For our ancestors, the beginning of winter marked a sacred and deeply symbolic time and is now celebrated by many as Winter Solstice.

It falls on the shortest, darkest day of the year and begins our return to brighter weeks ahead.

This year's Winter Solstice takes place tomorrow, Sunday, December 21st, and it beckons us to reflect and to surrender. In my house, we take this time to nourish ourselves with warming, wholesome soup, and connect more deeply through meditation, pranayama, and quiet walks outside.

Nowadays in the Western world, the shift to winter barely registers for most people—except that maybe it's time to haul your heavy coat out of storage and turn up the dial on your thermostat.

However, when we carry on living the same way regardless of the season, we lose the opportunity to connect with nature... and with our deepest selves. Even though we can control the climate indoors, it's vital that we pay attention to the lessons that the earth is sharing with us outside.

Ancient Traditions of the Winter Solstice

Ancient cultures like the Egyptians, the Maori, the Maya, the Celts, the Druids, the Inca, and so many others—each celebrated Solstice. In the Chinese Taoist tradition, winter solstice is considered the most yin (dark / feminine / damp) day of the calendar. Energy comes to a momentary point of pause, before it gives birth to yang (light / masculine / heat).

Yin and yang form the basis of Chinese medicine, and according to this school of wisdom, one cannot exist without the other. These two seemingly opposite forces are intimately connected and complementary.

Embracing Darkness and Stillness

I love this concept. We need times of darkness, quiet, stillness, healing, and rest, as much as we need activity, noise, and light.

Here is a lovely prayer / poem from the French philosopher and author Albert Camus that speaks to the spirit of this shortest day of the year:

In the depth of winter,
I finally learned
that within me there lay
an invincible summer.
― Albert Camus

A fun homework assignment for you—do a little research on your own ancestral roots and find out what your relatives traditionally did to celebrate the Winter Solstice. You may find something truly special :)

Stay curious,
Nick Polizzi
Founder of The Sacred Science

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