Blessed Festival of Light

The Festivals of Light are almost here! Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, and Christmas are all expressions of the power of light to extinguish darkness. It has been a difficult year worldwide, and now is the time to stop, exhale and refill ourselves with light. Letting joy and hope rekindle in our hearts may be the most powerful gift we can give to ourselves, our families, and our world in these pivotal times.

I am sending you light, love, and gratefulness for being part of my life, and a thread in the fabric of goodness and kindness that sustains us all. The Season of Light is sacred, but can also be a time of rush and hurry, as we wrap up the old year, plan holiday celebrations, travel, shop, cook…. and all that this season entails.

This year I am committed to pause and reflect to savor the sacred reality of the season. My husband Gordon and I are taking two days of personal retreat December 20 and 21 (the solstice).

We will retrospect the year past, give thanks that we’re still here (a daily practice in our mid-70’s), meditate, pray, journal, take long walks, do a little yoga, and fast from technology.

The solstice is also our 15th anniversary, so a little champagne is in order as well!

If there is a single wish I have for you in this season, it is that you can take at least a day for retrospection, meaning-making, and gratitude.

In preparation for winding down I am finishing up my holiday shopping this week. I wanted to share a couple of my favorite gift ideas with you. The first is my little book, Pocketful of Miracles, A Book of Daily Prayers and Practices that follows the seasons. There is a whole community of people (maybe you’re one of them) that reads this book daily- some for many years now.

And newsflash! Pocketful of Miracles is available now on Audible as well, if you’d like to listen to me reading it to you each morning.

Another great holiday gift is the art of one of my dearest friends, Sara Novenson. She is a mystic, a sage, and an artist of the soul. I met her almost 20 years ago on a visit to Santa Fe. I am now a collector of her art- I have 5 of her paintings, two of her books, and her newest creation- a deck of oracle cards featuring the feminine sacred archetypes that we know as the women of the bible. Sara embodies feminine wisdom, grace, and beauty as does her art. Please check it out here.

But first, here are two snippets from the seed thoughts for the solstice, December 21 (9:19 pm this year) and December 22.

December 21: Peace be with you. The darkest day of the year has dawned, and the Great Medicine Wheel has shifted from the West to the North. We have descended to the deepest levels of archetypal wisdom, and on this day we come to rest. The silence of winter covers the land, and even the waters are still and frozen. Their clarity reflects the purity of heart that we are claiming in this season.

December 22: The time has come for celebration, for the Light has been reborn. The animals feel the stirring of the lifeforce deep within their dens The seeds begin to stir within the womb of Mother Earth, and we know that the cycle of life will continue for another year, Rejoice, for today the time of light is greater than the time of darkness.

Keep the Faith, dear one, and know that you are loved,
Joanie