Advertisement
Darling Shamanista's,Can you feel it? The days drawing in, the darkness arriving a little earlier each evening, the pull to slow down, curl up and turn inward.
This is the earth breathing out. Everything in nature is resting right now, gathering itself in the quiet beneath the soil, and our bodies are asking us to do the same.
And yet this is the time of year when so many of us run ourselves into the ground. The shopping, the spending, the rushing, the pressure to make everything perfect. We arrive at the end of December exhausted, depleted, and further from ourselves than ever.
I want to offer you something different this year.
Something ancient.
Something that remembers.
Return of the Light: A Winter Solstice Ceremony
Sunday 20th December · 2pm to 7pm
Long before Christmas, our ancestors gathered on the longest night of the year. The winter solstice, along with its summer sister, was one of the most sacred moments in the turning of the year. Great stone temples like Newgrange and Stonehenge were built to catch the very first rays of the returning sun. People lit fires, kept vigil through the dark, and prayed the light back home.
Because that is what the solstice is. The sun reaches its lowest point, seems to stand still, and then, ever so slowly, begins to return.
From this night on, the light creeps back in, a minute or two each day. It is the darkest moment, and the turning point all at once.
The rebirth of the light.
In the shamanic traditions I am trained in, this is a time to honour Pachamama, our Great Mother, to give thanks for everything she has held us through this year, and to plant our prayers for the light that is to come.
Much of that wisdom was buried under the festivals that came later. Here in the West we have lost our ceremonies and our rituals, and with them our relationship to the land.
This gathering is a coming home to that.
What is Ayni?
Ayni (pronounced eye-nee) is a Quechua word from the Andes, and it means sacred reciprocity. It is the living understanding that everything is in relationship, and that life flows in balance when we give as much as we receive.
The earth feeds us, holds us, gives us water, breath and beauty every single day.
Ayni asks: what are we giving back?
In the West we have fallen out of Ayni with Pachamama. We take and take and rarely say thank you.
Our solstice ceremony is a way of restoring that balance, with gratitude, with offering, and with love.
What we will share together
🌿 Cacao ceremony
We will open our hearts with ceremonial cacao, settling into our bodies and into the circle, letting go of the rush of the outside world and arriving fully in this sacred time.
🌿 Creating our despachos, our living prayers
A despacho is a beautiful offering from the Andean tradition, a bundle of prayers made with flowers, seeds, leaves and small sacred gifts, each one carrying our gratitude and our dreams. I will guide you through creating your own, piece by piece, breathing your prayers into every element. What you release, what you are grateful for, and what you are calling in with the returning light.
🌿 Fire ceremony
As the light fades, we will carry our despachos out to the fire together. With song, with prayer and with gratitude, we will offer them to the flames, sending our prayers to Pachamama and the spirits of the land. There is something so powerful about standing around a fire in the winter dark, in community, the way people have for thousands of years.
🌿 Solstice feast
We will close by sharing a warm, nourishing winter feast together. I would love for this to be a true community table, so if you feel called, please bring a dish to share. Something seasonal, something made with love, something that feels like home to you. (This is completely optional, so please come either way.)
This is for you if...
You are craving something real this December.
You want to slow down instead of speed up. Y
ou feel the call to reconnect with the earth, with ceremony, and with a circle of beautiful people.
You are ready to let the old year go and welcome the light back into your life with intention.
No experience needed.
Just come as you are.
My darling, let's reclaim this season together.
Let's remember what our ancestors knew, that the darkest night holds the seed of the light, and that we are never separate from the earth that holds us.
I would be so honoured to sit by the fire with you.
With love & gratitude
L x
Advertisement
Event venue
Castel Parish Constables, La Chambre de la Douzaine, Les Beaucamps, Saint Peter Port, Guernsey
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.
Discover more events by tag
Mindfulness in Saint Peter PortMeditation in Saint Peter PortRelaxation in Saint Peter PortFestivals in Saint Peter PortArt in Saint Peter PortFine-arts in Saint Peter PortShopping in Saint Peter Port