The Winter Solstice is a Gateway to Your Deeper Service

Tuesday, December 21st is the longest night of the year and the official beginning of the Winter season. It’s known as the Winter Solstice.

After this day, the light will grow and grow until the Summer Solstice in June.

It is the nadir of our seasonal cycle, and it brings with it a hush of finality.

If Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey were mapped onto my seasonal framework, then the Winter Solstice is the point at which the protagonist reaches the abyss. Also known as “The Ordeal,” the heroine arrives in the darkest corners of the Underworld and meets a great battle.

She will likely die. And if not, it will appear that she is dead. A piece of her psyche will be cut off, forever estranged and left to decompose in this wet, dark Earth.

It will seem as if all is lost - as if the entire world is overcome by a forever night.

But then, we hear the small croaks of resurrection. We get a pulse. The sun comes up again, and we walk into the dawn naked, reborn.

We have let go of so much this Autumn, and you may have more to lay on the funeral pyre between now and the Solstice on December 21st. In fact, I encourage you to purge as much as you can before that day, stretching into questions you may not have asked yet:

If I were to die this Solstice, am I at peace with this life I’ve made?
Is my marriage / body / way of working strong enough to cross into the unforgiving Winter?
Is there an ordeal or abyss I’m avoiding?

If we step into the Winter season with the intention of embracing the deaths that have presented themselves as necessary, then we can drink in the rebirth that’s on the other side.

I encourage you to celebrate all of the integrity, courage, and care you have given yourself and this world since the Summer Solstice in June.

We will stay in the Underworld’s teachings for the rest of the Winter, but our tasks ahead are to come to terms with the unique gifts we’re meant to carry into the Spring and Summer - gifts that love to be cultivated with a crisp vitality and a clean slate.

I’m wishing you a transformative Winter Solstice - one in which you remember the evergreen nature of your spirit.