Thoughts on the Solstice

I have never been one to make a big huge deal out of Christmas. I could name all the reasons, but they are the usual ones; commercialism, expectations, stress....

But for the last few years I decided to mark the winter solstice.

This has become a cherished tradition for me. It is a time for quiet inward reflection in nature at a time when I can feel myself deep in the slumber and stillness of winter.

Today I took a few hours in the forest. It was cold but not bitter, and Sumo was excited for the adventure. As we wandered I thought about myself and life over these last few months, since the end of the summer. Life has presented me with some challenges and some beautiful gifts this season, and I have been grateful to find that I have been able to accept both with a measure of grace and understanding, to remain open even when presented with emotions and thoughts and situations that are difficult or scary to face.

So I walk among the sleeping trees, sliding over the frozen ground and find that I am not desperately wishing for spring. I can accept and embrace this moment. It is winter now. The earth around me is frozen and waiting. I can feel that the energy of renewal is present, and will come to flower in its time.

I leave this solstice with a quote from Rumi.

“The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you
Don't go back to sleep!
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep!
People are going back and forth 
across the doorsill where the two worlds touch,
The door is round and open
Don't go back to sleep!” 
― Rumi

Finding the Flame

I look out from the construct of my mind onto the constructs of the world; to stately and lasting forms created from the ever-busy factory of the human hand and mind. The physical human world, created to tend to each need, every want or desire that passes through our minds.

In this carefully constructed cage we keep.

I feel my soul strain, my mind beat against these bars. Beginning as a soft slow voice, my heart cries for the wild abandon of the sea, for rocky peaks and the thrill of fear as the sky turns steely green-grey before the coming of a storm.

My nature, carefully cared for in this human world, is sick for the sky.

Cries for the rain with no roof.

The eyes of people passing in the street speak with this same soft voice. We are missing something. Something that once was an indivisible part of us, now a wound that slowly seeps, leaving us drained, confused and disconnected.

We move in a frantic world looking for the source. Many of us carry reminders of our need; tiny tethered wolves, tattooed trees and potted plants. When but to step out into the sun...to walk away from this world into our own light and feed from the primal fire, is all that is needed.

Remembering the flame, I smile at the stately constructs of my human cage.

It cannot hold what is in my heart.