Today is not about light.
This hemisphere has no momentum around light today at all.
The momentum is all about the deep dark.
The trees know it.
The woodland critters know it.
But we humans kinda struggle with it.
So today I’m writing to you with some tips for how to celebrate and embrace the Deep Dark of Winter Solstice so you don’t accidentally miss it.
1. Tone your Sensory Wisdom by doing things in the dark. Take baths and showers in the dark (not candlelight, actual dark), apply your lotion and oils to your skin in the dark. This will tone and hone your sensory wisdom by focusing your attention on sensations other than what’s produced from visuals. Your relationship with your body will deepen when you feel it instead of looking at at.
2. Sip something complex, like wine, tea, or a stone elixir, in the dark. Same as above, you will build intimacy with your palette and what you’re tasting.
3. Open your eyes in the dark. Allow your eyeballs the medicine of dark. If you wake up in the middle of the night, consider that your eyeballs and your conscious mind are craving the dark, and give it to them by not turning on lights or screens, and not forcing yourself back to sleep.
4. Stop screen time and bright lights 2 hours before bed, or 2 hours after dark. Burn candles or dim salt lamps to give your system a compassionate on-ramp into the Deep Dark of the night.
5. Sleep. I have a joke where I say “wanna miss Winter Solstice? Stay awake for it”. The Mystic at Winter Solstice is the subconscious mind. So don’t have a midnight mass on Winter Solstice. That’s missing the whole point. Instead, prepare yourself for the Dream Temple. Oil your skin, put special sheets on the bed, put your Dream Journal on the bedside table and sleep. That’s an ancient, profound ritual for Winter Solstice.
6. Be with the dark instead of wishing for the light. Practice sacred noticing: what is extra lovely because of the dark? What works better in the dark? What blessings does the dark offer that light doesn’t? For example, do you get a better night’s sleep with the lights on or off? This will help you embrace this season instead of wishing for another one.
These are simple rituals that will remind you that you are a magical human with seasonality, just like our dear Earth.
Sweet Dreams.
Blessed Dark.
See you on the other side.
love & dark,
kv
