Want to know how embracing, creating or adapting Winter Solstice rituals and traditions could bring a deeper sense of spiritual connection to your life? And interested in three simple rituals you could try this year?
For the week of Winter Solstice (in the Southern Hemisphere) get FREE access to my Online Studio ‘Winter Solstice Bundle’ (including yoga session, meditation, quiet contemplation moment and workbook.
Spiritual not Religious
I’d describe myself as a spiritual person, but not religious. Because of this, since I was younger I remember feeling I missed out on traditions and celebrations that I felt any real connection to. I would feel a little envious of religious families and their soul filling rituals, the fact they had dates to dedicate time to their beliefs and spiritual growth and do it together.
This is why I felt a deep excitement when I began to learn more about my ancestors using nature as their spiritual muse. Celebrating the sun and the changing of seasons, connecting deeper to nature and honouring our part in it. As I uncovered how this was the base of many traditions across the globe, things truly started to click for me.
Having a tradition to celebrate as a family, that allows us to all appreciate the natural world around us, and adding rituals inspired by our ancestors, makes my soul so insanely happy, as a Mum passing on a love for our earth, is the most important thing to me.
So let me take you on a journey, that I hope will inspire you to also adopt a new ritual for your family.
WHAT IS WINTER SOLSTICE?
Simply, it’s the day with the least amount of sun, the shortest day of the year. It is the day the earth’s axis is furthest away from the sun. This year in the Southern hemisphere, it falls on the 22nd June.
But why would you want to create traditions and rituals to celebrate this?
Your Ancestors did it…
No matter who you are, I am confident that if you looked back far enough, you will uncover ancestors that were all prepping and ready for the celebrations of Winter Solstice to kick off. Regardless of your cultural or religious lineage, one thing tends to show up repeatedly, the worshipping of the return of the sun and a celebration of light.
The Vikings devoted it to Freyr their God of Sunshine. In Iran they celebrate with a festival known as Yalda, the victory of light over dark and the birthday of the sun god Mithra. In Peru they celebrate Inti Raymi, in celebration of their Sun God. And the Pagans celebrate the Yule, where a lot of the traditions we now celebrate for Christmas come from, from the evergreen decorated tree, giving gifts and a feast (In the Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice falls around Christmas Day).
What are we celebrating?
Whilst our Ancestors lived in tune with Nature, their survival during Winter would have been a challenge. So celebrating the coming of longer sunlight hours made sense. Today Winter Solstice offers us a reminder to honour our connection to the natural world.
It is when the earth is quieter, and taking time to reflect on the natural world we are a part of, gives us the perfect opportunity to take stock. To check in with how we are journeying through winter, if we are honouring our part in nature by mimicking what we are seeing around us. The slowing down and hibernating, stripping back to the bare minimum to regrow. Acknowledging that we don’t have to shine brightly, be blooming and showstopping every season, we too need to rest.
I personally think finding ways to mark and celebrate Winter Solstice in our era, is more important than ever. Our daily lives are so removed from our natural world, so fragmented from the elements we need for survival – breathing life back into our ancestors rituals is a great way to bring your life into harmony with the natural world, and to one day become an ancestor who cared deeply for the earth.
FINDING RITUALS FOR YOU
You can create any ritual that you want, but I would suggest honouring Winter Solstice through rituals and self-care, looking to our ancestors and heritage for inspiration. Whatever your rituals and new traditions, make time to appreciate the natural world.
THREE TRADITIONS TO TRY
Pagan Yule Candle Tradition
Create an altar with items from the natural world that bring you peace and joy and surround it with candles. Light the candles as a symbol of the suns ability to give us both light and dark.
This year we are going to have breakfast around our yule candles. Connecting us to the natural world, our ancestors, being grateful for how easy winter is in modern life, and it’s also something fun to do with the kids.
Welcome the Sun
Plan to go somewhere and watch the sunrise (this could be from your backyard, or wrapped up in a blanket in your car parked somewhere inspiring). Bring a journal with you and either write everything that comes to your mind
If you are a member of my Online Studio, download the Winter Solstice Meditation and/ or the Winter Solstice Quiet Contemplation moments and the accompanying workbook to take with you, and create a ritual about reflecting and planning for the next 12 months.
Yule Log
This is a tradition that comes from the Pagan celebrations of Yule. A Yule log is any piece of burnable timber that is decorated, normally smothered in essential oils or herbs. You can also write down on pieces of paper anything that you want to let go of, and attach it to the Yule log.
You can burn the log in an inside fire or if you don’t have one, wrap up warm and go outside (we will be toasting marshmallows over our brazier, watching our Yule log burn :). The scents from the essential oils, herbs and even dried citrus fruit will fill your home or outside.
The burning of the Yule log symbolizes the shifting of darkness to light.
