When my kids were young I used to celebrate the Winter Solstice by having all the usual lights off and, using only candles, lamps and Christmas lights, we’d have a special meal that I cooked by candlelight.  Each year I read the same prayer:

It is our quiet time.

We do not speak, because the voices are within us.

It is our quiet time.

We do not walk, because the earth is all within us.

It is our quiet time.

We do not dance, because the music has lifted us to a place where spirit is.

It is our quiet time.

We rest with all of nature.  We wake when the seven sisters wake.

We greet them in the sky over the opening of the kiva.*

I have to admit there was a fair amount of complaining from the kids, but that annual ritual is one of my treasured memories – candle-lit faces around the table, honoring the dark and the quiet of the year in the midst of the usual brightly-lit frenzy of the holiday season.

The cycle of a year provides balance – of summer and winter, light and dark, of growth and rest. We too need a balance – of being reflective and active, of being receptive and putting forth effort, looking inside and focusing outwardly – of Yin and Yang.

But we live in a predominantly Yang world, so in order to have a balance, we must be intentional about it.

How do you take time to reflect and refuel?  Maybe try out the idea of having a candlelit Solstice!  This year it’s on December 21st.

I’d love to hear how you create balance for yourself.  I invite you to share in the comments below.

Blessings of the quiet to you,

Lois

 

*Poem by Nancy Wood, in “Earth Prayers – 365 Prayers, Poems & Invocations” by Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon