Winter Solstice: Sunday June 21st 2020

Astronomically what is Solstice?

Astronomically Solstices are when the Sun is at its greatest distance from either the North or the South of the equator. At these points the Sun seems as though it’s standing still, the term Solstice from Latin means “Sun standing”. 

The Winter solstice in the Southern hemisphere is marked annually by the Sun moving from the Zodiac sign Gemini into the Zodiac sign of Cancer, this marks the start of Winter. Winter Solstice falls in the Southern Hemisphere this year on Sunday 21st June 7:43am.
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Mythological symbolism: 

Winter solstice has been celebrated all over the world in many cultures since ancient times. 

Winter Solstice, like Summer Solstice & also the Spring & Autumn Equinox’s are about us reconnecting to the nature & the sacred magick of life.

As an ancient pagan seasonal ritual, Winter Solstice also know as Yule in Norse & Anglo-Saxon traditions, is a time when people celebrate the Great Goddess awakening from her sleep & being pregnant with the Sun God, the Solar deity. 

The quiet dark of Winter is like the baby in the womb, or the seed in the dark rich life giving soil. It symbolises the quiet, internal reflective & restorative time with ourselves, where the real magick happens. Where we explore our more tricker shadow elements of self, it’s where we heal & let go of the past.

The day after Winter Solstice is called “Mothers Night”  when the Goddess is labouring to give birth to the Sun God.
Each of the yearly seasonal astronomical events are linked to phases in the archetypal life/death/rebirth cycle. So after the labouring of the Goddess on Mother’s Night, this is then the time when we our ready to start a fresh chapter of our lives, it’s like a new dawn.

Winter Solstice as a whole is a time to reconnect, remember, trace ancestral footsteps & find our way back to nature.

In ancient times, it was very common for people to sit up all night at Winter Solstice with a candle to greet the Sun rise at Dawn, with the belief that this would bring blessings & abundance to their household for the year ahead.

This time of year always reminds me, that in the darkness is where we find the diamonds. 

The bigger contemplation at Winter Solstice:

Astrology is the meeting point of humanity, ecology & the universe as a whole.... It’s connecting us to patterns & the vibrational energy of the sheer fabric of the cosmos.

Astrology is an ancient art of mapping the movements of the sky. It’s synthesised connections are expressed through, myths & archetypes, it’s a form holistic storytelling born deep in the past, yet is more relevant today than ever before. 

Their is an old esoteric Axiom “As above, so below” Meaning that the movements in the heavens are mirrored here on Earth, both with in nature & within ourselves. This is the philosophical principle of the macrocosmic & the microcosm.

So when we talk of the Winter Solstice, it’s linked in a physical sense to the movements of the planets, the four seasons, life cycles & nature. 

It’s the magnificence of the Great Barrier Reef & the Rainforests, it’s also the humble tuft of grass, that i always love to see poking defiantly through the urban sprawl, reminding me that nature still finds a way & so will i if I’m having tough day. Or the Coo of a wood pigeon as i walk along the creek, that makes me smile & reminds me of my grandma. 
It is our connection to the Mother Nature in all her magnificence, for she is the most precious gem to be protected, as essentially when viewing the world from as Astrological perspective nature is but an extension of ourselves. 

Ways in which to embrace Winter Solstice:  

At the same time though the Winter Solstice is connected to folklore, mythology & the more shamanic spiritual realms in life. 

It calls upon us each as individuals to rediscover the spiritual act of “ritual”. Thats how are ancestors connected to the Earth & in turn themselves, through ritual.

It’s about how we can embrace ritual in our everyday, so that we bring the “sacred” into our daily routines, with rituals that nourish ourselves, our habitat & our neighbour. That’s true & powerful magick, in the most simplest & perfect way. This can be as simple as smiling at the Sun first thing every morning, what a wonderful & life enhancing way to start the day, that we can all do. 

The ebb & the flow of the oceans physical tides, our life experiences & emotions... all of these are mirrored in Summer Solstice as an exhale, the Winter Solstice an inhale, vice versa, reminding us that life is really one long meditation. As a baby is soothed my their mothers heartbeat, we our soothed when in-tune with nature’s rhythms. 

Winter Solstice traditionally is a time of peace & forgiveness, where people come together to share warmth, food, stories & love. 

It’s a time to think of our neighbour, those less well off, the homeless, the elderly & the disadvantaged. 
How can we help out our community & how can we help nature, Mother Earth?

It’s a good time to acknowledge the farmers, who help to put food on our plates, especially through the cold winter months. It’s a time to acknowledge those people who work helping animals & conservation. And those who help protect the Environment from pollution.

Some ways that you can embrace this Winter Solstice energy are....

• Greet the Sun, bask in it’s winter rays, even if cloudy that vitamin D boost will still reach us. 
• Burning pine & sage, frankincense incense or essential oil. 
• Spend time in nature. 
• Meditate in the evening by candle light.
• Cook nourishing, wholesome food & invite someone to share it with you
• Drinking sage rosemary & orange tea. Sage links us to the idea of wisdom & purification prior to rebirth & orange is symbolic of the birth of the Sun. 
• Donate to a good cause; the environment, nature charities or charities for people less well of than ourselves. 
• Smile at a stranger
• Remind someone that you love them, reach out
• Now is a time of forgiveness, in many ways for ourselves as much as others
• Acknowledge both small & large achievements you made last year & give yourself a pat on the back
• Have a detox. Identify whatever you feel is holding you back from reaching your full potential & release it
• Support our local small Independent  businesses, support our farmers directly
• Write a list of all the things your grateful for last year

Wishing everybody a magnificent and blessed Yule. Much love & magick Natta x 

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