A Time for Reflection and Introspection

I always have some bi-polar feelings this time of year! It seems like my introverted side and my extroverted side have a little battle. The introvert wants to stay in. My introvert wants to stay in and my extrovert wants to go dancing at all the parties!   

Having experienced these feelings for many years, I was happy to find the Pagan perspective on this, it made a lot of sense to me.  

The Winter Solstice is the longest night, it's the darkest time of year. We start the slide into the darkness at Halloween time (Samhain), and start coming out of it at Brigid (Groundhog day) Feb 2nd. In all those months, it's a great time of reflection, introspection and planning the garden we want to plant for the new year.

We humans have long resisted these deeper places, these deeper processes. We seem to have a natural fear of the darkness. In my pagan studies, I learned how so much of our power comes from our dark places, because those are the places where we are really intimate with ourselves. That's the place we can speak our truth from.

So I encourage even the extroverts out there -- take a little break from the running around, catch up on your rest, take a bath, and breathe into your deeper self. 

See what treasures are in there for you! 

If you need some further inspiration, check out this poem On Listening by Ralph Roughton."