Seems that Winter Solstice this year is extra special given the doom and gloom from end of world propagators and the cyclical calendar of the Maya…
...for me the Winter Solstice always does seem to mark the end of a world and the beginning of another, as the spec of light is glimpsed on its rising it is always a thrilling moment full of expectation and intent, may be this year others will take the time to notice the gift, possibility and intent of light and embrace that rather than an assault rifle and a years worth of stored groceries. Ever the optimist:0)
The day here dawned dry after days of heavy rain and forecast for much more to come so it really did feel like a window opened and let the light in to a small life in Wales as I watched the night sky begin to fold in to morning I couldn't help but smile at the thought of a promise kept and a promise renewed.
The sky wasn't clear of cloud and some of those hung low over the hills but within that gloom it was obvious the sun had returned. The dogs and I after feeding wild birds and mistress Flo-cat climbed aboard the wagon and set off in to the mountains. I wasn't sure if I would actually get see any mountains but felt the light calling.
We climbed up in to the Brecon Beacons and stopped enveloped in cloud at one of my favourite viewing points. Banon gave Rhys a look that said 'I thought we were going to the forestry plantation why has she stopped here it would be much more fun running in and out of the drees and sliding down mossy banks'. I actually burst out laughing to which they sighed in unison and settled down for a snooze.
We sat there for a little while and then it happened the clouds lifted and I could see for miles. Even a small piece of blue sky slotted in the midst of the white and grey whilst the light played on the fields, trees and mountains I could now enjoy, feeling my spirit rise with the sun as a huge sense of expectation and promise caused me to laugh again. A moment of joy, a moment of wonder, a moment of thanks and celebration all found on a cold damp mountain in Wales...rather fine for the end of the world and its begining.
Today is not yet over and I am about to shed the dirty clothes of forest track and moss slides, of course we went on to the forestry, and prepare food for later as I am going to join with others to mark this special day with meditation, prayer, song, celebration and stillness. I do not believe in the Divine but I do believe in the power of the Earth and the planets that surround it and am thankful to have had a moment to stop and take in a new morning, a new day and yes, even a new world begin.
I love Winter Solstice because for me it always speaks of new growth, bud and shoots and the light until once again nature begins to wake and spring calls ever mores insistently.
I wish you joy today and each day in the coming days. The darkness has not been banished completely but the light has returned and will slowl, imperceptively fill up the days once more. In the mean time the gift of the dark is the possibility to be still, take time for thought and reflection and most of all dream for dreams are powerful and I really believe I've got to keep dreaming as things never have the opportunity of coming true if I don't and I don't discover alternate ideas that meet the dreams in different ways.
I came across something I had scribbled on a piece of paper and stuck on todays page in my diary, I'm not sure when I did this but I must have thought I needed the reminder. They are not my words but they could so easily be so I thank Mary Oliver for her gifts and for letting me find my words in hers.
“When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it is over, I don't want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.”
―
Mary Oliver