Winter Solstice
Wheel of the Year Spread to Engage the Seasonal Energies
The Northern Crown
Look into the Northern sky
to the Big Dipper at Winter Solstice.
The Dipper’s 7 stars—matching 7 frequencies in the crown chakra,
activate the Christ Consciousness and its codes of enlightenment
through your pituitary gland.
Nearby, deep in a sea of the Aurora Borealis’
brilliant lights, off the tip of the Dipper’s handle,
lie the 7 stars of the Northern Crown.
As the Wheel of the Year turns past Winter Solstice,
the light of the Crown’s brightest star guides all souls
into the higher realms, in wait for the next awakening.
There, beyond the jeweled trellis of the Crown’s archway,
the Dipper’s ladle points the way to Polaris.
At the very center of the Milky Way—
lighting-up memory and connection to the center of
the galaxy through the pineal gland—
lies the pathway to your inner kingdom.
Deep in the Milky Way Galaxy lies the Northern Polestar —also known as Polaris or the North Star. From an Earthly perspective, its position in the Northern sky lies just off the top right corner of the Big Dipper’s ladle at the tip of the Little Dipper’s handle. The Big Dipper’s handle points to the Northern Crown—Corona Borealis.
This constellation—3000 light years away—dims and brightens in a rhythmic dance with a neighboring white dwarf and red giant in a cycle of approximately 80 years.
In Spring 2023, it began to dim again and sometime in the Fall 2024, its brightest star—The Blaze Star—goes nova, illuminating the Northern sky and meeting the brightness of the North Star, second only in luminosity to Sirius.
The last time the Blaze Star went nova was in 1946.
Both the Big Dipper, also known as Ursa Major, and the Corona Borealis have 7 stars. Each of these constellations represents both the connection to the 7th or Crown chakra, and its glandular relative, the Pituitary gland, which manufactures and releases the 7 primary endocrine hormones and controls the functions of the other endocrine glands.
Return of the Light
Winter Solstice is the day of shortest sunlight and longest night, anchoring the first day of the Yule season at midwinter.
On this day in the Northern hemisphere, a dark crack in the stones at Newgrange in the Bru Na Boinne, Ireland fills with the Suns’ golden brilliance for a brief moment in time to welcome the return of the light.
Meanwhile in the dark and starry skies, Winter holds space near the guiding light of the Polestar throughout the Yule season for both the transmigration of souls, and for the living—deep restoration and self-reflection.
Winter Solstice
This is the time for inner world magic, dreaming, healing, visioning, birth, death and rebirth. It is a time when the light is born again.
Here we rest, after a long journey home from the active days of Litha in Summer, through Fall harvest and into the dark security of Great Mother’s earth womb. Now we celebrate Winter Solstice—a time of longest dark and shortest light.
Inside the great womb of all earthly life, we experience sensation deprivation, listening to the murmurings of those who lie sleeping, and scents of the dank and musty soil of Earth’s connective tissues. In this container we are enveloped by darkness, accompanied only by our inner vision and our desire to die to the old and grow again. This is the place and the time for rest—restoring and healing for a while, before making our way back into the light, bit by bit, as inspiration beckons, awakening us again to plant new seeds.
Create a place for yourself in the blessed warmth of Great Mother’s cauldron, to be alone without outer world distractions. Lie down or sit in a comfortable chair.
Close your eyes and go within to create space for stillness inside, your senses gradually softening, expanding your inner world. Here you become intimate with your higher self, witnessing—aware of your awareness.
Newgrange, Ireland
Early morning light penetrates a passage and chamber deep inside a megalithic tomb (neolithic era) in New Grange, Ireland, marking the Winter Solstice at sunrise. Ancient Celts and their ancestors savored this very brief moment each year as the Wheel of the Year slowly turns toward the light of Spring.
Practice
Gentle Movement: Sensing
Sit quietly, in a chair or on the floor and gently dance and sway or undulate to your own inner rhythms and music.
Natural Breathing: Feeling
Breathe naturally as you move your body slowly in all directions. Allow the breath to direct your movements.
Quiet Reflection: Seeing
Close your eyes and continue to breathe naturally. Follow the breath into your body, watching and feeling how your body responds to your breath. Just notice.
Meditation for Mid-Winter
Four Winds of Yule
Four winds blow. Four Winds burn. Four winds spray. Four winds yearn.
Stand to face Northward and feel the pull of winter’s cave deep
inside the tree of life. Feel the healing and protection they offer in the time of restoration. The power of initiation fills the cave as you rest and go within.
