Hope at the beginning of the turn

Those following Gideon Heugh’s Advent Journey in Darkling will know that we have faced the longest night and are now at the cusp of the turn.

Solstice marks the beginning of the Turn–the slow hemispheric shift towards warmer, longer days: hope as a planetary motion.

At this time of solstice, the zenith of the dark betrays its vulnerability. It has peaked. And we are still here.

Now, it will begin to diminish. It will take time. It will be hard. Winter will not let go easily.

But it will, eventually, always, let go.

For now, we lay low. We hibernate. We curl up together in the deep furrows of the night; we let winter do its work.

At this time of solstice, at this moment of darkest dark, we can smile, knowing that the year has turned. That all things, one day, will turn.

O Holy Night.

+ Gideon Heugh, from December 22, in ‘Darkling: An Advent Journey.’