Hi Friend,

In our most recent Advent Series (which was super beautiful and is now over), grief kept arising.

Porous, the grief flowed: from the political/the state of the world to the personal to the existential.

On some level, I was not surprised at the upwelling of emotion - and that we had a beautiful container in which to embrace it.

Winter solstice can often be associated with death and with that, grief. It is a time when the darkness is long and the light is short.

These days, it's amplified by the climate dysmorphia: the weather might not be feeling “normal”.

I myself don’t conflate the season with that set of emotions, but I totally understand them!

Whilst training for ministry, pastor-teachers often reminded me of how hard the holidays are for many people. (Though it should be noted that the idea that suicides peak during the holidays is now understood to be untrue, and could cause damage - here's an article from Suicide Prevention Resource center on that topic). At this time of year, it is common that people are asking big questions - including seeking mystical experiences (and sometimes having them). What are you doing with your life? (Our circular time sessions are great for that!)

It’s a time when the yearning for a particular version of home and family (and perhaps the rest of one's life) runs up against the reality of home and family – and often, those are incongruous; or at least, they can be interlaced with grief (the loss of a child, of a parent, of a dog, of a home) and perhaps disappointment. They can also be interlaced with gratitude. For the memories; for the current moment; for the blessings, mixed and confusing as they might appear to be.

Grief and Gratitude can be like old friends.

So if you are experiencing grief, know you are not alone.

The old folklore traditions that infuse this time of year are filled with reminders of the return of the sun: of everlasting life. From Yule Logs to evergreen Christmas trees to caroling to wassailing, most of the traditions we associate with Christmas stem from older European folk traditions.

Indeed, there have been many times throughout European Christian history where people have protested the celebration of Christmas (including groups such as the Puritans) and accused Christmas as being a largely 'pagan' celebration. As you who have been following this newsletter for a while know, we are edgewalkers; our family finds many ways to celebrate the many dimensions of the season.

Such folk traditions speak to the importance of countering the cold darkness with candles and hearth fires and storytelling and song.

Such folk traditions harbor within them much wisdom.

We need one another - human and more than human. Many of the children stories of this time of year speak to both gathering and stillness. It is in the midst of deep sleep that magic may occur - we see that in the Christmas poem/story, "The Night Before Christmas," which begins: "Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house/Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;/The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,/In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; /The children were nestled all snug in their beds;/While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;/And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,/Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap...."

The magic of that moment is only possible in the stillness of the night. I love the line, "settled our brains for a long winter's nap!"

So however you celebrate winter solstice and this Christmastide, be it with your human and/or more than human kin, I hope you find ways to connect with the wisdom of the folk traditions that you know and perhaps those that are less familiar, but still have something to offer you. Personally, I always like the combination of watching the sunrise and the sunset and having a fire. And leaning into darkness: watching the sunset without a phone or a computer or a blinking distracting gadget, and being with the fullness of the way the light changes across the sky.

And if I don't get to these kinds of celebrations on the 21, I can still do them on the 22, 23, and 24: those are the four days when the sun seems to "stand still". It begins to visibly move on the 25... which is the primary reason that the Church Fathers decided to date the 25 as when the Church celebrates the birth of Jesus. (Who was most probably actually born in mid-September.)

Blessings of the Darkness to you and to your kin (including but not only your human kin)

- Sara Jolena

Ps - Oh - and do join us for circular time!

Because returning to cyclical temporal technologies is surely one of the most important and still quite simple ways we can keep re-engaging with the wisdom of earth, of our bodies, of our communities, and of those old traditions which keep regenerating cultures.