Once again, the artist and mystic Joanna Powell Colbert has caught this deeper meaning and connection in her latest artistic work in progress called Mother of Night. She holds the centre of the Wheel of the Year close to her heart, nurturing in the darkness the transformation of the Samhain Crone into the Child of Wonder preparing to be born again at the Winter Solstice.
Joanna is currently creating an oracle deck and book based on the Wheel of the Year, the lunar cycle, and the seasons of our lives. I'm looking forward to getting a copy when it is ready!
Winter Solstice Blessings
To All Who Celebrate!
i just told the W's that i need to live in a world where every day has the longest night! they agreed.
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in New England, we used to count the days until the winter solstice. Going to work and coming home from work in the dark was hard on the psyche.
ReplyDeleteI will celebrate solstice for its promise of light and embrace the darkness along the way!
ReplyDeleteA lovely post. I always look forward to the Winter Solstice. The quiet and calm time of the year.
ReplyDeleteI'm living also in the northern hemisphere,and I'm happy that day time is slowly growing 😊
ReplyDeleteImpressive blue imahges 👍
Why is it that my aches and pains get worse at night while sleep and rest and healing elude me? Just asking.
ReplyDeleteMore of us, need to learn to embrace the darkness, a time to rest, to snuggle in the warmth of love. (I had never thought of it that way.) I am looking forward to not leaving for work in the darkness and return home in the darkness. The farmer in my past adjusted the work day to the season. Modern workplaces tend not to do that.
ReplyDeleteHello Debra, I am not one of those people that get seasonal affective disorder. I enjoy the long dark days of winter, and equally the long light days of summer. (At least summer in Ohio. Taiwan summers do not have much to recommend them!) I also don't like waking up to light--light summer evenings, yes; light summer mornings, where can you get really good light-blocking shades?
ReplyDelete--Jim
I love the cosy darkness of this time of year. Lengthening days will be nice, but I don't feel desperate to get there. I grew up far north of here where winter daylight was maybe six hours, so here it seems long.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking about the winter solstice!
ReplyDeleteFor all that's worth, I do get moodier when there's less daylight, but I don't like the idea that light is good and darkness is bad. Too binary.
XOXO
Oh gosh, as warm and fuzzy as that is, I'm looking forward to the days getting progressively longer once we get past the Solstice. Dark at 4 pm really is not my cup of joe.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome to the darkness. I am quite content to have rest, rejuvenation, healing and transformation in the sunshine.
ReplyDeleteI used to feel the solstice was the low point of the year but it is just a harbinger. The next 3 months are worse.
As much as I love the darkness I long for more day light. This is a beautiful post. Very impressive. Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteHurrah - slowly and gradually lighter nights will be winging their way.
ReplyDeleteHappy Solstice, my friend!
ReplyDeleteXO
bobbie
Winter Solstice Blessings to you my dear friend. I decorate tonight and tomorrow morning at breakfast David and I celebrate Yule by giving each other the first of 12 gifts for the next 12 days. I think it's better than the regular Christmas way of opening gifts on only one day.
ReplyDelete"Mother of Night" is haunting and beautiful. I love the night...I see so many things more clearly.
ReplyDeleteChristmas lights DO look better in the dark, I will say that.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Before light there was darkness and God was in the darkness and darkness is a period for healing and growth as you say.
ReplyDeleteThough I do agree with kirk's comment and would add, so do I!
Not everyone experiences the shortest day. In the southern hemisphere, they are having their longest day of the year.
ReplyDeleteOh yes! I nearly forgot!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Happy Winter!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI tell you, I do so love right up until winter when it's dark early.
It feels like we have so much night left and I love that.
Kinda wish it lasted longer.
I believe the supernatural power in the night
ReplyDeleteTomorrow should be January 1st for us pagans.
ReplyDeleteI dislike darkness and can hardly wait for spring.
ReplyDeleteJoyous Winter Solstice to you too, Debra! I look forward to daylight getting longer again, but if we don't get any snow on the southern prairies soon, we're going to be living in a dustbowl next summer!
ReplyDeleteBlessed solstice )0(
ReplyDeleteI like the cozy aspect of this time of year and can hunker down with the best of them. Husband, in the other hand, gets seasonal affective disorder depression every year to greater or lesser extents. An early Christmas present ( although he could have used it about a month ago) was one of those special lights and he sits with it each morning shining on his face.
ReplyDeleteI love the whole solstice thing and would love to celebrate in some slightly spooky / highland / moonlight / Druid way. -Jenn
Correction: Pagan, not Druid. At the very least, I’ll make a fire in the wood stove.
ReplyDeleteSoon, a little more light each day.
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ReplyDeleteDear Debra, I haven't really thought through the whole thing about the sacredness of light and dark, but I'm glad it's dark when I want to sleep. Then it will be much easier for me. Scandinavian or very northern conditions of eternally long dark winter days and long bright summer days take a lot of getting used to for me. I like the picture Mother of Night.
ReplyDeleteI wish you and everyone you love a wonderful Winter Solstice and (if you celebrate it) also a wonderful Christmas ⛄🎄🕯️ and a happy new year 🍄🍀!
All the best, Traude
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2023/12/winter-wunderland-und-frohe-weihnachten.html
🍀❣️🧸🎠❤️⛄🍄🎄
I enjoyed reading.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your Yule time. We're having spaghetti tonight for dinner.
ReplyDeleteLove the blue, very pretty and has a lot feeling in it. My excitement for this day is longer days, and more daylight. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteSolstice greetings everyone. This time last year we had already begun accumulating our epic, record-breaking snowfall in the mountains. It was also when the Mountain Jays came to spend the winter and they stayed until March! They raided every bird feeder in town, repeatedly. There must have been a couple hundred of them. It was a lively time and a real treat.
ReplyDeletePS birdwatchers they used to be called Steller's Jays but because we are revising the nomenclature I suggest Mountain Jay.
A blessed solstice to you and yours, Debra. I am relishing the feeling of rest and excusing myself from trying to get every damned thing done all the time. Well, I'm attempting that...
ReplyDeleteThe Wheel turns and we can't help but turn with it.
Cheers,
E
Lovely drawing. I hope you have a nice weekend going into Christmas and that all is merry yet calm.
ReplyDeleteOMG ~ The winter solstice is one of my favorite days of the year, and I totally spaced it! I've been so busy! I'm glad that you high-lighted the sacredness of darkness. I have always been upset by the idea of no night or darkness in heaven! Not that I believe in a literal heaven as it's described in the Bible. This post was lovely, Debra!
ReplyDeleteHappy Winter ❄️
ReplyDeleteGetting to Yule always feels like getting to the end of a race. I either slow down or pause and take a beat to ease into the quiet.
ReplyDeleteYour photos and entry are quite lovely!
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