Subtlety, Stillness and Dreaming, a Winter Solstice

I am driving to the Ox Mountains in Sligo tomorrow to take part in the Next Stage Celtic Wheel Facilitation Training which I am so grateful and excited about. It will be a year-long course where I will deepen my facilitating skills, my knowledge of our indigenous Celtic wisdom all through the lens of Integral theory.

It feeds my desire and confidence to run my workshops, retreats and sanctuaries. My intention is always to create something beautiful, aesthetically and energetically, to share the tools and resources that have helped me, to allow for gentleness and some discomfort and to have fun!

Something about Samhain

From now until December 21st we are in Samhain season - a deep letting go, the shedding. Look around and you can see the leaves are doing just that.

At times they fall in a cascade because of a gentle breeze, gracefully.

Then there are wet, cold storms that seem to take carpets of them down at once, sodden and heavy.

And occasionally you will notice a single leaf drop off, almost unnoticed.

These leaves mirror the losses and letting goes in our own lives, at times they release gracefully and welcomed, other times they are sudden and shocking and then sometimes they can release totally unnoticed by anyone but yourself.

From now until Winter Solstice, what can you let go of? What do you want to let go of? What do you need to let go of? What feels natural?

It doesn’t have to be a painful letting go, it can be easeful, graceful. If your nervous system is tender at the moment, no need to go deep for the difficult stuff, start easy – maybe an old habit or behaviour - the second cup of coffee, the seventh?

Subtlety, Stillness and Dreaming - Winter Solstice

I am a winter solstice baby, born in the first week of January. This is my favourite time of year. I love those days where the landscape is still, nothing is growing, the birds are silent, the roads are quiet, Christmas and New Years are over, dawn and dusk are elongated and almost wrap into one another.

It all lends itself to the gifts of Solstice time – subtlely, stillness and dreaming.

It is the whisper of change as the light returns, the days start to shift infinitesimally towards Spring. The return of the light is signified in the Christian tradition with the birth/rebirth of the Son/Sun.

The stillness allows us space for our heads and hearts to listen for what new potentials, dreams, seeds, ideas, we want to plant, nurture and grow at Imbolg and Bealtaine. It gives us a chance to take a breath, stop our worlds turning and notice what we would like to change. In order to know what we desire, to hear it, we need to stop, rest and listen. I remember the first time I allowed myself to stop, rest and enjoy doing nothing, for the first time understanding that it is an important part in the process of figuring out what is the next best action.

The subtleness and gentleness of this time allow for no decisions to be made, no outward action to take. The sun is at its lowest point, the days and nights are at their darkest so our discernment and understanding, clarity and focus are dimmed.

Can we enjoy this not-knowing, this resting in the cosy darkness of potentials and maybes. It can be just as difficult as running uphill – allowing yourself to stop. This dreaming time reminds me of the night sky, when we stop, turn off the lights and look up, we can see all of the potential and possible stars – some are clustered with others, some tiny, some huge – and then our modern predicament, are they stars or satelites? 

The dreaming, the day-dreaming, imagining, visioning is when allowing ourselves to imagine, see, hear all of the possibilities, letting them all come in, knowing that we don’t have to do anything about it just yet, we don’t have to choose.  

I love the connection between this dreaming and the dreamtime of the Australian First Nations/Aborigine cosmological creation time, when their world was dreamed into creation.

I resonated with Tyson Yunkaporta’s translation of it as the ‘turnaround’.

Turnaround allows for a shift, a 180, a new perspective and I like to allow Solstice time to be a deep shift and turnaround. In the stillness I can allow myself to play and imagine of all the possibilities of change in my life. And I don’t have to get stressed and decide which one is best, there is time for that in Imbolc.

If you’d like to explore some of this – come to my 3 hour workshop on Sunday 15th December. We will explore Human Garage’s fascial manouvers, some reflective exercises, meditation and Reiki.

Blog Post Title Two

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Three

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Four

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.