The Turning Point - Winter Solstice
Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift. – Mary Oliver
My garden in
We are at the turning point. For the weeks leading up to and away from the Winter Solstice—the longest night—there is a stillness that descends, a liminal waiting time as the Earth swings around the end of her orbit and changes direction. I have a sense of why people from ancient times were drawn to celebrations, rituals, and stories as a way to participate in the wondrous change of the Earth’s direction that brings warmth and life back to the land and our hearts. There is a feeling of suspense and mystery in the air at this time of year as Nature is working below ground, gathering a special winter magic, in the dark, away from our day-to-day awareness.
Stonehenge at Winter Solstice
In the life of plants, the winter Water Phase is the time in the seasonal cycle where the energy goes deep underground to the roots, and some mysterious, alchemical gathering of potential necessary for the renewal takes place. Some vital magical, invisible substance is being gathered at this time in the cycle. All of Nature is pulled to the quiet depths of the Water Phase in winter, and, since humans are part of Nature, we are also pulled to our own quiet depths.
For more on the Winter/Water Phase, see: “Winter and the Deep Dive into the Water Phase” here:
In the modern world, we seem to struggle with this invitation to rest, restore, and gather potential that is offered in the Water Phase season of Winter, despite it being the necessary step before renewal. The Water Phase holds the balance of fear and calm/serenity. Perhaps we are a little afraid to let ourselves explore the depths of ourselves out of a fear that we might not rise again. But that is not the way of things. We experience the Water Phase every day when we go down into sleep at night and wake up in the morning. When we sleep, dreaming is our connection to the deep, unconscious aspects of ourselves. Without that deep dive into a kind of dormancy, it is impossible to be your best self when the day comes. It is part of the normal rhythm of life to go to our own deepest rest and rise back up into life restored and renewed. We all know what it feels like when we miss that phase and sleep poorly.
Aristotle taught that an acorn contains the blueprint and potential for a unique oak tree. Its destiny, purpose, fulfillment, and perfection of Oaky splendor are all hidden within the acorn. If you plant an acorn in an apple orchard, it will grow into an oak, not an apple. If it is battered in a storm, it will continue to follow its original blueprint to become the fullest version of itself without wavering. It could be said that the soul of an oak is contained in an acorn and that the full manifestation of this soul’s purpose is a towering oak tree.
Dawna Moore Almay
You are not different. Your blueprint, destiny, purpose, and soul were embedded in you by the spark of the Divine that activated an egg and a sperm, bringing you to life. Humans are different from the rest of creation in that we have free will in the form of this crazy duality-based consciousness. We get to choose whether to live fully into our blueprint... or not. Lucky for oak trees, they have no choice. They are simply themselves without any angst.
If we are willing to consciously travel to the depths of ourselves, in search of self-knowledge through contact with our blueprint, we will be rewarded with all the riches of a human life, for it is in these depths that our soul, authenticity, and blueprint for our life’s purpose is hidden. These are the riches that make a full life, a purpose-driven life, a satisfying life. These riches are the ones that everyone wants to have experienced by the time they are nearing the end of their lives. They include having known love, having meaningful work, having made a difference, having real connections to family, friends, and community and gratitude for all of it. These immeasurable, intangible, beautiful qualities are uniquely human and are the beauty, and gifts we bring to the world. These are humanity’s offerings. The blueprint or soul cannot be heard with the outer ear or seen with the outer eye. It must be felt with the ultimate sense organ, the finely tuned Heart within the Heart. This is the aspect of us that knows things without being told, our empathy, our intuition or gut feelings. We experience this when we “follow our hearts,” even though it isn’t always rational.
Cultivating a relationship with our soul or blueprint brings us into relationship with that original spark of the Divine that brought us to life. In this way, our individual nature is connected to Greater Nature, to the Divine, to the Cosmos, to The Mystery. That is some magic! Making this relationship conscious requires that we spend time in the deepest part of ourselves through meditation, prayer, mindful breathing, walking in Nature, making art, puttering, gardening, sleeping, chanting, singing, seeking awe, shamanic journeying, ritual, making an altar, listening to or making music, lighting a candle for someone you are worried about… anything that lets us feel our connection with something greater than our individual selves and puts our rational linear mind in the back seat for a while. It’s here that we can be guided by our intuition, our Heart within the Heart, to make the day-by-day choices that give rise to our most authentic selves. In this way we can fully manifest the gifts and genius that were secretly seeded in us with that initial spark.
