Last night I attended a last minute Winter Solstice ceremony at my dear friend, Courtney's, house. As the story goes, Courtney had been meditating in the bathtub at around 7pm and received a "message" to hold a small Winter Solstice ceremony in her living room...for the following hour. So, when I received her text about something to do with intentions and manifestation and essential oils and candles and crystals, and wine, I turned off my oven, left my partially-cooked spaghetti squash to fend for itself, got in the car and drove my little hippy ass 45 minutes over to her.
I arrived at Courtney's home, where she had created an alter for the ceremony, in the center of her and her husband's studio apartment. The table was adorned with crystals and gems, evergreen branches, candles, and a painting of her favorite stone. Each element intentional and so, so beautiful.
Crystals are to Courtney, what oils are to me. I've never really gotten into using crystals as tools for healing and living, in general. Essential Oils and Yoga are about as granola as I've gotten and I'm very selective about my weirdness. But since Courtney is wildly talented and owns her own handmade, one-of-a-kind jewelry company, I'm slowly but surely getting down with the quartz and the pyrite...
So, here's how we did the Solstice thing...
Each person gets their own candle (preferably a white one)
You can add anything you want to the top of the candle, but we used:
1) 1 drop of a therapeutic-grade essential oil blend (that I'd LOVE to tell you about in a private email. Because I can't tell you my company name on my blog. Because FDA).
2) A tiny rosebud: rose is the highest frequency flower in the essential oil and healing world. It represents the purest love and emits the highest vibration. So, that's cool.
3) Pyrite: for abundance, grounding and protection
4) Amethyst: known as the "stone of sobriety" to help clear the mind and keep focus & clarity
5) Silver: just for a touch of magic...I think.
6) Good, good, good, good vibrations
We then took a small strip of paper and wrote down our intentions, desires and wishes for the new year. You can keep it as minimal and simple or elaborate and loaded as you like. Write one word, or write a hundred words. My suggestion: when brainstorming all the things you want to manifest in your life, think about how you want to FEEL in your life, before you think about what you want to DO in it. (More to come on this loaded topic, but for now, just do that.)
We lit our candle with a match and then burned the piece of paper, holding all our hopes and intentions for the year ahead, because a ceremony isn't a ceremony if you don't light something on fire. Am I right?
As an early birthday gift to me, (which is on January 6th FYI), Courtney sent me home with a huge hunk of rose quartz because I'm pretty sure I'm gonna wanna go ahead and get married someday soon, and rose quartz is good for attracting love, so...
I will use the large stone to cleanse and "charge" my new rose quartz necklace from HabitationCo.!
Even if you're not into the "Winter Solstice Woo-Woo", this ritual is a really grounding, clarifying and fun way to ring in the new year or a new chapter in your life.
What rituals or traditions do you do??
Wholeheartedly,
Erica