Befriending the Dark – A Solstice Reflection
What is it we fear so
This dark time of year?
We cover up the dark with glitter
Lights and noise and stuff and lists
Busy days, excess plastic and wrapping
Good stuff too — food and song and sweet gifts
But so much, and frantic too
The non-stop music turned jarring
The expectations around gifting pressured
The food weighing down our weary systems
Oh to empty
To stop
To whittle down to the bones
To the skeletons of this season
To be reminded by branches that have relinquished their leaves weeks ago
It is OK to be nothing for a while
To stand naked and stark agains the grey skies
To catch the fresh snow flurries in the nook of your arm
To stretch out your tongue and wait for that one flake of snow to arrive
Or not.
Now is the time to stop
The invitation to still
To drop
To greet the dark as friend, not enemy
To remember your bones, as well as those of the earth beneath you
Frozen, waiting, who knows how long? Just wait, impatient one.
Wait.
For this liminal space is offered as the only way through to the other side
Light emergent from dark, instead of distraction from.
light and dark,
Intimately joined and forever entwined.
Not one without the other.
So, let us not be afraid
Or even just slightly resistant to the dark
Let us instead pour our weary selves into the crevices
Of this winter cradle
Trusting that our skeletons will find their flesh anew
When the time is ready. Not before.
