growing,
Ever gently growing,
The light is returning,
Even though I cannot see the sun,
I know this to be true.
And I am with you today because that knowing,
Even when things feel bleak,
Even when things feel lost,
That knowing is what absolutely connects me with you and with the rest of this world that seems at the moment to be experiencing such angst and sadness.
And I know that there are people like me and people like you that are being called in their hearts to put their roots to put their roots into the ground and to stand firm and to feel and know deep within themselves that the light is returning and we are the ones that can stand sure in knowing that.
And even as I speak to you now,
I have experienced over the last few weeks real sadness,
A real sense of unsettledness,
A mixture of emotions around many things that are happening in my life and to people I love.
And despite all this unsettledness,
I know very deeply,
Very deeply in my soul and in my heart and in the depths of my very being that all shall be well,
All shall be well.
So if like me,
The sadness of life and the sadness of the world and the world affairs has been darkening your soul,
This is for you and this is for all of us that will just stand solid,
Rock solid,
And be like this granite boulder behind me,
Steadfast in a world that can feel so lonely and sad at times.
So what I'd like you to do is is find a space,
Find somewhere that you can rest or lie down or sit and be very present.
And as you find that space,
I'm going to guide you over the next few minutes to look within,
To touch base with that knowing within you,
That sun which you know is now returning,
The sun which you might not be able to see at the moment but that you know is there.
And together we will spill this knowing and hope into the world through our very beings.
So join me now and breathe in,
Breathe out.
And as you breathe in and breathe out,
Allow your eyes to close and allow your body to relax.
And as you do that,
Scan your body and just notice what you notice.
Do you feel any tension or pockets of sadness or areas of numbness?
Bring your attention to those places and breathe gently onto them.
Breathe deeply,
Feel them.
Know that you can experience sadness but you are not sadness.
Know that you can experience numbness but you are not numbness.
Know that you can experience overwhelm and know that you are not overwhelmed.
For you are a channel of the light.
And as you breathe into you and your sadness and your numbness,
As you breathe deeply into that and you allow it,
For all is good,
See also beyond that sadness and numbness or overwhelm.
See and experience that lightness of being.
And breathe into that and notice how it fills you with a sense of freedom.
And notice how that energy,
Bubbling,
Buzzing,
Gentle,
Soothing energy is washing through you.
That energy is the light.
And allow both the sadness or the grief or the tension or the numbness or the overwhelm,
Allow that to be.
And also allow that sense of freedom,
Of love,
Of compassion,
Of knowingness to be present as well.
And breathe deeply,
Deeply into that energy.
And as you breathe deeply in,
Blow it gently out onto the world.
And breathe into that energy again,
That sense of love and lightness.
And then breathe gently out onto the world.
And every breath that you take and breathe out onto the world,
You enable others to breathe that in too.
For you are a channel of this life-giving essence.
And your gift is to give it to the world.
Breathe in and breathe out.
Breathe in and breathe out.
And know that you are loved.
And you are love.
And know that we all are connected.
Because we all are the energy of life itself.
We are that energy.
And that energy is taking form through us.
And that light dances in the world,
Fragmented,
Beautiful,
Rainbow colors of light,
Which is you.
All that is being asked of you is to never forget that you are that light and love.
Never forget it.
And even if like now,
As I sit with my back against this ancient burial cairn,
And the mist is coming in and darkness now is falling,
Even though you may feel alone and slightly lost,
Know that within you always are able to touch base with that knowing.
And it will never leave you.
And it will never let you down.
So as we come to the end of our time together,
I want you just to breathe gently and open your eyes and notice the room around you or the space around you and send a message of gratitude within that you have been blessed to have this knowing that you are being called to share in the world.
And the only way you need to share this in the world is to feel it in yourself and to allow it to radiate outwards in the same way that the sun radiates outwards.
For that is the light.
That is the light that always banishes the darkness and the light always returns.
Bless you on your journey.
Bless you as you walk out into the world and be joyous that you know the light is within you and within everyone.
