Solstice is a natural shifting of the seasons, a fertile turning of the times, which we all are a part of. Each and every one of us is joined in this transition whether we are human, tree, whale, butterfly, river, bear, or starfish.

In many contemporary societies and our rush-around world, the honoring of Solstice has gone underground. Yet in diverse cultures on various continents, there are ancient sites constructed with great care and precision to mark the Solstice. Our connection with the dance of our earth and sun has long been something we’ve felt, celebrated, and revered.

We can remember and flourish in our connection with the Solstice:

☀️Find out the date and time for the seasonal shifting in the place where you live or will be December 21-22. In the Northern Hemisphere, we’re moving into the heart of wintertime. In the Southern Hemisphere, we’re moving into the heart of summer. Feel into the diversity of natural cycles unfolding among plants and animals, lands and waters, humans in diverse places, our earth, moon and the stars, migrating birds, insects, and ocean-dwellers. Notice what is happening within and around you. Use all of your senses to gather information. Observe with curiosity. What are you noticing that you haven’t noticed before? What awakens awe and wonder? Who and what do you want to learn more about?

☀️Notice how you feel physically, emotionally, and energetically during the days leading up to and following the Solstice. Transitions are a passage through a doorway of change. As you stand on the threshold, what do you want to leave behind? Are you ready to walk through the doorway of change into the mystery, the unknowns and the new? What are you seeking and heading toward? What is it like in the in-betweens?

☀️Create a ceremony. Heart-centered. Purposeful. Filled with your attention. You may sit quietly on the earth or go for a walk in a new place to explore. Build a fire to honor the returning of more daylight in the Winter Solstice. Share a meal to welcome the bounty of the harvest in the Summer Solstice. Create a letting go ceremony to clear away, physically and emotionally, what you want to leave behind. Have a visioning ceremony to plant the seeds of your dreams. What do you want for your life, for the earth, for all life?

When the gifts of the Solstice are felt and shared, your body, heart and spirit, the steps in your unique path, and the remembering of your belonging in the web of life become the sacred spaces, the sacred sites, which mark the fertile turning of the times.