Solstice Light
By Berta Moonchild
? November 2, 2004
It is so cold that your fingers and toes feel like they have fallen off, but you keep walking. Your breath could freeze in front of you if you didn’t walk into it as you trudge along. The rim of ice on top of the snow crunches under your feet, every now and then making a squeaky sound of friction from the rubber soles of your red galoshes. As you walk you can’t help but hum “Jingle Bells” and skipping a little—when nobody is looking!
On bright sunny days like these, you wonder why it is so cold! It should be warmer since the sun is shining. Yet it is always coldest when the winter sun shines on the white snow. You see the thin sheet-ice along the edge of the road, and STOMP on it to crack it, reveling in the satisfying CRUNCH that ensues! Such simple pleasures!
Now you begin to wonder how much farther until you get home—it seems so far today, when it is the same walk you take twice each day before and after school. Maybe it is the expectation of what is waiting for you at home! The warm fire, the delicious smells of Mom cooking something warm, the hot chocolate. Perhaps it is just the excitement that school is out and you will get to stay home, bake cookies, and help plan the Yule party.
In a few nights it will be the Solstice, the longest night of the year. It is the time when we gather together to celebrate our friends and family. A time when we share stories and jokes, we dance and sing, and just have fun. It is the time we light the Yule log to ensure warmth for the household, protection, prosperity, and joy. A celebration of light; a celebration of the Goddess in her white mantle of light.
This year the moon will be full for Yule, and we shall dance and sing beneath her shining face. The solstice light will bring the brightness of day to a special night.
As you arrive home, you realize how much you are looking forward to this Yule, because the Goddess watches over you, and She is the solstice light!