Winter is the time of darkness, and is the element earth. Earth is our mother, our caregiver, nourishing and loving. Earth is variable–it is fertile as the field then as arid and hostile as the desert. It is the ground we walk on, solid and stabilizing. Winter begins on December 21 near Christmas. Winter is mystically the time of death, of passing on, of passing into a different level of existence. The bible instructs that death is something we must face before the ultimate resurrection (Spring?). Winter also symbolizes a time of rest, peace, and old age. Some quotes:
“Softly, softly, through the darkness
Snow is falling.
Sharply, sharply, in the meadows
Lambs are calling.
Coldly, coldly, all around me
Winds are blowing.
Brightly, brightly, up above me
Stars are glowing.”
~~B. E. Milner
“Before Santa and presents and the attendant Christmas (stuff) got involved, this holiday was enshrined to commemorate a guy who got nailed to a tree for daring people to be kind to one another. If you have two cloaks, He said, give one away. Remember those who have less than you, be charitable, be good, and be merciful.”
~~William Rivers Pitt
(partly based on quote from Douglas Adams in
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
“In the depths of Winter,
I learned that within me
There lay an invincible Summer.”
~~Albert Camus
“Not a flaw there is
On the polished surface
Of the divine glass,
Chaste with flowers of snow.”
~~Matsuo Basho
“It seems to me that there is in each of us a capacity to comprehend the impressions and emotions which have been experienced by mankind from the beginning. This inherited capacity is a sort of sixth sense– a soul sense which sees, hears, feels, all in one.”
~~Helen Keller
I pray that you find the peace that exists in this Holiday season.
