As I sit here in my studio on the shortest day of the year, my thoughts turn to the winter solstice, and how this year this powerful day feels so much more profound than it ever has. Today is the day when the dark for just a moment, has won out over the light.
I love this sacred day and have always celebrated it in the way that speaks to me…. with ritual and quiet reflection. I light a single candle and sit in the darkness with it in front of me. I gaze at this candle, watching the light flicker and pierce the darkness with its glow. No matter how many times I sit in this ritual, I am always struck by just how much light one little candle can give off. Sitting with my back to the dark, I always feel a sense of peace and gratitude that the dark is behind me (though I know that it is there) and that I moved through the dark and without fear and did not succumb to the sadness while I watched it eat the light little by little. In that moment I turn away from the candle and sit with my back to the light and stare into the inkiness of the night. I bow to this space filled with things I can not see, things that I do not understand but that made me slow down and look inward to find my own light to lead the way.
Right now for so many of us we are living in what feels to the longest night of the year. We look around and it seems that the darkness has won out over the light. Perhaps though it has not…. perhaps these times are the winter solstice of the human soul. These are the times when we light the candle. These are the times when we reach out to our global family to become that light that pierces through the darkness. Though we have been watching the dark eat the light little by little, and it feels like the dark has won out over the light, remember the solstice…this is only a moment. These are the times we look inward to find our light, our connection with the universe, our true divine nature. When we do this we see that WE are the light that leads the way in the dark. If we sit with our back to the dark, we should feel a sense of peace that we moved through the dark without fear and did not succumb to the sadness.
So thank you for being the candle in the inky blackness during the winter solstice of humanity’s collective soul. Thank you for shining the light of the our true divine nature with bravery and clarity. Know that your light will be seen all the way across the globe in a small refugee camp that has been living in the dark for so long that they had fallen into despair because they thought that the light would never again shine on them. Thank you for reminding them that one flame can create more light in the dark than they could ever imagine. Thank you for giving them hope.
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Keep a refugee camp from freezing this winter
My humble love and gratitude with you on this night and always. 
Shannon
The Raven and The Wolf Spiritual Services 