Winter Solstice

Today I handed in the last of my coursework for my first term at university - yay! I should be rejoicing and I am feeling like I can no longer go on avoiding christmas. I am really struggling as I do every year. I LOVE bringing a beautiful tree into our home, smelling it, watering it - it feels like such a privlege. I LOVE a celebratory feast with family and good friends. But I just can't deal with the shopping for gifts. I am dreading facing the shops or even the websites - I worry about how much we consume - how much plastic, paper, how much of the earths resources are used. So I have been cruising the internet reading about Yule and Solstice. I'm very happy that we are having our family dinner on the 22nd - winter solstice. I will have celebrated every solstice and equinox this year. I love the dark days and my body is seriously struggling recently to live the long days our society demands of us. In fact, this week on Monday and Tuesday our family all stayed in bed until late; relishing the warm sheets and the dark cozyness. I have been really hibernating indoors this winter and it feels good and I feel blessed that I have the option - thanks to study...

This Christmas we will be not be buying gifts, we will save our money enjoy our holiday in the forests of switzerland. We will fill our house with Holly, Ivy, Mistletoe and Poinsetta. We will have a light ritual on the 22nd. We will remember mother earth and her beauty and her cycles. We will think and talk about the past year and be thankful. We will think about the year ahead. We will not be mass consumers, ruining our earth in the process. I feel so much better for having made this declaration!

We have forgotten who we are

We have alienated ourselves from the unfolding

Of the cosmos.

We have become estranged from the movements

Of the earthWe have turned our backs on the cycles of life.

We have forgotten who we are.

Now the forests are dying

And the creatures are disappearing,

And humans are despairing .

We have forgotten who we are.

We ask forgiveness

We ask for the gift of remembering

We ask for strength to change.

We have forgotten who we are.

(United Nations Environmental Sabbath Programme)