21/12/2025
The Winter Solstice is a moment when the individual psyche aligns with the cyclical nature of the animate world. Weeks of darkness are now culminating in the longest and darkest of all nights. Time stands still, and a portal opens
to the threshold between years, one our ancestors knew well. It marks the entrance into the Rauhnächte, as they are known in German-speaking regions - a pagan ritual passage between years. This is the liminal time, which was
once devoted to ritual, divination, integration, oracle for the year ahead and communion with ancestors, the animate forces of the land, and the invisible worlds.
The Winter Solstice sits at the root of this passage between years. It invites surrender to the unseen, to the living tension between light and darkness, and to those edges where worlds grow thin and perception widens. This way of relating to winter long predates Christianity. And yet, what we now call Christmas grew directly out of these land-based winter practices, with winter solstice being a key moment. Many of the symbols and gestures we associate with Christmas have their roots in pre-Christian cosmology and ritual life. Enjoy this special day and celebrate with a Kambo session or a meditation
