The Winter Solstice marks a pivot point in the year, when the darkness is deepest, and the Sun shines his light above the horizon for the least time of all.

It is both a powerful time of release, and of seed sowing – very much like each of our 13 yearly New Moons.

Set intentions today.  It’s a power day –an optimum time to take your aim and think deeply about what you wish to achieve with the next turn of nature’s wheel into Spring and beyond.

Now I love a fire ceremony – the flames, the heat, the instant destruction and transformation but as I write this, both Moon and Sun reside in earth signs, so I have to concede that today calls for rituals using this sacred element.

This is a very powerful tool to make use of when making the kind of magic which has the tangible aspects of our experience as its focus.

And it is equally powerful in rituals of reduction.

In quite a literal sense, the ground makes compost of our waste, transmuting it into a nourishing, fertile ground for new life.  It is an alchemical cycle which extends well beyond only the physical realms.

And to incorporate earth is to incorporate the Earth – our Mother, from which we come and to which we return, so ensure that you honour her sacred presence and generosity when you invite her into your work.

Here are a few ideas you may like to incorporate into a Winter Solstice ceremony today:

• Head to a pebble beach (or to any other place in nature with an abundance of small, smooth stones).   Ask permission of the land, before you select a few that you like.  With a pen, or some paints, or simply with your intention, write, paint or infuse each one with a wish for the upcoming year.  You may like to keep them on your person as a talisman, or if you prefer, stack them, or place them in a nook in a cliff/tree/part of the landscape, entrusting your wish to the safety Mother Earth’s folds.  Do this in your own garden, or somewhere you go often so that your intention remains inside your realm of the everyday.

• If you are wishing to release something, then simply repeat the process with your stones (writing on them, or imbuing them with whatever you are letting go of) and bury them, with the intention that Mother Earth transmute your ‘waste’ into something of use again.  Do this somewhere away from your home – so that you are releasing it away from your everyday environment.

• Select a crystal (one you own already, or why not treat yourself to a new Solstice gift!  I find that raw stones are best, not always as pretty, but they can be programmed, unlike tumble stones).  Set your intention into this stone, and proceed as in the suggestion above.  I love to programme small pieces of quartz, with simple intentions like holding and emitting the vibration of love, and squeezing them into knots in trees.  I find that there is something very special about returning these pieces of earth to her.

• Bake some bread, a cake, or some biscuits and as you add each ingredient, send a wish into the bowl with it.  Know that you are creating up a powerful mix, a potion of intent, which is already taking form, and is the beginnings of manifestation.  The last step is to eat your creation, with pleasure and confidence that your intentions are literally becoming you!

• Plant some winter bulbs – narcissi, crocuses, tulips for example, setting your own intention as you bury these globes of potential.  As they develop shoots, stems and finally bloom over the coming months, they will act as symbols of your own blossoming desires.  This is a lovely way to set the pace, and to provide a beautiful visual correspondence for any intentions you set to manifest in the Springtime.

• Take a small amount of soil in a little bowl (it may be from your garden, from a park, from a sacred site, or you could even use ash from a fire).  At the very start of any ceremony you are performing, anoint your third eye with a pinch of the dirt, inviting Mother Earth to join and support your work.

I want ceremony to be fun.

I want ceremony to be life, and life to be made sacred, not needing separate spaces for it to be so.

And for this to be shared with our families and children!  So these suggestions are simple and free and open to any adaptations, and to any people who want to be involved!

Wishing you a beautiful Solstice of glowing candles and Gaia’s strong and comforting presence.

K

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