The shortest day is coming; we're heading down once again into the dark time of the year. The solstice is a time of death and renewal, as the old year dies away and the sun is reborn into a new year. In pagan traditions the dark was both feared and welcomed. People understood that the waning light was a cycle of nature, and so built ritual around it, but at the same time there must have been a fear that the sun might not return. People built fires and lit candles, and celebrated the sun so that it would have strength, energy, and inclination to be reborn, so that the days would lengthen and the spring would come.
We may not celebrate this way anymore (although some of us do!), but we all notice the decreasing light and weakening sun. We understand the themes of birth and death, and while in our culture we may focus more on birth, in the celebration of Christmas, the darkest time of the year is also a natural time to approach the shadowy, mysterious, and often, more scary and "dark" places inside of us.
What is the purpose of exploring the dark? What or who may we encounter as we prepare to enter the unknown part of ourselves? Perhaps we'll see something we don't like, perhaps we'll experience a feeling that scares us. But truthfully, there is always light, just as the sun is never really absent, and if we intentionally explore the less familiar or comfortable places in our hearts and minds, shining a light of confidence and compassion, we may discover just what we need to evolve.
I experienced the death of my kitty last week, very suddenly and, for me, traumatically. But in being present for and being willing to enter fully into the feelings this death brought to me, I was also able to meet the mystery of the dark, that ultimate unknown which is death. In encountering death, be it literal or metaphorical, the opportunity exists to understand more of life, of light. When we experience the absence of light, we must ask why. What inside of me needs to be illumined or reborn? What from a specific event or action can be transmuted into something new?
Thursday night we'll be meeting the mystery that is found deep inside of us. We'll be dancing from darkness into light, celebrating both the rhythm of the season and the essential rhythm of transformation taking place within us all the time.
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