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The Winter Solstice
Spirit of Lake Harriet | by Lynn Woodland
December is the month when darkness finally gives birth to light. Fall’s steady descent
into longer and longer nights transforms into winter’s rise toward day. Not only
does the seasonal year undergo a rebirth of light, our calendar year, too, comes
to an end and we begin again. It’s a season when many minds are collectively giving
attention to what’s past and what’s to come, making this is a particularly powerful
time of year to do spiritual work.
Unlike the Summer Solstice, when light and outward growth reach a peak, the energy
of winter is far more internal. According to Chinese medicine, this is a season to
conserve energy and pull within. Not the best time for the parties and action-oriented
new year’s resolutions that so often fill the winter holiday weeks. It is, however,
the perfect time for nurturing something within. While outer growth peaks in the
summer, inner growth peaks now.
A perfect new year’s alternative to goal-setting and resolution making (and breaking)
is to claim a spiritual power. Spiritual powers, as I’m referring to them, include
such qualitative states of being as love, faith, courage, acceptance, grace, peace,
joy, living in the moment, compassion, honesty, integrity, forgiveness, vision, wisdom,
creativity, surrender, trust, receptivity and generosity, to name just a few. Claiming
spiritual power is very different from manifesting a specific outcome. A power confers
the capacity to manifest many outcomes. For example, the disappearance of a physical
symptom is an outcome, the capacity to heal is a spiritual power. Claiming the power
to heal promotes a state of health more broadly than simply disappearing a particular
illness does.
Claiming power is different from creating an outcome in still another way. I’ve used
the word “claiming” rather than “growing” or “creating” in relation to this process
purposefully, because it’s not about identifying something we don’t have and looking
outside of ourselves to find it. To claim a spiritual power, we must reach within
to our highest self, the part of us that is essentially spirit. At the level of our
true Self, there is no lack. There is no missing spiritual power. It’s all there,
even though our personality may not have recognized many aspects of Self. In keeping
with the energy of the winter season, we’re seeking within for all that we need.
The specific power you choose is entirely up to you. Why give attention to just one
aspect of spiritual power when, in truth, we already have all power? Why not claim
more than one or many powers at once? There is no cook book formula for this and
each reader must listen to your own inner guidance around this work. I suggest just
one, simply because choosing many is often the ego’s way of choosing none. Choosing
everything can be a way of committing to nothing and this accepting of power, in
essence, is an act of commitment.
So, if you’re game, give some attention now to the power you would like to dedicate
in the coming year to expressing more fully in your life. When you give this power
a name, write it down somewhere so that you’ll be able to return to it this time
next year to review all the ways it has actualized.
You can ritualize this process in some way, if you wish, although it can be accomplished
simply, through the slightest act of intention. And it may offer little evidence,
immediately, that anything at all is different. Yet, this conscious willingness to
become more fully our true Self opens the door for Divine Will to override our personality’s
agendas, taking us in directions we may never have anticipated. What begins imperceptibly
takes on a life of its own. It may change us dramatically, sometimes in ways that
feel unexpected and out of control, as our ego is no longer leading the way. Yet,
the journey is always in the direction of our highest good and highest joy. It’s
like getting on the roller coaster. It starts out slow and safe and suddenly the
real ride begins. We’re completely out of control and there’s nothing we can do but
hold on for dear life, surrender to the ride and wonder what made us get on in the
first place. Then, before we know it, the ride’s over and we remember why we got
on: for fun! We feel exhilarated and more alive. And no matter how afraid we felt,
we recognize, afterwards, that we were safe the whole time.
So, if you choose to accept this challenge of claiming more of your true Self, understand
the power of the process you’re setting in motion and get ready for the ride!
Lynn Woodland is one of Lake Harriet Spiritual Community’s Ministerial Guides
and leads services on the first Sunday of every month at 9 & 10:30 a.m. In December,
Lynn offers a variety of seasonal events including one to claim a spiritual power
for the year on Tuesday, Dec. 28. Visit www.lynnwoodland.com for more information.
Copyright © 2004 Lynn Woodland, all rights reserved. |
| Dec 2004 |
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