Divine Spark, Susan Hill
This movement, taking your consciousness into the depths of yourself, gathering potential, connecting with your authenticity, and returning to this plane of reality is the same movement happening at the Winter Solstice. The energy of the whole Northern Hemisphere is traveling to the deepest, darkest, furthest, below the horizon point, gathering the magic needed to begin the cycle again, and bringing it back to the surface toward Spring. It is the same movement as the earth going to its furthest point from the sun, rounding the corner of its orbit (at 3 on the diagram) and heading back to the light. All of Nature is making this journey and so are we. Nature is offering us an opportunity to be included in the Great Gathering of the mysterious, magical substance that is the basis of all new Life. We just have to pay attention and jump in.
1) Summer Solstice, 2) Autumnal Equinox, 3) Winter Solstice, 4) Vernal Equinox
My sense is that New Year’s resolutions come out of this impulse. We intuitively sense that we have an opportunity to start fresh, to manifest something new for ourselves, at this time of year because that is what Nature is doing all around us and we are marinating in it. Using methods like journaling, making art, making an altar, sharing it with others, lighting a candle or leaving an offering at a special place in Nature symbolically brings something from deep inside us, from the place of imagination, into this material reality and energizes it to where it can start to take form.
You may find that your resolutions are more successful if you spend the next six weeks or so gathering the resources needed and aim for a mid-February start date.
For more on why that is, see “When is New Year Anyway?”, here:
At this point in human history, we are in a very dark period. In the lifecycle of our civilization, we are somewhere between November 15th and the Winter Solstice. We are coming to the end of an era.The We are in the death phase of the constant cycle of life/death/renewal that is fundamental to life on this planet. We are for sure in the Winter Water Phase, with its darkness, fear of survival, power run amuck, lack of consciousness, and lack of wisdom. (See “Winter and the Deep Dive into the Water Phase” for more). Too many people and ecosystems have been suffering for too long under the current structures of our civilization. It has clearly exceeded its functional lifespan, to where we are calling it “unsustainable.” What that means is that Life is no longer able to renew itself, just as when people grow old, sicken, and eventually die because they are no longer able to renew themselves. We find ourselves in the liminal space between death and rebirth, the time around the Winter Solstice. We know in our bones, in the deepest parts of ourselves that the old ways are over and some big changes in the way we live day-to-day must occur for Life on the planet to continue. But we are completely in the dark as to what a new Thriving Life society might look like and how to get there.
Unfortunately, while the Earth traces the arc through the darkness and back toward the light in a matter of weeks, the death and rebirth of civilizations are on a much longer arc, measured in decades. We must find a way to orient ourselves to the light in these dark times or risk utter despair. Finding ways to feel you are part of what is wanting to be born rather than what is dying will help. Ancient civilizations knew how to work with this phase in the life cycle and had rituals built into their cultures to bring healing and renewal to the souls of individuals and therefore the collective at times like these. Sadly, those old ways have been forgotten and we are left with no clue where to start. While we don’t have the specifics of the ancient rituals connecting humanity to the Cosmos, the old stories point us in the direction of the Great Mystery, the deep, dark unknown and unknowable. We have the felt sense, in our bones, in our Heart of Heart that there is Truth in the idea that connection to Nature, to the Cosmos, to that which is greater than ourselves, is healing and life renewing. Even our smallest gestures acknowledging that Truth and inviting the unseen forces into this material world through our Hearts is powerful medicine for our souls and the soul of the world in these dark times.
Winter Solstice, Darlene Lancer
Unfortunately, western civilization’s disdain for anything that might be seen as “wu-wu” intuition, ritual, or spiritual practice has led us to our current state of disconnection from the Web of Life, leading to its collapse. Without this connection to the Cosmos, we are stranded without any understanding of how to connect with and be healed by the normal processes that have been renewing Life on this planet for billions of years. We are in denial of the reality that the world has many invisible elements and an intelligence that can’t be proven by logic and numbers. How would you quantify or prove the existence of love, for instance? Without connection to our blueprints, our souls, our authenticity, our invisible, unquantifiable natures, we have collectively lost our way in the dark. How do we round the corner of the deepest darkest point in the Winter Water Phase of an era and head back to light, life, the renewal of spring, and a new age?
