Today marks the Winter Solstice, when we will enjoy the longest night of the year. After this, the days begin to lengthen again as the sun comes back into the world. We typically find and decorate our Yule tree right before Solstice and take whatever holiday handmade cheer we've made for our friends to them on this day. (With so much time being invested with our 10-month old now, we've decided to refrain from the card-sending and gift-making this year.)
On Solstice eve, we begin to contemplate our intentions for the new year, and we have a special notebook in which we collect our individual lists about what we hope to invite into our lives, release from our lives, or accomplish with our lives. We allow ourselves the 12 days from Solstice eve until New Years to ruminate, thinking about the past year and what we hope for the year ahead. We collect our intentions, and then we burn a special Yule log on New Years day to ritualize our intentions, ritual being such a vital way of recognizing Divine presence, asking for Divine assistance, and activating the energy we need in ourselves to accomplish our goals. Those intentions that are strictly private, that we don't want to share or record in our notebook are written on scraps of paper and tossed into the fire of the Yule log as it burns, which is such a symbolic way of "voicing" intention and then letting go...of the "hows" that will accomplish the outcome as well as the outcome itself. We offer our wishes up to the wisdom of the Divine; pray for peace and well-being for our family, friends, and the world; and extend our gratitude for the year we have moved through.
Today, I wish you a happy and joy-filled Solstice as we also prepare to celebrate Christmas, when we recognize a different son whose presence has changed the world.
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