Wednesday December 21, 2016
Hares: Samuel de Champlain-in-the-Ass & Messiah
On On into the longest, darkest night of the last five-hundred years!
(or so Samuel de Champlain-in-the-Ass says)…
Messiah 👣
😇
🐰
🍻
🎉
👍
“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” ~ Lewis Carroll
The way I see it, if we get lost, we will be spending the shortest amount of time in the dark!
On On,
Messiah
Winter Solstice. Even the words evoke a certain mystical, magical feeling—a connection to the numinous.
Before I was a practicing solitary witch and following pagan practices, I was celebrating Christmas—which for me, is still a season to look forward to.
I like referring to Winter Solstice (and even Christmas) as a season, because to focus on one day of celebration seems rather indulgent and fleeting. The build-up, the care we take to prepare for a spiritually gratifying holiday and the gifts continue to inspire for days and weeks.
To sink into Winter Solstice is to anticipate that one darkest day of the year, to invoke our own darkness, to find joy in the nature-inspired decorations that are strewn around the house, and to feed our bodies with special recipes created from seasonal bounty.
A “season” gives us permission to not rush, but to simmer gently toward a climax, then descend with a grateful exhalation from the heady excitement of the actual day. A “season” is for mindfully engaging with the gifts of a sacred festival.
Pagans celebrate the turning of the Wheel of the Year by observing significant seasonal and agricultural occurrences. Within that wheel, there are four corner festivals all following the cycles of the sun, as it waxes and wanes in strength between summer and winter.
Witches also follow the cycles of the moon, with a monthly cycle, as opposed to a yearly one. All in all, these celebrations mirror our own human cycle of birth, life, death and re-birth.