Winter Solstice, A Return to the Light

If everything around seems dark, look again, you may be the light. —Rumi

It’s hard to believe we have already crossed the threshold into the darkest day of the year and today we come back into the light. 

I am always observant of how time can feel distorted around the winter holiday season.  With shortened days and longer nights, time has a way of slowing down.  Just ask my daughters; Christmas can’t come soon enough.  

Yet somehow, this slowing of time is juxtaposed by the hustle and bustle of the holidays; it may feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. 

Whatever your rituals and celebrations may entail, it is no doubt a busy and social time for many of us.   

Winter corresponds to the Water Element, the emotion is fear, the tissues are the bones and teeth, the flavor is salty, and the organs are the Kidneys and the Bladder. 

One way to support the body is to use a quality salt when preparing food. Steer clear of iodized salt, it is energetic poison.

Try Himalayan or sea salt instead.  Kidney energy needs the salty flavor; be liberal in using it.

It’s also a great time to make bone broth loaded with marrow, tendons and ligamentous tissue.   Dishes like osso buco and oxtail stew are incredibly nourishing to Kidney energy.

Although the winter solstice marks the first day of winter on the Gregorian calendar,  winter solstice is essentially the middle of winter in Chinese traditions. 

On the Chinese calendar, winter began around November 1, which is also a significant day on the pagan/Celtic calendar known as Samhain. 

Can you remember how things around and within you felt six weeks ago, at the beginning of November?  

You may recall feeling that everything was in decline; the plant world, the angle of the sun, the temperatures, the mood.  A time of energetic free-fall, and thus the season is called fall .  The sinking/falling/waning that happens in the northern hemisphere as the sun reaches toward the southern hemisphere has distinctive qualities and characteristics.

The Chinese calendar is energetically aligned with the pagan calendar. For example, Chinese New Year marks the beginning of spring, which falls around Ground Hog day, also known as Imbolc on the pagan/Celtic calendar.  Imbolc and Chinese New Year both mark the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. 

These ancient systems of marking time are attuned with the energies of the natural world and the stars of the heavens.  They reveal not only what is happening to the world around us, but also within us.  The ever-shifting dynamics of the human landscape physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually is connected to cosmos.

As above, so below.

Now that we have fully arrived in the energetic depths of winter, how do we move through the watery unknown with grace and surrender?  

The Kidneys govern the Zhi, also known as will power, and allow us to have trust in ourselves and our destiny. Through faith, intention and determination, we can move through these dark, unknowable times because of Kidney energy.

This is a reminder, from me to you: take precious care of yourself during the holiday season and into 2023. 

Your Kidney energy especially needs the support for you to germinate, gestate and manifest your vision for the future.

I could probably compile a long list of self-care habits, but I trust you can figure that out for yourself.

It isn’t really a matter of knowing what to do as much as it is a matter of remembering to do it.