An Animist Winter Solstice Ceremony
How to be in right relationship with energy and spirit when working with intuition
What if instead of harnessing energy you feel is powerful, you learned to simply BE WITH it, without claiming it, without harnessing it, without taking?
If you’d rather listen…
Hello Dear Intuitive One
It is a cozy winter solstice day today for sure. Here in the Pacific Northwest it is the perfect blend of downpouring rain and wind that now brings snow, all of which creates beautiful space for cozy indoor ceremony and reflection.
On this winter solstice day, I would love to spark a conversation to life around the idea of being in right relationship with energy rather than harnessing it. In full disclosure am an animist. This means I believe that our world is made up of sentient beings that all work together in collaboration to co-create this very moment. The sun, the moon, the sea, the soil, the rain, the trees, even the wind and earthworms are all in a kind of grand harmonic dance - balancing and complementing one another. And tapping into this energy, means we just need to be present with it.
This animist way of being in the world however, is in direct conflict with the new age idea that to tap into something we must harness it, mine it, pull and draw power from it—the destructive idea that If something else has power, as human beings it is our right to claim it as ours for the purpose of raising our OWN vibration. Now, between you and I, I am not sure how those of us who feel so deeply, were led down the misleading path to believe that by harnessing the energy of another being would raise our own vibration, but I am certain we intuitive ones have what we need to shift this behavior and transform it.
I pose two questions to fuel your inner work on this solstice evening…
What if in place of harnessing energy we learned to simply BE WITH energy we feel is powerful, without claiming it, without harnessing it, without taking?
What would have to change in the words we speak, in how our energy interacts with the world around us, and what would have to change in how we resource ourselves when we feel depleted in order to make this transformation of how we connect with energy complete?
An Animist Winter Solstice Ceremony
Let’s let these big questions rest to the side for a moment, to let them gestate, while you and I circle back around with one another and spend this moment, together on this winter solstice, evening. Let’s simply enjoying the company of all of the magical, powerful, intelligent beings that are around each one of us, all the time.
Let’s each light a candle within our individual hearts and warm our bones and spirit in the presence of the flame.
Let’s each sit, together, in this moment, feeling the gratitude we each have for our own breath, for the Earth, and the elements of Winter that have been sparked to life today after a long slumber. Elements who now allow the fullness of autumn to rest, elements who will usher in the inner hidden layers of transformation that unfold and unfurl underground, in darkness, in the soil, and within each of us.
Let’s each sit here together, in this moment simply being in the presence of this massive dance that is occurring between light and dark all around us, and within each of us. Let’s both witness what we can do to stay in our own body, as this all unfolds. Noticing how we can shift our focus, so we remain in constant connection with our own breath—feeling the movement of our breath from inside our own skin—as we are simply share presence with the great magical beings and allies of Winter.
Let’s allow everything that witness in this moment, to spark the remembrance within both of us, that there is nothing we need to take from it, no souvenirs we need to collect, nor are there essences of energy or power that we need to harness. Let’s let this free us both, to simply BE and be a part of the magic of this moment.
And… when are both ready, we can say a prayer of gratitude that our inner candles are burning so brightly, as we turn our attention back to the magic of everyday, normal daily focusing, in the here and now, and a part of our physcial world as we bring this ceremony to a close.
Thanks for spending a little time with me today. May you feel the warmth and light of your own inner candle on this dark winter solstice night.
XO
Joanna
