A Winters Solstice
Come and take a seat with me for a moment, grab a brew and settle in.
As we move through the wheel of the year, we find ourselves in the season of autumn, enjoying all of the golden and deep russet colours that nature is displaying. Watching the squirrels collect and bury their hoard for the stark winter months ahead. Bracing ourselves against the winds, as mother nature clears the fallen leaves, and blows away the last hints of the summer and the fruit harvest, to clear the path for the incoming frosts. The threshold of the darker half of the year is now upon us.
Traditionally this has been a time to rest, reflect and go inwards to replenish. The sun's rays become diluted and the dropping temperatures entice us to stay inside. In our modern human world this is becoming harder to do. The availability of connection brought to us by the digital age is progressive, and yet our ability to be in a healthy relationship with it, sadly is not. With more convenience comes less connection to the natural world. For every cue that Mother Nature gives us to follow Her example, we ingeniously invent something that helps us to circumnavigate it, To keep going in an unnatural rhythm. We can see the effect this is having on the younger generations who do not remember a world before personal electronic devices, before wi-fi masts and constant connectivity.
I never thought I would be happy to be out of step with the modern world, but I can feel it coming. The relentless expectation and demands to be constantly available and responsive on line is exhausting in so many ways, I find I am looking for less digital and more personal ways of creating connection. Don't get me wrong, I have always been an "old lady" when it comes to technology, and never particularly enjoyed the relationship, but I sense a deeper opting out is surfacing. As a self-employed business owner on social media, I don't even want to talk about algorithms, let alone chat bots or follower numbers. The irony that I am writing this in a blog, and that I will use that connectivity to reach people with is not lost on me, but my intention is that this is for a small community and not mass consumption.
Myself and Helen are committed to bringing the wheel, seasonal changes, and related practices back in to the everyday. Offering gatherings that give time and space to be present, connected to ourselves and to reflect. The Winter Solstice is an astronomical, astrological, and seasonal event, the meaning of Solstice is Sun standstill. It is the time when the Sun reaches its lowest rising position in the winter skies. Once the Sun begins to move again, daylight hours gradually increase, and the Sun reaches higher in our skies, known as the return of the light, it has always been something to celebrate.
Aligning ourselves with the seasonal changes and natural cycles which are greater than our daily ones, gives us a wider perspective of space and time, room to breathe and to drop in to our own pace. If you would like to enjoy some time being present with these cycles and stepping out of the digital world, we might just have created that for you. We will be gathering on the 22nd December 2023 and you are warmly invited to join us.
Hannah & Helen x
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