Journey of the Heart

Winter has always called to me to cocoon, to retreat inward deep into the layers of me… During winter I sit in its cold still waiting and bring myself to inner reflecting; waiting, like the cold winter earth to rebirth into newness.  As we gather on the darkest of nights, let us remember that it is our light that pierces the dark with illuminating love.   Photography by Lisa Saraswati Cawley Winter Solstice: The Longest of Nights winter's breath, calls in the darkest of nights- beauty black, shortness of light. the sun kisses the stars, the moon embraces dark- join now circle of women our light we now spark. circle of shes, we who gather in singing, bring forth the night- in our humble existing. we sing of the barren branch, the cold winter wind rising- the darkest of nights, our intentions now binding. fire that burns our souls to blend, the darkest of nights- will soon slumber and end. each day will bring us, to the ...

I’ve suffered, for many years, with a sunlight deficiency condition… It leaves me fatigued and prone to depression – especially during the winter months.  This poem visits some of my feelings at the turning of the year from Summer to Autumn and Winter, my resolve to embrace the seasons and to impute sunshine and warmth to my life, even during the heart of the Dark. Harvest As the days shrink and the nights invade the space where they should be, I will reach back to the heart of Summer and bring, cradled in my heart, a single Solstice Sunbeam. I will grow it, nurture it, feed it with candles and fragrant oils from tropical flowers, Yoga-stretch it and clothe it in colour until, in the depths of Winter’s ink-black gaze, I reach my arms wide, laugh aloud and with the power of equatorial days, blaze; my spirit bright, defy the night and with Spring in my heart and Summer in my belly, remove the season’s bushel and shin...