Winter Solstice, Mother's night, and Christmas Novena - Day Six

The winter solstice occurs this morning at 7:58 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. In the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice happens during the coldest season of the year, when the sun is at its lowest angle and is seen for its shortest period. This is the turning point, the moment of new beginnings - the darkest time, with the brightest hope.

I've recently been reminded that we need to believe in these little myths - that the sun is returning and hope is reborn - so that we can continue to believe in the Big Myths, like justice, mercy, democracy, freedom - "That sort of thing".

 

“Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.” ~Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

 

Agenda today:

1. Prayer journal queries

2. Read a novena

3. Spirit Guide trance

4. Hal Sidu - Healthy Traditions

5. Mothers Night prayer

1. Prayer journal queries:

This week of advent my focus is the Guiding Light of God. My image of God is the Creator Spirit of earth and sky, the Love and Light that lives in all people, and something of Mystery.

I started a new prayer journal, which is a way I speak to my Inner Guide. This week I will spend a little longer each morning in quiet prayer. Today I will ask and answer these queries:

What is the Inner Darkness beginning to be revealed in the emerging light?
What spiritual gift do I long for?
What people in my life can I hold in the Light?

2. Read a novena:

I've been reading this Creation Novena from the Indian Catholic Matters site:

Day 6: A Prayer for the Air

Creator God, we give thanks for the air. We thank you for our enjoyment of its caress. Thank You for the soft play of wind in the treetops and the warm touch of a breeze against our faces. Thank You for the air we breathe, for the breaths we draw every moment.

As we warm the air of Your Earth, help us understand its mighty power, its ability to not only caress but to destroy. As we pollute the air of Your Earth, help us understand how essential it is to breathe itself.

In this season of Advent, give us understanding, and give us the will to use our understanding well.

We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

3. Spirit Guide trance:

I feel the darkness of winter in my body and my heart; some mornings my bones ache and I can't shake the gloom. The expectation of joy and good cheer are not helpful.

Last year I found this article by Jade Grigori, a Shaman teacher, about Winter Solstice in the indigenous north:

Winter Solstice: A Time of the Shaman’s Gift Bringing

"The underlying aspects of the various cultural Winter Solstice celebrations lies rooted deep in Shamanic origins. Amongst the Saami (Laplanders) and Siberians, Buryats and Altaic tribes, all of the far northern climes, there was and is a very common motif in the Shamanic practices surrounding the Winter Solstice ceremonies."

The shaman was called on by the people to go into a deep trance, helped along with mushrooms and/or shamanic drumming. The purpose was to access and deal with burdens of Inner Darkness:

"At the time of the Winter Solstice the days have descended into the depths of darkness. It is at this moment, however, that the Sun begins to return, and with it, the days begin to lengthen. As the days become longer more light radiates into the world. This natural rhythm of the dance of Earth and Sun is a trigger within our psyche.

As all the things that have remained hidden in the darkness begin to be revealed in the greater light of day, so do all the things that we tend to hide in our own Inner Darkness begin to be brought forth into activity as the days lengthen, just as seeds left in the darkness beneath the soil begin to sprout and grow in response to the emerging light. Generations upon generations of experiencing this cycle of our own Soul’s dynamic led the people of ancient cultures to utilize the very same patterns of nature to deal effectively with their burdens of pain and suffering, of anguish and trauma that had laid hidden within the Inner Darkness of their own Soul."

Jade suggests that we can use Winter Solstice ceremonies to release our burdens and the grudges we hold, forgive the debts owed us, and start fresh - be reborn, accepting how things are.

The Shaman also receives a symbolic gift for each person, which he or she sings into the Soul Essence of each person, as a blessing and a gift of the Spirit.

"The ceremonies performed at the Winter Solstice are powerful in their transformative effect. They are empowering of each participant in the awakening of each to their own inherent spiritual gifts. They are ceremonies of compassion and liberation, ceremonies of blessing, well-being and abundance in the year to come."

I plan to perform my own interpretation of a Spirit-Guide ceremony, with an intention to receive a message or a gift or an insight of some kind, from my Inner Guide. As a Quaker, I've got lots of experience in listening to the small, still voice, but this is a different thing: I am going to be directive, and specific.

1. Set the Mood: Light a candle and dim the lights. Turn on my primal drum music very softly. Settle into the peace of the darkness.

2. Craft a Clear Intention: Today I will call on the Spirit of Love to guide me in the New Year, and ask "What can Love do?"

3. Relax, breathe, walk or float: With each breath, allow my awareness to deepen and become softer. No stress. No rush. Walk or float in a void.

4. Go through the Door: When I feel ready, see myself moving through a doorway or opening into another space. Take time to settle here, in the safe, dark, warm, womb.

5. Invite my Inner Guide: Call on the Spirit of Love, and ask my questions. Ask for what I need: A blessing, a message, a leading, and/or healing.

6. Open myself to messages and gifts: I may get a vision, or thoughts, or just a feeling.

7. Give thanks and return: Saying thanks out loud is a how I acknowledge the reality of the gift. Then, turn around and exit the way I came in.

8. Journal: Take a few moments to remember my experience, and write it down in my prayer journal.

4. Hal Sidu - Healthy Traditions:

My ancestors were predominantly Anglo-Saxon; that is, of English and Germanic descent, and I'm doing some research into modern Saxon Paganism in an attempt to reclaim some of my heritage. All forms of paganism have a deep connection to the earth, and I already practice my Quaker religion with a bent towards earth religion (I'm an Earth Quaker!), so I hope to adopt some customs to support that bent, and also connect me to my ancestral roots.

I'm going to write this next year about Hal Sidu, which is Saxon for Healthy Traditions - as in the daily and seasonal practices that engage my whole self (body, mind, spirit) and reconnect me with the earth and with God. The goal of Hal Sidu is a sacred integrated lifestyle.

I'm working to define the components of my personal path:

• A sacral calendar that is true to my valley and not appropriated, and includes traditional crafts.
• Practices and devotions that are both earth-focused and Quaker, and bring mindfulness to my days.
• Values, principles, and testimonies to guide me.
• Community to share and serve.

5. Mothers Night Prayer:

The winter solstice, for Saxon Pagans, is known as Modraniht, or Mothers Night. On this first night of Yule the early Germanic and Scandinavian tribes paid tribute to the ancestral mothers who protected and watched over the family, helped with childbirth, and healed illnesses.

This Yuletide evening, I will light a candle for my ancestral mothers. I don't worship my ancestors, but I acknowledge them:

I thank those women who came before me for the Love and Light you brought to the world, and see beyond your weaknesses and your racism. You too are that of God, and a part of me.