Now imagine you stand at the crossroads in center, receiving the incredible abundance of the four directions as they merge with your human vibration, meeting inside your body, as within, so without, as above, so below.
Connect to the Earth, calling the divine feminine energies up from the ground into to the soles of your feet. Connect to the Heavens, calling the divine masculine energies down from above into your crown.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Feel the energy running through you, knowing your body is a conduit and sacred vessel for the abundance of all things.
Turn again now to the north, the last quarter on the Wheel of the Year. Anchor yourself, merging with the tree, its roots and soil, so dank you can smell it. Feel the Earth under your bare feet growing roots to ground your body for a quiet, reflective winter’s rest.
Visualize a bundle of sticks that represent old agreements related to your unconscious mind, physical body and any health concerns, darkness and conflict. Break the sticks, releasing effort and anything else that keeps you from moving forward with total freedom.
Breathe in, filling yourself with the sacred element of earth, from the bottom of your feet upward, into the first chakra at the root of your spine, and back down through your grounding cord. Notice how your grounding at the root affects your crown. Place the broken sticks in a pile at the center of the crossroads, breathing out the protective mantle of winter, bowing deeply to the north. Be present as the soil of the season covers them, leaving the entropy to feed the earth.
Your body and soul are healed and restored inside the protection of the earthen cave of spirit!
Winter Solstice Spread: Cycles & Symbols on the Wheel of the Year
Use 10 Sacred Body Oracle Cards
The Wheel is like a timeline, and can be used for any cycle—the year to come, your breath (inhaling, sustaining, exhaling, retaining), a one-year cycle, intention and steps toward a goal, phases of the Moon, your creative process, and more. Use this spread to establish a path for a specific vision or interest, to support your discovery during an unknown journey, or to see more clearly what lies beneath the stepping stones of something known and already in process.
The symbolism is applicable in any context. Please set an intention for your cycle.
Ways to engage with the Wheel of the Year Spread:
-Follow along with the spread shown here for the Yuletide Season beginning today at Winter Solstice
-Divine and follow your own spread if you have the Sacred Body Oracle deck
-Divine and follow your own spread with a different Oracle or Tarot Deck
Place one card in center and then one-by-one arrange the next 8 cards in a circle around center according to the 8 seasons. An outcome card may be placed over the center card at the end of the reading.
Card 1: Center: You in present time
Origins: You are currently in a chrysalis state, generating the energy to burst forth, creating your personal Butterfly Effect!
Card 2: North: Restoration & Healing; Alchemy: nigredo—breaking down, dark nights, confession
Physical Body: Ground your root into the center of the Earth—the portal is open, calling you in to dream and explore the realm of rebirth.
Card 3: NE: Planting the Seeds
Unity: You are standing at the threshold, the precipice and in-between states of growth and evolution.
Card 4: East: Inspiration & New Beginnings; Alchemy: albedo—illumination, purification
The Riverbed: Attunement to the balance of energy in your primary energy channels is advised—Central Channel-vital energy distribution, body-mind communication; Sun Channel-activity, movement, stress; Moon Channel-receptivity, rest & digest.
Card 5: SE: Fertility, Abundance
Healing: Fully embrace your current life to manifest change and move forward
Card 6: South: Cleansing & Transformation; Alchemy: citrinitas—education, wisdom, light of the sun
Vortexes: Epiphanies! Your felt senses of body, breath, emotion and thought light up the depths of understanding.
Card 7: SW: Early Harvest
Self-Healing & Mastery: Healing your body through your energy blueprint leads to mastery.
Card 8: West: Harvest & Devotion; Alchemy: rubedo—transformation, wholeness, philosopher’s stone
Northern Cave: Take some time to settle into the Earth’s mantle; breathe, restore and integrate.
Card 9: NW: Endings, Late Harvest
Gateways to the Heights: You are ready to embody the spiritual energies of Earth & Cosmos, the messages of your chakra system and their connections to your physical body.
Card 10: You as the Outcome of your Intention
Knowingness: The salmon of knowledge eats the hazel nut to gain the wisdom of the tree.
Watch for weekly posts—symbolism and practices following the Wheel of the Year. Next week begins tomorrow with Primordial Power—kundalini and your central channel.
The “Sacred Body Pathworking: Mapping the Evolutionary Journey,” calendar journal is available for purchase here--scroll down to the bottom of the linked page. It comes to you with a complimentary 72-card, Sacred Body Oracle deck—when ordered by December 31, 2024.
All content is copyrighted in “Sacred Body Pathworking: Mapping the Evolutionary Journey,” published by the Energetic Connection, LLC.