Solstice Blessing

(Editor's Note: Inspired by the Solstice, Spirit of Life member Karen W. authored this post, and while the solstice is passed, we are still in the dark days of winter. Take in her words of comfort.)

By Karen W.
Compassion to you today in whatever darkness you wade in this solstice.
 
“Compassion to your worst self.” Has been my personal motto for myself and to those around me this season.
 
Due to my health and cognitive impairment challenges, I haven’t been able to write in quite a while. And we’ve been kept busy by some weighty difficulties. I often find myself in places beyond language. In exasperation, devastation, or just pure exhaustion. And yet. These places are often quickened with sudden and profound divine energy or insight.
 
What I am learning in this season is that in my haste to capture, share, or glean meaning from these intense fully present moments destroys them. They vaporize. Also, these actions completely miss their purpose. The intimacy was meant for me. In that place. At that time.
 
The point was the moment itself. Not the write up. So I’ve allowed myself to sit with it. Even if it meant never even finding words.
 
Even outside these moments of insight, I did have ideas and intentions for posts these pasts months that I never had physical energy or mental acuity to follow through with so here is a partial round up:
 
Resources List:

• For the time change it was re-reading: Prayer in the Night by Tish Harrison Warren (Link: https:// tishharrisonwarren.com/prayer-in-the-night )
• I have a lot more to say about James Finley but his Podcast Turning to the Mystics, Season 3 on Saint John of the Cross and the Dark Night of the Soul (Link: xhttps://cac.org/podcast/turning-to-the- mystics/?season=tttm-three#season-details ) called to me this season for a re-listen. This year’s time change felt particularly stark!)
• For my inability to think i was bathing in this meditation on the Fruit of the Spirit (listen on repeat 10x): (link: https://insighttimer.com/davidcole/guided-meditations/meditation-on-the-fruit-of-the- spirit)
• For a curated music list honors the weightiness of Advent, this playlist Pastor Marietta found. Darkness and Light by Tsh Oxenreider (Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1mdsKdSxeRUXs1vlllpBdY?si=vF9LxTlIRrOsDonmPyN8QQ&pi=u-9LR1b3ERRyCi)

 
This week I have been enjoying this “Hymn of Healing” from Beautiful Chorus. (Link: https:// insighttimer.com/beautifulchorus/guided-meditations/hymn-of-healing )
 
For 8 minutes It just repeats:
I am a radiant being of light and healing I feel peace I am safe
I heal from a whole place
 
If you do anything for Solstice, gift yourself 8 minutes of this today. I have had it on repeat for the past hour. Things have been heavy, I needed that.

I have to say I’ve been loving the Spirit of Life introduction of the song Holy Darkness and repeating it enough to get stuck in my head. I appreciate how it pops up when I need it most.
 
Tomorrow the light begins to grow.