A Common Path

Today is officially solstice. Last night was solstice eve. My wife and I have been celebrating solstice eve for the last three or four years. It is a very special and holy time for us.

For us, it is almost like a New Years celebration. I really don’t understand why New Years is when it is. I suppose I could look it up, but I don’t really care that much. Anyway, for us it is like New Years. We light a fire in the fireplace, if we are home, and we sit in silence for a little while. Then we each write on a piece of paper the things we want to give up in ourselves and the things we want to take up. This is sort of like New Years resolutions.

When we are done, we fold the paper and seal it with candle wax. When the paper is sealed, we throw it into the fire. We each sit with our “resolutions” for a time in silence. Some years we share what we wrote and others, like this one, we don’t.

The Celts used to say that winter solstice was one of the “thin times”. What this meant was that it was a time when the veil between this life and the next is thin and those on each side can see into the other dimension. I don’t know about that, but it is a very holy time for us.

I don’t think it needs to be on winter solstice, it can be any time at all, but I encourage you to take a time like this. It seems much more that simply saying “next year will be better.” Develop your own little ceremony and look to the next year.

Namaste!

P.S. Tell me about your ceremonies or rituals. Let me know what you do to deepen your walk!

Tags: better life, Life improvement

This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 4:22 pm and is filed under Spiritual Journey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.