Winter Solstice

The Marrow of Winter

Winter's low dark sees the sun drawing toward its southern edge as the longest night approaches. The seasonal wheel has turned once more to the dark threshold of Solstice.

Solstice, from the Latin solstitium, translates to “sun standing still”, a solemn moment met at both summer and winter solar peaks. The world becomes woody and sparse, the trees quieter versions of their former selves, with all their bright drawn rootwards. Darkness outruns the sun, and the work is inward-facing. We do well to dream it rather than do it.

Storage-oriented, whatever grains we have in the larder from the summer crops, and wood gathered from the forest, whatever kindness we have shown, knowledge we have gained, or relationships we have nurtured, will all serve as sustenance between now and the spring.

At the dark threshold, beneath the lantern of Hecate, do you fear you have not done enough? Or are you secure in the knowledge that you have?

In the realm of the Water Element, we meet the deep channels of the Kidney and Bladder and the whole mystery of the back body - nerves, brain, dural fluids, marrow and bones. In the way of nature, Water governs all the cutaways and ravines. It is the element of depth itself, of what lies beneath the surface and of all that is waiting to be encountered.

Deeper still and among the dark and rarely visited spaces of Water also rests fear, the primal scarcity psychology associated with Winter and water itself. It’s the type of fear that might manifest in overworking to overcome, chronic tension, a lack of trust, and the exercising of a great need to control the outcome.

It’s the fear of not meeting the deadline, of not being able to provide, of not having enough for the future, of being left out in the cold. All of these faces are a deep attack on the fundamental equilibrium of the nervous system. They erode us physically and mentally, and over the long term, cannot be sustained without cost.

This is the very reason for Winter.

What fear requires most is the conditions that allow the nervous system to remember its safety.

These 3 dark months are a gift of retreat and repose beacuse a healthy relationship with fear does exist. An envelope of dark, a chance to crawl into the back of the cave to take shelter, respite from the grit of life’s rent. Here we repair and fortify the nervous and adrenal systems through sleep, warm, slow-cooked foods and thoughtful inner-focused practices. Here we remember that we can trust the river. That we will find the sea.

From this place, fear becomes an initiation that, when faced, transforms our Spiritual depth, faith and capacity for radiant calm. We learn through the experience of retreat that a ground spring of resilience lives in us always, that intensity of emotion is not only survivable, but it is both evolutionary and enlightening.

When we nourish ourselves with winter, we clear the higher eye that brings the subjects of our stresses into clear perspective. As we sleep, percolate, float and suspend, watery Winter restores our foundations, repairing the walls of the well, the rope and the bucket alike. Rebuilding the vigour in the deepest reservoirs of our life force, so we might rise well fortified and better equipped to take on the way of things - such as they are.

“Everything must be done according to the light of the sun”.
– Yellow Emperors Classic

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