While we have forgotten the specifics of the ancient rituals connecting humanity to the Cosmos, the old stories point us in the direction of the Great Mystery, the deep, dark unknown and unknowable, the Water phase. We have the felt sense, ancestral memory, stored in our bones, and in our Heart of Hearts that there is Truth in the idea that connection to Nature, to the Cosmos, to that which is greater than ourselves, is healing and Life renewing. Even our smallest gestures acknowledging that Truth, asking for help and inviting the unseen forces into this material world through our Hearts is powerful medicine for our souls and the soul of the world in these dark times.
A civilization and culture are the totality of the hearts and minds of the people who live in it. Any change we make as individuals changes the collective. We are part of Nature and if we find ways to nourish, cultivate, and renew our True nature, we are also nourishing Great Nature, the Earth, and helping her to renew herself. If we were a civilization of soul-connected humans, manifesting our authentic gifts and genius, the culture and civilization would reflect that. As individuals, there is very little we can do in the outer world to hasten the massive changes that are necessary to arrive at sustainable, Thriving Life on our fragile Earth. But we can work within our inner selves. We are wanting to assist the Earth, our civilization, our culture in reaching the depths of winter darkness, gathering the potential and magic needed for renewal, completely changing direction, and heading back toward the light when we can see the first hopeful signs of spring renewal. This is the movement of the Winter Solstice. This is the movement of consciously engaging in spiritual, creative, ritual, and intuitive practice. This is the movement of bringing back the light of healing that enables Life to renew itself. We can join with the momentum of the Solstice to help us start, or recommit to our practices and energize them enough to be carried through the year. The Winter Solstice will carry you to the deep and back to the light if you let it.
May you be filled with the deep Mystery of the season
Sunrise, Winter Harbor, Maine
A few ideas to get you started
Renew or start a daily practice of anything that takes you out of your rational mind for a minute. Enter your practice with the awareness that you are reaching into the liminal world of energy before form, and bringing a thread or spark of something pure and True into this reality.
It will benefit you individually and the world collectively for you to cultivate a way for the Light to come in through your Heart.
Some examples: meditation, prayer, mindful breathing, walking in Nature, making art, puttering, gardening, sleeping, chanting, singing, seeking awe, shamanic journeying, ritual, making an altar, listening to or making music, lighting a candle for someone you are worried about…
Create little Solstice ritual. Maybe you write a few wishes and prayers for the Earth, for people your are concerned about, and for yourself and burn them on the solstice carrying them heavenward.
Create and altar: Let yourself imagine what you’d like help with. It could be a new relationship, a new business, a new personal project, a new aspect of self-care, a new aspect of spiritual practice, a problem you aren’t seeing a solution to yet, a dream for which you would like more understanding, guidance in a particular area….
Create a little altar on a shelf, windowsill, or a regularly visited special place outdoors. It can include anything that represents what you are wanting help with.
Photos, drawings, writings, bits from nature, a little art piece…
A candle brings light and energy to your altar and lets you spend a minute with focused attention each morning as you light it for the day.
I like to light incense, as sacred smoke has long been used in many traditions to take wishes and prayers to heaven.
The altar is helping you pull something from the energetic, deep, imaginal world into this world. It is the same arc as the Winter Solstice. Something deep inside you wants to come to life in this world. Creating an altar is in the realm of imagination, symbolism, and art (not rational mind). This is the realm of the unseen worlds. By creating an altar, you are inviting the unseen forces of Nature to help you, and they must be invited to intervene on your behalf. Creating an altar is like building a portal for the angels, divas, elemental beings, or spirits of place to be able to come and help you.
Here is my current altar…nothing fancy. Tucked on a shelf in my office. It changes over time as the things I am wanting help with change
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I would love to hear your thoughts on my musings if you have a minute: amy@amyjenner.com
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Resources:
A few podcasts that I have found supportive recently:
Michael Meads podcast, “Living Myth,” and events at www.Mosaicvoices.org or wherever you listen to podcasts
Llewelyn Vaughan Lee’s podcast, “Stories for a Living Future”, at www.workingwithoneness.org or wherever you listen to podcasts