Celebrating the Winter Solstice

I hope you will indulge me as this post is not herbal in nature, has nothing to do with the moon or goddesses and is actually a reflection of a huge 'pause' in my day-to-day life that I referenced in the Samhain blog entry.  I have been participating in this blog experiment for two years (to the date!) and I am stretching a little by crafting a post with a different slant.

I have to admit:  my Winter Solstice newsletter did not get written, and it was the 'big one' that the entire world was talking about!  "The end of the Mayan calendar".  I spent the day at a Unity Celebration at the Art of the Heart in Chester, NJ with other like-minded holistic folks being focused on ascension energies and the crystal light flooding into our great mother earth.

As an herbalist, environmental steward, ethnobotanist and affirmed tree-hugger, these last few months have been quite enlightening and there has been a decided shift in my thinking:  I want to connect even more fully with the green world, with the plants, with the plant spirits, with my beloved tree friends.  To my mind, part of this interconnectedness incorporates Reiki, so as a Reiki II practitioner, I am striving to complete my Reiki III Master & Teacher Certification in January.


On this winter solstice, I baked mini muffins and placed them around my yard at the base of trees for the fairy folk.  I took the CDs that come in the mail for postage stamps and other various sales pitches and hung them in the trees as unbreakable reflective decorations to celebrate the the light is returning!  And have you noticed that it is not pitch dark black outside at 4:30PM as it usually is at this time of year?  Something is going on, and even if I don't have words for it, I can participate in the unfolding of it.
joy of the Yule Season: 

Wishing you much peace, light and all manner of positive energy on this Winter Solstice!  May 2013 bring abundance and good health.