The Dark and the Light: A Winter Solstice Reflection
The Winter Solstice almost always has me thinking and remembering about darkness, our fear of it, but also how we wrestle with that fear.
I remember this clearing I used to lay in when I was a kid, face down, soaking in the deep, rich smell of the earth. Just about every time I hear the word “grounding”, I remember that smell. It takes me back to a time of wonder and exploration, before being drowned out in the worries of adult life. Today, I hold that memory with reverence.
We know instinctively, as an ancestral memory, the fundamental position of “the dark” in our hearts and souls not as devil as some might think at first, but as our mothers womb, as the coziness of a bedtime story, as the lovers deep dance of intimacy, and the gestation of seeds in rich soil.
However, that deep, rich knowing has been covered up by generations of being taught that “the dark” is something to be feared - including the dark "others"- that nature is “dirty”, and “wild”, to be avoided or tamed at all costs, alongside our bodily and emotional instincts.
Getting back to that primal intimacy with darkness can be challenging, but when we do it can awaken us to a wider frame for creativity, belongingness and healing.
Some resources/quotes I’ve found helpful for that work are:
Starhawk’s Dreaming the Dark (summary: https://www.bookey.app/book/dreaming-the-dark) and a couple of quotes:
"The dark is the unknown, the mystery, the place of possibility. In the dark, seeds germinate, wombs grow, and dreams take shape. To love the dark is to love the hidden, the shadowy, the rejected, the things we fear and don’t understand." — The Spiral Dance
"The dark is not evil, but potent. It is the place of power, of gestation, of things unseen that grow and come into being." — The Earth Path
Ursula Leguin’s A Left-Handed Address, especially:
“And when you fail, and are defeated, and in pain, and in the dark, then I hope you will remember that darkness is your country, where you live, where no wars are fought and no wars are won, but where the future is. Our roots are in the dark; the earth is our country. Why did we look up for blessing — instead of around, and down? What hope we have lies there. Not in the sky full of orbiting spy-eyes and weaponry, but in the earth we have looked down upon. Not from above, but from below. Not in the light that blinds, but in the dark that nourishes, where human beings grow human souls.”
Sukina Noor @ https://ancestralmedicine.org/vault/channeling-the-world-to-come/
“However, let us not forget that there is mercy in the darkness too. Once we confront our fear of the dark, the darkness can become our ally. We dream in the dark, on the darkest nights the stars glimmer the brightest, we get to see the maps that teach lessons from heaven, and witness the stars that guided all of our ancient ancestors. Seeds planted in the darkness of the earth can sprout life and some day become harvests of light.”
In these dark days, returning to longer, lighter days, I hope you take some time to remember the darkness as your ally and comfort.
