Happy Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice is the equivalent of the solar New Year, a fertile time to set new intentions. The longest night of the year has been celebrated by many traditions as a sacred and rich time. In the past, it's been a night to gather around the fire, practice spiritual ceremonies to call back the Sun. Fire festivals, were held by most cultures throughout the ancient world. The Roman festival of Saturnalia was held on the winter solstice, and is thought to be the origin of what we call Christmas. Evergreen trees and bushes were chosen decorate the house, and fill us with hope as we go through the darkest part of winter. The Persian Mithraists held December 25th as sacred to the birth of their Sun God, Mithras, and celebrated it as a victory of light over darkness. In Sweden, December 13th was sacred to the Goddess Lucina, Shining One, and was a celebration of the return of the light. On Yule itself, around the 21st, bonfires were lit to honour Odin and Thor.

In the tradition of Kundalini Yoga solstices, equinoxes, full and new moons are respected and celebrated as energetic portals that can be accessed for spiritual transformation. In 2015 the Winter Solstice which is naturally a time of endings and new beginnings is strengthened by Saturn in retrograde. Saturn is the planet of testing, patience and discipline and on June 14 it starts traveling in retrograde motion. This backwards movement will encourage us to look within ourselves and help us to identify fear and anger-based programming that keeps us victimizing ourselves. 

The energetic power of the solstice will help us to access our emotions and recognize underlying patterns that are not aligned with the love and truth of our soul. With our new awareness we can drop these limiting behaviors and set new empowering intentions that will grow and flourish with the power of the Sun as it is reborn in the new solar year.

Come and celebrate Winter Solstice with me at KYC Newtown on Sunday 21 June: Winter Solstice Kundalini Yoga & meditation, Sound Healing and Art Exhibition,  4.30pm – 6.30pm. All money raised will be donated to the Kundalini Yoga  Festival Australia Pozible campaign. Buy your tickets at:

http://www.kundaliniyogacollective.org.au