Light is returning
Even though this is the darkest hour
No one can hold back the dawn
Let’s keep it burning
Let’s keep the light of hope alive
Make safe our journey through the storm
One planet is turning
Circles on her path around the Sun
Earth Mother is calling her children home
– Light Is Returning by Charlie Murphy @1984

This is our first winter solstice celebration. Symbolic, perhaps, for we all are relatively new to the community and this is the first celebration of the new year, which started on Samhain (pronounced sow-un, where sow rhymes with cow), October 31st. We did not know what to expect, but we are merry met in an eclectic grouping of people, colours, clothing, and scents.

We are opening up in Sweet Surrender
to the Luminous Love Light of the One.
We are opening up in Sweet Surrender
to the Luminous Love Light of the One.
We are opening; we are opening.
We are opening; we are opening.

The circle, created by our joined hands, is cast. Out! Out! Out! Bad thoughts, bad spirits, and bad intentions are banished from the circle. “Ra! Ra! Ra!” The deities invited, the cardinal directions welcomed. And then the chanting, leading into the spiral dances. Voices rise. We are opening. Spiraling. Opening. The energy level heightens as people make eye contact and sinuously wind throughout the room. The spark of intention has long been set and there is no thought but the chant, the beat, and the motion. Light is returning. I, too, am lighter in heart and spirit. Blessed be.