The magic of Winter Solstice and a Self healing meditation.
My drum shows its shadow side.The handwoven pattern that I made at the back. The pattern that can only be seen when I either turn my drum around or allow the light and shadows to dance together.
My drum holds both light and dark.
It sings and plays for my heart to hear and respond to.
It encourages my heart to open and my body to move and embody.
It has encouraged me to befriend my shadow
to honour its shape
its colour,
its texture
and to ultimately gift it its TRUE NAME.
I am inspired to go inward. The “dark” in this way inspires me. The shadows in this way inspire me.
As a child though, I was afraid of the dark, the dancing shadows, the images my mind saw as I slept.
When I sat in my vision quest circle many years ago, it was the night that I feared the most. The shadows. The darkness. The fact that I could not see properly what was “out there.” And yet when I sat there in the darkness of the night what I realised was that it was neither the darkness or what goes bump in the night that sacred me, it was what I “perceived to be there”.
The cows made beautiful night grunts, the stars twinkled above me, the tree at my back moved gently and sang it’s own song in the night, and my breathe instead of beating fast slowed and softened.
Over the years I have held tender honourable respect for the darkness and I have chosen to step further and further into it.
The Winter Solstice
is a perfect time to go inwards. It is a reminder that when we consciously choose to sit with the Goddess of Winter and go into Her cave we can understand the true meaning of the Darkness and how the Darkness and the Light can dance so profoundly in our lives.
To go inward, deeply inward offers us the opportunity to be honest and truthful to ourselves,
It offers us the opportunity to be gentle and honourable,
to be kind and loving,
to be strong and vulnerable.
Oh yes, going inward also invites the shadows and the memories,
the fears and the emotions
however when we CHOOSE TO GO INWARD we are choosing to hold their hands and walk beside them as the Goddess of Winter walks with us during Winter Solstice.
When you choose to go inward you are choosing
To listen to your heart
which only speaks the Truth
T o
R eally
U nderstand
T he
H eart
That is what the Winter Solstice invites.
To go deep within to Understand your Heart
To go deep within where once you chose to put a “band-aid”on it
where once you chose to give your power away
where once you chose to play the victim, the rescuer, the hero, the fool…and and more
You now realise that to hide behind these roles and actions, these reactions and beliefs are no longer real for your heart
Your heart wishes for you to hear it and listen to it and live from this place of profound empowerment.
Go inward my friend.
Go inward and sit with the Goddess of Winter tonight
Go inward and hear her wisdom as she lights the new fire from the old coals,
as she acknowledges the past and chooses to light the way forward for you - from your past into the light of your future.
Your shadow, in its simplicity can be seen as just the other side of my drum. For that is all it really is. The exquisite pattern when the light dances with itself or rather the lack of itself.
I have below a gentle meditation for you
A self healing meditation:
Imagine that you are in front of yourself and you are reaching out to gently hold your own hands? Reach out to yourself. Reach out and accept those hands that wish to hold yours.
Gently take a soft and gentle breath in,
and a tender and longer breath out.
Gently take another gentle and soft breath in,
and another tender and longer breath out.
Repeat this once more and I invite you to imagine that the Imaginary You and the Real You are breathing in and out at the same time.Now imagine that you have let go of one hand and are now walking along together holding hands. Imagine the beautiful landscape you are both walking along. See the beautiful colours, smell the beautiful smells, stop and feel the texture of something that captures your imagination. Share it together. Observe it together - the exquisite landscape you both walk upon.
You notice after a while the sunlight changing and as the day gently changes. The shadows get longer. The suns rays begin to move over the horizon. You see the colours change. The glorious colours of the day changing as the darkness slowly falls upon your landscape. And yet the darkness that comes is full of colour too and you notice the nuances and the change in the landscape. You watch. You hold your hand. You sit together and you gently observe.
The Goddess of Winter comes to sit besides you too. What does she look like? What does she wear? How does she greet you?
The three of you sit together.
The three of you watch the changing sky as the colours and shades and shadows move across this exquisite landscape.You are still holding your hand. Now you put your arm over your Imaginary Self’s shoulder. Your Imaginary Self puts a head on your shoulder. Together you watch the change in the colours and shades and shadows.
Together you begin to name a couple of the shapes you see.
Pointing
and naming
and acknowledging.Pausing
and watching.
and sharing.
Softly speaking.
Gently nodding.
Silently pausing.
The pauses say so much more.
Holding hands.
Arms over shoulders.
Sitting together.
You
Your Imaginary Self
The Goddess of Winter.
All three of you together.You then say something to yourself.
Just a small something
A soft something that only you, the Goddess and the gentle landscape around you can hear.You say something to yourself
A tender
small
something.
Holding hands
Arms over shoulders
Sitting together.Just a tender small something.
and you notice the subtle soft change in the landscape in response to your beautiful words.
you notice the subtle changes in the shadows, in the light.
The light changes.
Your breath changes
The sides of your mouth begin to curve upwards.
So exquisite.
So soft.
So gentle.
So tender.
So kind.
What did you say to yourself?
What did you hear yourself say?
And maybe the Goddess also spoke to you
What did she say?The light turns.
The darkness changes.
The night air changes.
And you feel the change within.
To sit and hold your own hand
To put your arm around your own shoulder
To share the tender stillness of the depth of Winter.
The light changes
softly.
slowlyas the Goddess of Winter gently welcomes a new Light upon the Earth once more.
I am incredibly honoured when I sit with folk who choose to live from their heart and gently and bravely sit in the changing colours of their inner landscape.
I am honoured to witness the changes ever so subtle and sometimes obvious that occurs in this landscape
as the once thought of harsh and inaccessible landscape is transformed into a gentle and soft landscape of profound healing and life-force.
This Winter Solstice has encouraged me to open my diary up to offer more space for YOU in a mentoring way - to sit with you, to hold your hand and gently witness with you the tender changes of light that occur when you choose to sit in the darkness of Winter.
If you would like to know more about my healing work or would like me to ring you and share a chat, feel free to reach out here and I will get back to you soon.
In the meantime, feel free to listen to some meditations I have recorded or listen to one of my interviews.
Until we meet again,
May the Goddess of Winter gently hold your hand as you see the exquisite shadows of your inner landscape.
Blessed be,