December 19, 2007

Charles Dickens published "A Christmas Carol" in England 164 years ago today.

It's also the 49th anniversary of the first radio voice broadcast from space, a recording of President Dwight D. Eisenhower sending Christmas greetings "to all mankind, America's wish for peace on earth and good will toward men everywhere."

Tips for the day

If you're planning a Winter Solstice ritual, here are some ideas (more tomorrow):

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away...

Nighttime wishing ritual: Go outside and settle into the night. Listen. Think about the night as if it were an island. Have in mind what is important to you — what you want to release from your life and what you want to welcome into your life in the coming year. Breathe each thing you want gone, one at a time, into the palm of your hand, then blow them away into the winter sky. Do the same with each desire you wish to enter your life. When you are finished, go inside and light a red candle. Put it in a safe place to burn out completely. The candle is a symbolic guiding light to draw your desires to you.

Honoring the directions: Many ancient cultures acknowledge and use the four compass points in their rituals. Here are some qualities for each direction in the Northern Hemisphere. These come from the wonderful book, The Winter Solstice:

North: cold, earth, challenge, endings, ice and snow, things waiting to germinate and be born.
East: awakening, new life, air, peace, triumph of the spirit.
South: fire, heat of life ripening in the earth, roots of our lives, stability.
West: water, restless seas and wandering spirits, movement, emotion, seeking new directions.

For the return of the sun — blessings and praise!
For the gifts we give and receive — blessings and praise!
For animals everywhere — blessings and praise!

Inner Advent & Inner Christmas

Christmas is a season, most traditionally the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany on January 6. So many people these days seem in a hurry to celebrate the season before Christmas, but I cherish the idea of maintaining a seasonal festival of 12 days. Counselor and writer Lynn Jericho encourages the process of Inner Christmas — a process of meaningful and enriching self-reflection from December 25 and January 6, the Twelve Holy Nights. It's designed for people of all faiths and traditions. You can view a movie and sign up for daily emails that she will send during the traditional 12-day period, each with a theme to encourage personal reflection. She also provides ideas for observing Inner Advent.

A note about the commerce links on this site: Candlegrove is essentially non-commercial. In some cases, links from this site yield a small affiliate fee. Half of all funds generated by such links help sustain this site. The other half is donated to environmental organizations.