Winter Solstice – Christine Valters Paintner

“The Winter Solstice is another profound moment of pause and turning in the great cycle of the year…One of the great gifts [of the season] is watching the sun make her pilgrimage across the horizon from summer solstice to winter solstice. It is quite a long journey, and on December 21st she will rest at her point furthest south, appearing to stand still for three days before making the return journey again in the long walk toward summer.  It is a rhythm of journey, pause, and return, again and again.”

— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Sacred Seasons: A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year – A Self-Study Online Retreat

Could recognizing that spring and summer always lead to autumn and winter help you to embrace the times of releasing and resting that come to us at this, the dark time of the year?  Like walking a labyrinth can you follow the path inward, pause and receive the gifts at the center, and then begin to move more fully out into the world carrying the light that is growing?