There is so much ritual and history associated with the December Solstice.

This time of year has been celebrated for centuries in many different ways and across many different cultures, and there is no denying that even today, there is a magic that ensues this time of year.

You can feel it in the air, see it in the people, hear it in the music. This time of year evokes strong feelings for many and these feelings likely go all the way back in time.

There are two Solstices every year, one in June and one in December. Both of these represent a critical turning point in the cycle of the year.

The word Solstice means Sun standing still, as on this day we have the longest or shortest hours of light depending on whether we are in the Southern or Northern Hemisphere.

It is at this point that we enter into a new direction of energy and start moving towards a phase of completion.

It is at this time that we begin wrapping up the year. It is at this point that we start reflecting on the lessons that the cycle of the year has brought us. It is at this time that we begin shifting.

Even though we may experience a different expression of this energy depending which end of the earth we live in, the message is the same.

The December Solstice is about honouring both light and dark, celebrating the life-giving Sun, and celebrating the full expression of who we really are.

The way in which we celebrate it however, will be different depending on the signs and clues that Mother Nature brings us.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the December Solstice is a time to go within and reflect. It is a time to honour the darkness and to know that light will rise once again.

It is a time to allow the Sun, the very essence of who we are to sleep, to rest, to recharge, and to restore. It is about honouring that for the light to shine brightest, we have to venture into the dark and make peace with what we find there.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the December Solstice is very much the dark night of the soul and we experience the longest night of the year.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the December Solstice brings the longest day of the year, and is a time to let yourself shine. It is a time to express your full potential and allow your inner light to light up the world around you.

Even though these two expressions may be different, they are all helping to achieve the same purpose.

The December Solstice is about honouring that although we may experience the longest day, the darkness will come again, and although we may experience the longest night, the light will come again.

Although we see duality, everything is one and the same. We cannot perceive light unless we have seen the darkness, we cannot understand summer unless we have seen the winter. Both of these concepts need one another to be real.

There is really only one state, all else is an illusion. We are one. Light and dark are one. We are everything and nothing all at the same time.

On this 2019 December Solstice, we are reminded that no matter how dark the night, the light will always return. And no matter how light the day, the darkness will always return.

We live in a world where we can be happy one moment and sad the next. In an instant, your life can change. In an instant, you can be faced with death and pain or birth and pleasure.

We live in a world where all of these shades exists. The highs. The lows. The struggles and the victories.

And although they may appear to be separate states of being, they are part of something bigger. They are a part of wholeness.

For we come into this human state to experience all shades, all colours, and all expressions of our emotional rainbow.

We come into this human life to suffer, to thrive, to find joy, and to find pain. We come to experience it all because we know it is what makes us whole.

Honour the cycles. And know that it is not about how often you venture into the darkness or into the light, but how you allow these states to move you, to change you, to soften you, and to awaken you to wholeness, that resides within and all around.

On this Solstice find your wholeness, and know that the light and the dark are one and the same. Don’t regret the moments spent in darkness, and don’t hold on too tightly to the light. There is no dark or light, there just is. It is just one. It is just a whole. Don’t fight the darkness. Don’t fight the light. Just make peace with both these states and see them as part of something bigger and more infinite. See them as simply labels that our mind uses to make sense of the world. They are nothing more. No labels. Just be. Just be as you are and accept whatever comes your way. Use it to make you whole.

Author : Tanaaz 'Forever Conscious'