{"id":92010004,"date":"2022-12-21T07:01:02","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T07:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=92010004"},"modified":"2022-12-21T07:01:02","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T07:01:02","slug":"the-illuminating-spark-winter-solstice-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=92010004","title":{"rendered":"The Illuminating Spark: Winter Solstice Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thoughts on the past few months and the near future.<\/h2>
<\/figure>

(Image description: A photo of a wintertime arrangement. A lit tealight candle is in the center of a few pinecones, evergreen twigs, eucalyptus leaves, and other seasonal plants on a tray with decorative scrollwork. A black cloth is placed nearby.) Credit: Photo by Joanna Kosinska<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>

With another turn of the wheel, it\u2019s the day that winter officially starts. I looked back at the last Winter Solstice post and chose to go over my ogam reading from from Samhain<\/a>.<\/p>

As mentioned in the previous year\u2019s Yuletide post<\/a>, death and grieving are still a prevalent theme during this season. My late cat, Mystic, is still on my mind from time to time, and I have still sensed her presence occasionally. Perhaps it\u2019s only memories playing tricks on my mind, but these feelings still have meaning to me.<\/p>

There\u2019s also familial health issues that are ever present in my life. The appearance of \u00dar, a letter linked to the Earth and transitions, could be related to this, but I hesitate to only focus on that single aspect of the reading. Its presence might be related to current events, but it likely isn\u2019t the only transition happening in my life between now and the next time I do a reading.<\/p>

However, I don\u2019t wish to only focus on the sadness in my life. Winter is literally and metaphorically showing up in my life, but there\u2019s joy still to be found there. It\u2019s a time of being inside more often and focusing on warm meals, crafting, storytelling, and so on. I hope that the coming season will have times where I can spend my time doing these things.<\/p>

Overall, I believe I mostly understand the meaning of the Samhain reading. In Erynn Rowan Laurie\u2019s book, Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom, <\/em>the author offers questions to reflect upon. Ruis relates to strong emotions, referring back to its kenning of red. The question inquires about what I am passionate about passions and how focusing on those passions can benefit or hurt me.<\/p>

Given the next two letters of Lus and \u00dar, these letters inquire of me how will I be inspired and what will I need to give up in order to progress in my path. I see this as Brighid asking me to focus my passion into my path with Her and the transitions that will come along with my deeper focus and to become more grounded in it.<\/p>

With a little over a month until Imbolc, there\u2019s still more insight to be gained from the reading. However, like the returning sun, there\u2019s more illumination and knowledge to better learn about my path.<\/p>

As for celebrations, I\u2019m doing another impromptu flamekeeping shift and \u201cwalk\u201d with a finger labyrinth, along with hearty food and offerings to Brighid. Also, this post will likely be somewhat of a two-part post, as my next regular flamekeeping shift occurs on Christmas Day. I want to integrate the winter festivities into that.<\/p>

Until then, may you have a merry and blessed Yuletide season!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thoughts on the past few months and the near future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92010004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92010004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92010004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92010004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92010004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92010004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92010004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}