Solstice 2024

So, this morning the sun rose one minute earlier than yesterday.  Inch by inch, the light returns – as it always does.  Aren’t we lucky?  I hosted a solstice celebration last night where we sat in the dark for an extended period of silence and then listened to a piece of music – before slowly relighting our candles.  We pondered what light we can offer the world in the coming year and what light we most need for ourselves in the coming year.  We also tried to focus on our connection to the cosmos by dancing with earth objects – feather, stone, pinecone, shell.  It’s so easy to forget that we are actually made of stardust – I had a friend who always signed her letters. “Stella Debris”.  We also held our earth objects and asked what prayer they had to give us.  If you are so inclined in these new days of increasing light, I invite you to ask those same questions.  Perhaps to go on a walk at sunrise and see what you notice on the earth.  To listen for a word that reminds you , you are connected to this glorious earth and sky. 

WINTER SOLSTICE 2024

Solstice arrives again

precisely on schedule,

tilts us faithfully

toward the light.

We could stop

our own whirling

to see where

our orbits take us,

to notice what

we long for

and lean towards

on this longest night.

To remember

that we are carried

in our journey

through the heavens,

to whisper

a prayer

to the stars

to this sweet earth.

~Penny Hackett-Evans