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On muted orange background, the Wheel of the Year. The vertical axis bleeds colors from dark blue pointing up to bright orange pointing down, Solstice written above and below. The horizontal line is green with Equinox written at either end. Purple diagonals mark the cross-quarter days. Lavender lines radiate in between the 8 major spokes giving the feel of a starburst.

Everyday is Sacred, a Solstice Message

December 21, 2023

Two messages came through my hand as I drew the doodle to accompany this Solstice post.

On muted orange background, the Wheel of the Year. The vertical axis bleeds colors from dark blue pointing up to bright orange pointing down, Solstice written above and below. The horizontal line is green with Equinox written at either end. Purple diagonals mark the cross-quarter days. Lavender lines radiate in between the 8 major spokes giving the feel of a starburst.

Notice the vertical axis that travels from Solstice to Solstice. I’m in the Northern hemisphere and picture Winter at top right now. Yet,

energy flows between both hemispheres,

depicted as midnight blue and midday bright orange bleeding into one another on the vertical line.

All the feels and all levels of activity are present in the seasons. As much as finding joy and rest are radical acts in these times, so are flowing with grief and anger. The long-night season is not only for introspection and the long-day season is not only for big energy and outward action.

Once I painted the eight sectors normally shown on the Wheel of the Year, my hand dashed in the radiating lavender lines. Message:

Every day is sacred.

How do we travel the Wheel—the solar cycle—and live this message? For me, this means I can mark seasonal holy days (like Solstice) in big fashion or not. Perhaps today doesn’t hold ritual and magic any more than the next day or the next. This doesn’t preclude marking the seasonal holy days with celebration and ceremony.

What would it look like to mark a week from now (or any day) with celebration and ceremony?

A card for today

One of my dear circle-mates gifted me a new tarot deck—the whimsical 5 cent deck. I asked for a message to include with this Solstice post: Seven of Needles, reversed.

seven sewing needles arrayed diagonally right and left. A racoon climbs them (in this reversed card).

The card in this reversed position says Confession, Cowardice, Conscience. The message:

Notice the thoughts you run from.

Well, not particularly a message of joy and flourishing! (Note that Needles are Swords—thoughts and the mind—in other decks.)

How do you hold the state of the world in your mind, in your conscience? With so much injustice and harm in the world (wars, violence, inequity, hate, fascism, racism, lack of resources to thrive), harsh weather extremes amdist our climate crisis, and massive extinctions playing out . . . how do you hold it all? Do you push some or all of it away? Do you internalize it in unhealthy ways?

Breathe.

Just notice and listen to messages that come through for you. Do you wish to change your way of being with the external world and your thoughts?

Can you find a way to be present with it all AND claim joy, beauty, and wonder? Joy as resistance is one way to work with these thoughts, especially for those with Black bodies. Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts’s book highlights how Black Joy is resistance, resilience, and restoration. The notion has roots in Black lesbian feminist Audre Lorde’s notion of self-care as a political act.

May you find ways to care for yourself and your community. May this foster resilience.

Fruitful Solstice!

ps Watch for an online offering of Reclaiming’s first core class, Elements of Magic, beginning in February. And a book birthday.

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