Winter Solstice is a time of deep dreaming, intuition, and knowing. It’s a time for the kind of things we feel in our bones, ancient and ancestral information passed through the continuum of souls. We’ve come to the point of the year when it’s darkest. Since Summer Solstice we’ve been losing a little bit of light day by day until we arrive here at December 21st, in the depths of darkness, the longest night of the year.

For the part of us that loves warmth and light it can be demoralizing, a season we think we have to “get through” rather than enjoy. We busy ourselves in the lightness of the season, we live at a hectic pace, shopping and celebrating, eating and drinking with friends and family. But the truth is winter offers us stillness in the center of all the darkness and has its own gifts and mysteries to bestow if we will accept them.

The dark cold of winter offers us the opportunity for a hibernation vacation. A time to catch up and nurture the parts of ourselves we’ve been running too hard or overextending. It’s a time to nap, dream, read, journal, relax, cook, or just be. It’s gives us a chance to weave the lesser known parts of our self into our waking world.

Staring out the window with the snow coming down in front of a blazing fire with a cup of hot tea is a rare and beautiful moment. A hibernation vacation extends that inner peace out for a longer period of time through spontaneous puttering. We go where our soul leads with no attachment to outcome and no schedule.

I had such a moment after a snow storm when work was cancelled. I got off the phone, breathed a sigh of relief, put the water on for another cup, and sat back down. It was only one day but at the end of that languid time I felt in sync with the slow winter rhythm instead of feeling like I was running behind and still needing to accomplish more.

There will always be more to do and the truth is how we approach the time we have is more important than how fast things get done. The magic is that when we slow down so does time, when we take a breath so does everyone around us. It’s exactly what the long winter is for, weaving these mysteries deeper into our soul. These are the quiet times when we can be rather than do and slip into that reverent gap of tending the fire within that holds secrets we can barely grasp.

So this Winter Solstice accept the invitation and slow down, rest, cultivate stillness, and find your own personal ways to weave together the endless mysteries that reside within the everyday.

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