I want to start out this post with the phrase “the mid-winter of my discontent.” But I do not want to let the beautiful darkness and stillness of the Winter Solstice devolve, filling the cave of my mind with fears, worries, anxiety and nightmare scenarios, driving out all possibility.
The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The sun appears at its lowest point in the sky, and it literally stills, rising and setting at its southernmost position on the horizon the few days before and after Mid-winter.
It is in the stillness of this time of year that I find solace. When I am lucky enough to be surrounded by snow, it seems as if the earth is silent – slumbering and dreaming. It is a time I love to be in bed early and gaze out the window at the velvet darkness, the bright stars and moon punctuating the sky.
I usually look forward to this time of year, to the stillness, the silence, the time to incubate and dream. But, as I said at the beginning of this post, I keep fending off the specters of political futures. It seems I am either lost in Shakespeare or Dickens.
But at this moment, here on the precipice of the solstice and on the edge of stillness, held and embraced in the gentle darkness, I open to the long night. I open petal by petal, a night-blooming flower, and trust in the deepest beauty that I know imbues this world. I trust in the love that lives deep in the molten core of our Mother. I simply must.
Deepest Blessings of the Season to you. — Anne
Note on Dates: Astrologically, Mid-Winter may be calculated as the date the Sun is at 0 degree Capricorn. Winter Solstice (Latin: “sun ceases”) is known as Midwinter or Yule (from the Germanic and possibly Norse)

Award winning writer Anne Key is the author of two memoirs. The first, Desert Priestess: a memoir, relates the three years she spent as Priestess of the Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet, located in Nevada. Her second, Burlesque, Yoga, Sex and Love: A Memoir of Life under the Albuquerque Sun, recounts her time in Albuquerque performing under the stage name Annie O’Roar. She is co-founder of Goddess Ink. 

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