12/21/2025
đ Winter Solstice Ritual: Preparing Your Altarâ¨Welcoming the return of light
The Winter Solstice has long been honored not as a single night, but as the opening of a slow turning â a time to release, reflect, and re-orient as the light begins to return.
This altar does not need to be elaborate.â¨It needs to be intentional.
đŤTonight â the Solsticeâ¨1) Clear a small surface â a table, shelf, or windowsill â and let this act represent laying down what no longer needs to be carried.â¨(Traditionally, homes were cleaned before the Solstice to prepare for renewal.)
2) Gather a few simple symbols:â¨a candle for returning light,â¨something from nature,â¨and one object that feels grounding, ancestral, or personal.
3) Light the candle and pause.â¨This flame does not erase the darkness ââ¨it honors the promise that light returns in its own time.
4) Ask gently:â¨What has this past year asked me to endure?â¨What am I ready to release?
That is enough for tonight.â¨Rest.
đŻď¸In the days that follow:
â¨Across many ancestral traditions, the Solstice opened a 13-day window â a time of slow orientation, not resolution.
Each day, you might return briefly to your altar:â¨to light the candle,â¨to sit in stillness,â¨to name one word or direction that feels true.
No pressure to know everything.â¨Let these days be a compass, not a checklist.
Close whenever it feels right with one gentle intention ââ¨not a goal, but a direction.
I honor what has been.â¨I welcome what is returning.â¨I trust the slow light.
