Winter Solstice

Each element possesses a natural rhythm cycle. Every day, every night, every month, and every year dances to a rhythm. The Wheel of the Year connects the sun’s journey to the earth’s cycles. In many cultural views of the Wheel of the Year, the sun was seen as carrying the masculine principle, called “Son” and “God”, while the earth was viewed as the feminine principle, named “Mother Earth” or “Goddess.”

The Earth Goddess has many names, varying across cultures. In many myths, the relationship and connection of the Earth Goddess with the Solar God was honored with the changing cycles. The Earth Mother Goddess stays alive throughout the year, changing from mother, to partner, to sovereign Goddess. The solar, sun, (son) God energy is born from the Goddess, grows to full Godhood, becomes partners with the Goddess, and then dies each year. The Wheel teaches us the natural cycle of death and rebirth, as one year’s cycle gives way to the next.

The seasonal cycle reminds you of your need for balance through every turn of the Wheel of the Year’s quarters: the winter and summer solstice points and spring and autumnal equinoxes. As those four sections divide again, creating the cross-quarter days, each of these eight points of seasonal change are a “power day.” Each is honored and celebrated for the energy they bring to the year.

Winter Solstice marks the place on the Wheel where the sun, which went deep into the dark space of the womb during Samhain, is reborn. We begin here with the gradual day-by-day increase in light until it reaches its peak at Summer Solstice and begins, once again, its turn toward the darkness. Winter Solstice, also known as Yule, typically falls between December 20 and 23 and is the shortest day and the longest night of the year.

Winter Solstice is seen as the time when the Goddess gives birth to the “sun,” or “son,” the masculine principle. The light of the sun emerges reborn out of the darkness year after year. Thus, traditionally we honored this point on the wheel by bringing evergreen trees into our homes to represent the everlasting nature of the Earth Goddess. They were decorated with images representing what we wanted to bring into our lives for the coming year. Gold balls represented the life force of the sun, icicles symbolized rain, paper money or coins stood for abundance, pinecones and acorns implied fertility.

At this festival of light, during Winter Solstice, we give deep thanks for the bringer of light, the sun, and all it contributes to our lives.  We hang lights from our homes to illuminate the darkness and recall the rebirth of the light.  Most cultures have celebrations during this time of the year, a time of the holy days and holidays.

Through the seasonal Wheel of the Year, light and dark work as a harmonious whole. They constantly move together in a dance both sacred and essential to your well-being. Living in continual light would burn out your systems, because you would have no time of rest or quiet. Conversely, with too little light you would tend to get depressed. You need the balance of both light and dark to achieve a state of wholeness.

The same holds true in your inner world. The light time of your inner world is filled with doingness and activity, just as in the outer world. This busyness requires balance with beingness during the quiet rest in times of darkness. Your inner darkness serves as a void, a place where you are receptive to the inner voice of Spirit, and where seeds of your desires are planted, developed, and grown. In this place, you connect to All That Is and in the dark, rich, fertile soil new awareness grows to full expression.

This time of year notice what has developed within you during the darker days and feels ready to emerge and develop in the coming growing cycle.

Excerpt from Natural Rhythms™ by Lisa Michaels
Pgs 93- 95 Natural Rhythm Cycle: Wheel of the Year