The Winter Solstice happens every December between the 20th and 23rd. The solar event marks the shortest day of the year and the longest night. Darkness falls on this day the earliest it ever has in the year. And the sun shines at its lowest point in the sky.
The Winter Solstice characterizes a supreme hush moment in time. It speaks to our souls and calls on us to pause and go inward to contemplate ourselves.
Because of the spiritual nature of the Winter Solstice, people have created, and still do today, rituals and ceremonies that mirror the balance of light and darkness.
On Winter Solstice we celebrate this solemn occasion with food, candles, warmth, song and poignant blessings.
In the blessing or invocations we ask for a protecting influence. Through the ages, many have spoken Winter Solstice blessings to protect them through the dark, cold and sparseness of Winter.
Prayerful Winter Solstice blessings also encourage spiritual well-being or joy not just on the auspicious day but throughout the Winter season.
The components of a spiritual Winter Solstice blessing are four-fold:
First, acknowledge and welcome the Deity in.
Next, express deep appreciation for the blessings the Deity has provided over the past year.
Make your request.
And in closing, thank the Deity once again. Acknowledge the Divine grace, presence and bounty you perceive.
If you feel to make an offering along with your blessing or invocation, you can blend that into the mix. Offerings can be the burning of a fallen twig, drops of essential oil placed into a diffuser or the ignited light of a purple candle.
Spiritual Winter Solstice blessings both invoke protection and sustenance and inform us about the sacred day and season.
Susan Pesznecker offers a rich guide that shows you how to perform rituals with the energy of Winter Solstice rebirth and renewal in her book, Yule: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for the Winter Solstice.
Here are just two of the spiritual Winter Solstice blessings from her book:
Oh, absent sun,
the earth grows cold as we wait.
Our vigil fire is but a small spark
compared to your brilliance.
Our bones grow cold
awaiting your warmth.
Patiently we await your return
in the eastern sky.
Impatiently we await the first shard of light
piercing the eastern dawn—
the first sing of life’s renewal.
Come to us, oh sun!
For now we wait.
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…
Ancient mother of Midwinter,
watcher over life and death,
the one who rebirths the world,
be with us on this longest night!
See us through the dark hours
and stand with us
as dawn births the promise of new life.
So mote it be!
…
Playwright Patricia Motley’s book In Nature’s Honor: Myths and Rituals Celebrating the Earth reconnects the modern spiritual seeker with the earth-centered practices of our ancestors.
Here’s a snippet of a spiritual Winter Solstice blessing from her book:
May the blessing of light be on you… light without and light within.
May the blessed sunshine shine on you and warm your heart
till it glows like a great peat fire, so that strangers may come and warm themselves at it, and also friends.
Spiritual Winter Solstice Blessing: Native American
May you find peace in the promise of the solstice night,
that each day forward is blessed with more light.
That the cycle of nature, unbroken and true,
brings faith to your soul
and well-being to you.
Rejoice in the darkness,
in the silence find rest.
And may the days that follow
be abundantly blessed.
Spiritual Winter Solstice Blessing: Hopi Soyal
Soyal is the Hopi Winter Solstice ceremony and the Hopi’s most sacred rite of the year. They begin the ceremony on this shortest day of the year and call it symbol of the “Second Phase of Creation.”
The Hopi invoke prayers and ceremonies for a bountiful next year:
May the winds inspire you
Earth protect you
Water heal you, and
Fire always warm the hearth
and
However long the season be, my hands are working generously.
Spiritual Winter Solstice Blessing: In Literature
Even Charles Dickens wrote this spiritual Winter Solstice blessing in 1851:
Welcome everything!
Welcome all alike what has been, and what never was, and what we hope may be, to your shelter underneath the holly, to your places around the Christmas fire, where what is sits open hearted!
Spiritual Winter Solstice Blessings from Present Day Spiritual Leaders
Author Caitlin Matthews is a world authority on Celtic wisdom, the Western mysteries and the ancestral traditions of Britain and Europe.
She offers the following spiritual Winter Solstice blessing in her book, Sun Still: Sun Return in The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas.
Here at the gateway of the year,
may we strive to make good cheer,
In our revels shall joy abound,
and sorrow be cast underground.
Thich Nhat Hanh invokes the spiritual energy of the Winter Solstice in an utterly simple way:
May all beings learn how to nourish themselves with joy each day.
NewWorldKirtan dot com offers this most beautiful chant which is also a spiritual Winter Solstice blessing called the Great Invocation:
From the point of Light within the Mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let Light descend on Earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of God
Let love stream forth into the hearts of men.
May Christ (consciousness) return to Earth.
From the center where the Will of God is known
Let purpose guide the little wills of men –
The purpose which the Masters know and serve.
From the center which we call the race of men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
Let Light and Love and Power restore the Planet Earth.
And finally, SageGoddess dot com offers this spiritual Winter Solstice blessing:
Through the longest of nights,
May our bodies find rest in the stillness,
Our souls find wisdom in the silence,
And our hearts find hope in the
sky’s brightest star.
…
Sources:
Harrop, Thomas. How to Celebrate the Winter Solstice. United Kingdom, Lulu.com, 2012.
Pesznecker, Susan. Yule: Rituals, Recipes and Lore for the Winter Solstice. United States, Llewellyn Publications, 2015.
House Cleansing and Blessing from Pesznecker, Susan. Yule: Rituals, Recipes and Lore for the Winter Solstice. United States, Llewellyn Publications, 2015.
Matthews, John, and Matthews, Caitlin. The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas. United States, Quest Books, 1998.
Montley, Patricia. In Nature's Honor: Myths and Rituals Celebrating the Earth. United States, Skinner House Books, 2005.