Welcome in the Long Night for with it comes the Dawn
In the Northern Hemisphere, today marks the Winter Solstice – the point of the year where the sun is furthest from us and the night is at its longest. This is the deepest, darkest point of the year and whilst represented by cold and dark – it also marks the promise that the sun will return as from here the days start to once again get longer.
My ancestors – Irish Pagans – would have marked this point of the year with the Yule Festival, a 12-day celebration of light and fire. Much of the modern-day Christmas traditions – yule logs; bringing greenery into the home; gift giving; the 12 days of Christmas – have deep roots in pagan ritual and I think at the heart of them all is the importance of seeking connection, honouring nature and seeking the light during the darkest months.
My own spiritual practice is built upon the foundations of my ancestral connection to Ireland as well as the intuitive use of tools such as guided meditation journeys; journaling and the use of tarot which I use for myself and my coaching clients.
Below is a tarot reading for the 2020 Winter Solstice including some journal prompts you can use to seek your own guidance and light as we honour this season.
What Hides in the Dark – Seven of Wands. The need to speak your truth or hold your ground burns hot within you and it feels like this is the time for a release. The time is coming for you to use your skills to push through a challenge.
What Will Give You Strength – Reversed Tower. Transformation and upheaval may be on your horizon, but they are coming from a desire within you to change – not an external push but an inner pull for something more. Look to your beliefs, your values and your purpose – do they feel aligned? What needs to change? Is this the dawn of a spiritual awakening?
What Needs To Be Released – Four of Swords. Lay down your sword dear one and rest - release the need for hustle and productivity. There may be so much change and upheaval, but to find your way through it trust in allowing yourself to have sacred alone time to rest and reflect. It's these times of being rather than doing where you can dream and heal.
What Requires Rest – Queen of Swords. This queen holds a sword of intellect and thought, but perhaps this is the time to let logic rest and look instead to your emotions and feelings. What clues do they hold for you? When you get still and imagine what you want for yourself, what do you feel? In your heart; your gut; your throat? This is the time to rest your mind and embody your needs instead.
What Benefit Awaits – Reversed Five of Wands. In allowing yourself to rest and reflect, to feel and heal you will be able to get a better hold on the internal conflict you may have been feeling and get clarity on what is really important for you. You may be feeling conflicted or uncertain on your values or your views and sometimes that can feel like you don’t have an opinion on anything important when the truth is more like you have not been given the opportunity to voice your views. Take this time to really connect with your values as they will be your compass forward.
Lessons of the Season – Reversed Six of Wands. Redefine what success means for you look to celebrate your own personal milestones. This may be the season of dark, cold and stillness but there is still life, light and warmth to be found if we are open and looking for it. This is the lesson of the season - how can you find the light of inspiration from this year to carry forward with you into the next?
Let’s be honest – this year has been a shit show and many of us will not have come through it unscathed. Plans, goals, dreams, intentions and resolutions may all be in tatters but there is also so much to be grateful for and appreciate.
Look to what you have done this year and celebrate that. Take those milestones, skills and strengths and use them to redefine what success means to you going forward. This is the time to be instead of do so if you can, take the opportunity to look inward over these darkest weeks and find the well of inspiration that will fuel your year to come.
I very much enjoyed creating this intuitive reading for you and I hope within it you find some light for yourself too. There is a playlist to accompany it here:
I am winding down work for the rest of the year now and really leaning into the lessons from my ancestors – this is a time for resting, reflecting, releasing and recognising that dark days always give way to lighter ones when we trust in the cycles and rhythms of nature.
This will make space for me to launch an updated set of coaching services early next year and you can join my mailing list here to be amongst the first to find out about the launch offers
Want to know more about me and my coaching – check out this.