Mother’s Night….
As I sit down to write this today, I look back at the last time I was here, writing on a regular basis – 2022, the Autumn, looking towards Preparing for the Descent into the long dark. Feeling into the Crone as She was rising.
Something came along during that long dark that took my focus away from my monthly writings; sitting here, I can’t place my finger on just what it was, but I do know that specific practices come and then eventually go for me, and I have learned to trust their timing.
The urge to write has been rising in me for weeks this year… the creative fire inside my soul has not been depleted as it often is by this time and I am joyous around that. 2025 has been a year of shedding the work that is not rooted in reciprocity, as in, anything that requires performance rather than authenticity in my offerings; anything that takes more than it gives to my soul. As a healer, a therapist, a witch, a medicine woman… I have found that it is only the outer systems that do that. When I sit with people in authentic medicine spaces, I am nurtured and fulfilled by walking alongside souls in their journeys, and because I am not running myself to depletion for the system, I am also putting myself in other places to be held in medicine. Performance for the system, for the shiny plastic illusions of depth, for anything that wants me to be less or hidden – this is what I have been Shedding in the year of the Snake.
So here we are on Mother’s Night, the eve of the Winter Solstice. Such a potent threshold into the liminal Dreamtime of now until the new year turns over. For some, that’s not until Imbolc or the lunar new year; but for me it is the 12 days of Yuletide that is the portal.
This is where I spend time in the Stillness.
This Darkest part of the year, blessed with the Quiet.
I am Listening.
Watching the skies for the Wild Hunt, for the Horned Ones, for those Who Gift and Take.
For the Hag of Winter, the Crone Herself, walking the land and stirring Her Cauldron.
Dreaming In what is Next.
And so, I offer you all this simple ritual practice that I see has caught the Collective Consciousness (I’ve seen it across platforms this year in a variety of unfoldings):
To Gather:
– Either one large white candle that can burn for many hours over 12 days;
Or – 12 smaller candles (votives) that you will burn each night.
– Paper, scissors, your favourite pen, matches
– A ritual jar or box that can hold 13 pieces of folded paper
– A fire-proof container (metal pot, cauldron, etc)
– Designate an altar you will come back to each night.
The Ritual:
Tonight, on the eve of Solstice, create 13 strips of paper. On each piece, write a wish, a dream for the coming year. Fold them up so you cannot see what is written, and place them in your Ritual Jar or Box.
As the darkness falls tonight (my Celtic blood knows that all begins in the Darkness), light your candle and reflect upon all the women in your lineage, both blood and soul. On Mother’s Night we honour all those who brought us forth, both in body and in spirit. Reflect upon the Feminine Divinity in your tradition and make any offerings or journal your thoughts, as seems fitting.
Then choose a piece of paper from your Ritual Jar at random, and burn it.
Watch it burn, feeling into how your dream-wish is now with the Universe/Source/Spirit/the Goddess.
When you feel ready, thank any Guides, Spirits, Ancestors, and Divinity that were with you and blow out your candle to close your ritual.
Each night from tonight through to new years eve, repeat the burning ritual. That is 12 nights of burning in total, leaving you one dream-wish remaining; this is the one that is yours to bring about in 2026. The rest are with the Universal energies to manifest, (in partnership with you), within the unfolding that is right for your journey.
You can add in other elements to each night if that feels aligned; there are many associations with each night of Yuletide, and if that calls you, I encourage you do a bit of research or just allow the Spirits and your Soul to guide you each night.
As well, for those of you who use shamanic journey, I have recorded guided journeys that you are welcome to travel along on in Darkest Night of the Winter Solstice. One is live now, another is on its way and will be published soon. They are designed for this night, AND, this threshold is with us for a few days, as the sun appears to have stopped moving in the sky – so use them as they work for your schedule.
Link can be found below:
May each of you find the dreams that are for you this coming year as we move through this portal. If you are called, I will be hosting an online DreamBoard, Tarot, & Journey circle in January that can extend your dream-wishes for the year of the Horse, held within the community container – details can be found here: https://ourhaven.ca/dream-board-tarot-journey-night
To Know the Dark
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~ Wendell Berry
Blessing to you all within the long Dark.
~Nikki
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~ Nourish Your Spirit 