Winter Solstice Holy Day

by Maeanna Welti

The night breathes slow
deep and long
the breath of the earth moves up to meet
the stars

Slow down, dear one
slow down
Breathe

The dark has its own music
the dark has its own spell
the dark is the breath that unclenches
bringing sweetness
to our deeps

Be as the sleeping mountains
in the rhythm of your patience.
The world
will be revealed
in the drumbeat of our hearts.

All the lessons of the year will tell
their stories

Winter is stillness
it is deep
calm
it is huge

Carry your candle, yes
but do not let it blind you
to the radiance of the dark
do not let it crowd out the silence
Do not let it deafen the music of the
heartbeat.
Breathe starlight.

Humanity
we turn the wheel of the year
we are time unfolding
seasons following
seasons flowing
through us, bodies hearts and minds.

We walk through the grace of the year
and our wholeness
is revealed.

To know the dark

by Wendell Berry

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,

and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.