Winter Retreat Day 5: Gather
A Midwinter Wish for you
Hello and a very Happy Winter Solstice to you!
Did anyone manage to catch the Solstice sunrise this morning? Here’s the link to the Stonehenge Solstice livestream if you want to watch the replay.
And if you missed the sunrise? Don’t worry. Although we celebrate the sunrise these days, some actually think it was more likely that our ancestors celebrated the sunset on the Winter Solstice due to the way the sun falls over the stones at Stonehenge on this day. So perhaps take a moment to watch the sun set this afternoon and make a Midwinter wish then instead.
I hope you’ve enjoyed following along with our Winter Solstice Retreat over the past few days, I’ve really enjoyed sharing this time with you and I hope you all have a wonderful, bright, happy Solstice day filled with all the magic the season has to offer.
Below is my Midwinter wish for you all - in the form of my favourite Winter poem. It’s called ‘May You Grow Still Enough’ by Brother David Steindl-Rast.
I read and share this every year and I think there is real magic in it. I hope you enjoy it.
May You Grow Still Enough
May you grow still enough to hear the small noises earth makes in preparing for the long sleep of winter, so that you yourself may grow calm and grounded deep within.
May you grow still enough to hear the trickling of water seeping into the ground, so that your soul may be softened and healed, and guided in its flow.
May you grow still enough to hear the splintering of starlight in the winter sky and the roar at earth's fiery core.
May you grow still enough to hear the stir of a single snowflake in the air, so that your inner silence may turn into hushed expectation.
And that draws things gently to a close.
All that’s left to do now is to wish you a very Happy Winter Solstice and to open up the comments for you to share a photo of the Solstice wherever you are in the world, if you feel like sharing one. I would love to see it.
And if you’d like to listen to some Wintry music on this day of light and peace, here are a few of my favourites:
Don’t forget you can continue to access all the Winter Solstice emails on my site under the Seasonal Retreat tab at any time, so feel free to revisit any that you like.
For now though, a very Happy Winter Solstice to you and I’ll see you soon for a January edition of the Monthly Notebook.
Until then - rest, retreat and take care,
Vicky xx
Thank you for these beautiful messages each day. The blessing today was wonderful, I may have to copy it out and display it. I celebrated the sunrise with my swim gang, splashing in the surf of the English channel, unfortunately no sign of the sun, just rain and wind and still a lovely ritual.
A beautiful poem 🤎
It's grey and windy here so I stayed cosy and warm inside, lit all my candles and will head out later for sunset. Thankyou for this lovely gentle retreat 🙏