Winter Solstice Ritual

Instead of talking at you for 20 minutes or so, I've uploaded this winter solstice ritual to help you get the most benefit out of a solstice celebration.  I recommend listening once through, then listen again when you do the ritual.  You will need a small table or stand, a small piece of paper and something to write with, a bowl, a container of water and a lighter or matches.  I hope you enjoy the ritual and experience the power of ritual and I would love to hear about your experience!  You can contact me through my Facebook group Fearlessly Feral Living, or on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/Fearlesslyferal?fan_landing=true

Transcript

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Welcome to Fearlessly Feral Living. This is Reverend Karen coming at you from the Woogie Ranch out here in the back 40 of Western Nevada, where I'm a half an hour away from the nearest gas station and the nearest grocery store. And this is a podcast devoted to using new thoughts, spiritual principles to ensure successful creative living. Today I'm going to do something a little bit different. Instead of talking at you for 20 minutes or so, I want to share with you a winter solstice ritual that I created just this morning on this beautiful solstice day of December 21st, 2021. This is going to be a little bit of a different podcast because I'm going to ask you to ask you to do along with listening. And I'm also going to leave all of my pauses in the podcast. And I don't know if anybody's ever done a ritual via podcast before, but I can't see any reason why I couldn't. Besides, if someone ever tells me I can't do something, it's like waving a red flag in front of a bull. I'll go out and do it just to show them that I can. So onward. You are actually going to do this ritual, and I'll walk you through all the steps. This is one of those podcasts where you can't get the full benefit of it if you listen while driving or while doing laundry, as I'm prone to do when I'm listening to podcasts. I do encourage you to listen once ahead of time so you know what to expect and prepare for, and then listen again and do. Or you can just be spontaneous about it. Either way is fine. And I want to thank the Queen of Rituals, Reverend Carol Huntley, for introducing me to the world and the power of ritual. Through her class in ministerial school, I learned the joy of ritual, and I use ritual as a spiritual tool in my life quite frequently. Rituals are powerful and they transcend space, which is why I think you'll be able to get just as much benefit from a podcasted ritual as you can from one done in person. And I do encourage you to contact me and let me know how you do with this podcasted ritual because if it works, I'll probably do more. And one more thing before I begin. Be safe. You're gonna have a little bit of fire in this ritual, just a little bit. Be sure that when you light your very small piece of paper on fire, that you keep it in the bowl and have plenty of water on hand for dousing if needed. You can also substitute flash paper, which is really cool stuff. I'm fresh out of my supply of flash paper, or I would use it as well. But living in the back 40, if as I do, I have to order it online, so it'll be a while before it gets here. And for those of you that like to write essays when doing this kind of stuff, I'm encouraging you to keep it simple. Dial it down to one or two words. You can do this. I know this about you. I have faith in you. You can do this, you can get it down to one or two words. Okay, gather your props. You'll need a small table or a place to put a bowl, a container of water, a piece of paper, and either a lighter and some mat or some matches. I have a place outside on my property that I have designated as my ritual spot. It's the same place I go to for all of my rituals. You can do your ritual outside, but be sure to do it away from trees and shrubbery. And if it's windy where you are when you do this ritual, move your ritual indoors. Be safe, guys. Use some common sense with this. Go ahead and pause the podcast and gather your props. And while you do, I'm encouraging you to breathe throughout the preparation of this podcast. Being conscious of our breath signals our bodies and our minds that we are preparing to sink into something sacred, something deeper, something a little more than just every day breathing and living. So breathe while you gather your props. And now that you have your props gathered, breathe some more. Get still. Breathe until you can take a full breath without effort and take a few more full breaths. This will center and relax you. And I'm gonna ask a couple of questions in this ritual. I'm providing you with my answers for the sake of doing the rituals smoothly. I want you to substitute your answers when you do this ritual. Just take my answer out and plop yours in there. The first question I want you to ask through and from your breath is what creates darkness in my life? Write that word down on your small piece of paper. One or two, possibly three words. This is not an essay. One or two or three words. I have one word. My word is anxiety. That's what creates darkness in my life right now. Second question. Ask yourself, what would create light in my life? I have three words relaxation, confidence, and faith. Now, originally faith came out as knowingness that all is well always. And I shortened it down to one word. See how easy that is? Relaxation, confidence, and faith. Now, wherever you are doing your ritual, I want you to face East. And I say, Welcome East and air. I welcome the breath of new life that comes with air and also the breath of relaxation. I welcome East to provide me with sacred inspiration, knowing what new wants to be born. Turn and face south. I welcome the south to provide me with the passion needed to support all of my endeavors and the fire to additionally support my transformation. Face West Welcome West and water. I welcome the West to provide me with creativity and open mindedness, and water to ensure sure and steady flow towards all of my intentions. Welcome North and Earth. I welcome North to provide me with the structure needed to accomplish my intentions, and Earth to provide me with the foundation and the groundedness to give that structure support. I celebrate this solstice day as I stand and face my table. And I honor the sacred meaning here. And as I stand here with this piece of paper upon which I have written that which signifies darkness for me, anxiety. I breathe, eliminating this body freezing anxiety. And I continue to breathe once again until I can take a full exhale and a full inhale. And I breathe as many times as is necessary until I can do so. And I take this paper and I burn it using the fire to completely once and for all eliminate this darkness from my life. I release this anxiety with gratitude, knowing that it has served me well at times. It has frozen my emotions and allowed me to do the things necessary to survive, but I have survived now. There are no longer any events in my life that threaten my very survival, and you, anxiety, can be released now through the fire, into that air which will take you and allow you to move on. I claim now the dousing effects of water, which I know also ensure sure and steady flow towards my new intention, that of relaxation and confidence and faith. All is well and all continues to be well. And I release this water back into the earth, allowing the earth to also claim this darkness, recycling it into new life and new light. I welcome the new light of relaxation, confidence, and faith into my life. I thank you, East and Air, for your continued support, always reminding me to breathe. I thank you, South and Fire, for your continued passion. I thank you, West and Water, for your continued creativity and flow. And I thank you, North and Earth, for your continued wisdom and groundedness and structure. And so I end this ritual of transformation on this solstice day, knowing I have been transformed. And so it is.com slash fearlessly feral. Once again, I wish you well from the back 40 of northwestern Nevada and I wish you a very happy solstice. Thank you.