A Winter Solstice Ritual
On Saturday evening, I gathered a group of 12 people to celebrate the coming of the light from the point of the darkest day of the year, winter solstice. We called on our ancestors to hold the space we created around the fire pit, and that seemed to allow us to go very deeply into the magic of sharing what we wanted to let in with the coming light and what we wanted to let go with to nourish the soil for next year's growth.
I actually do these rituals at least 4 times a year, but usually my friends flake at the last minute, and I rarely have more than 3 guests! There was a real need this year. I was so worried when all 16 people I’d invited said “YES!” I don’t have room for that many (or so I think)
As usual, there were a few last minute drop outs due to work and health issues. However, we set out 13 chairs, (maybe that extra one was for the wise woman who was left out, maybe it represented the divine feminine, maybe it was a space for all that we welcomed in, I don’t know…)
Themes for everyone there wove and merged beautifully together, we created a field around our shared desires for love, tending to our bodies, time, connection, self-compassion, money, better relationships, being creative - art, music, writing, acting, clowning, making, healing (the group entirely consisted of creatives) and more.
We also let go into the fire in my garden those things that do not serve us. Francis Weller, in his beautiful book “The Wild Edge of Sorrow” says that Mother Earth is nourished by our grief and tears. If we can trust the earth to metabolise those elements that pour out of us, we can find our right place in the world. The Earth is big, huge, so much bigger than us and she wants us to lean into her in the same way that a mother longs to nurture a child. We offered to the fire (and I will return those ashes to the earth today) from our shared field: self-criticism, self-doubt, pointless scrolling on our phones, procrastination, shame, anxiety and more.
Did you do anything to celebrate the solstice? Would you like to experience a ritual like this? At the Borders of Belonging Retreat we will be doing a ritual for Imbolc, the mid-point between the solstice and equinox. It seems almost unimaginable that we will finally be welcoming the spring, watching the new growth from the soil that we nourished with our sorrows and pain on Saturday. I will lead a similar ritual around the huge fire pit at Trealy farm - why not join me? The early bird tickets have been extended until 28th December. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/poppyaltmannfamilyconstellations/1429596