Making December Magic! (Part 4)
Part 4: Solstice spell and ritual
We have to remember that we are living under a spell, and this spell is destroying our worlds. It’s time to cast another spell, to call other worlds into being, to conjure other worlds within this world.
-Natasha Myers, How to Grow Livable Worlds
Dear Reader,
Are you ready? Here comes my favorite part!
(I can’t say that without thinking of that line from the song Belle in Beauty and the Beast: “Oh, isn’t this amazing! It’s my favorite part because - you’ll seeeeee….” :)
Welcome to part 4 of the Making December Magic series! So far, we have reviewed, remembered, named the past year, and begun dreaming into the new year. Now it is time to be clear about
What we are releasing
Where we stand in this moment
And where we want to go.
Welcome to your solstice spell and ritual!
Why spells1?
Words are spells. Anytime we put words out into the world, we are putting energy into motion via those words. Our words carry energy and intention (whether we are aware or not), and as such can shape the world. I say this with humility, not in the sense that words alone change the world, but words can and do change the world.
If you are still wondering “why spellwork?”, I offer these words of explanation from my doctoral dissertation, in the section talking about the dissertation as a spell:
Spells themselves are acts of reciprocity with the world around us, acknowledging our entanglement with the land and unseen entities, an acknowledgement that we intra- act (Barad, 2014) with the world. In Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown (2017a) offered spellcasting as a practice of generating personal and collective resilience, healing, and transformation. Robin Wall Kimmerer (2013) described writing as a way of being in reciprocal relationship with the world, honoring our responsibility to the world, and a way to express our unique gift as humans. Kimmerer explained:
Asking what is our responsibility is perhaps also to ask, What is our gift? And how shall we use it? . . . We may not have wings or leaves, but we humans do have words. Language is our gift and our responsibility. I’ve come to think of writing as an act of reciprocity with the living land. Words to remember old stories, words to tell new ones. (p. 347)
In expressing our gift of words, we engage in reciprocity with the world, enacting our responsibility to the world, a way we can give back, as Kimmerer further noted:
For me, writing is an act of reciprocity with the living world; it is what I can give back in return for everything that has been given to me (p. 152).
For me, creating my solstice spell is a way of being in reciprocal relationship with the world, a way of honoring that relationship. It’s a powerful way to declare what I am ready to release and what I want to call in. The solstice spell is an articulation of the old stories I want to let go of, and the articulation of the new stories I want to live into. It is also the culmination of this December reflection process.
Why solstice?
The moment of the winter solstice - of the sun’s greatest distance from the earth - is Thursday, December 21st at 10:27pm Eastern time. The solstice is a major turning point in the year. The December solstice is the winter solstice for the northern hemisphere, and the summer solstice for the southern hemisphere2. It marks the official change of seasons and start of the new season. In the north, it is the darkest day (the day with the least amount of daylight) and also marks the day when the days start to lengthen again.
The solstices and equinoxes are celebrated and honored in many cultures, especially earth-based cultures that honor natural cycles. For those of us who have grown up in cultures that are disconnected from natural rhythms, honoring the solstices and equinoxes can be a way of reconnecting and reclaiming of this relationship. Most of my ancestors came from northwestern Europe (Ireland, Scotland, England) and I can be certain that sometime in the distant past, they honored this day. So for me, celebrating and honoring the solstice is a form of ancestral reconnection. It is a decolonial praxis.
We may not know exactly how our ancestors celebrated. If we can know, it can be wonderful to reclaim those traditions. But when we can’t, I believe we can create our own, new ways of remembering and honoring these relationships with natural cycles.
Solstice Ritual and Spell
You can make your ritual as formal or informal as you want, elaborate or simple as you want. You can do the steps alone or with friends. Adapt the process as it suits you. Make it your own. Enjoy!
As noted above, the 2023 solstice is Dec. 21 at 10:27pm Eastern Time. It is potent to do the ritual at the moment of peak elongation, but you can do the ritual anytime around the solstice, even within a day or two. I am a mother. I will do it when I find a moment. Whatever moment you can find to do it is a good moment.
Preparation and opening
To prepare or as part of the ritual, it can be nice to clean yourself (bathe shower, or even just wash your hands) and meditate or spend some moments in prayer to center yourself. Even three mindful breaths can do a lot. If you have a bell, ring it. If you have a song, sing it. Find some way that is meaningful to you to open the space.
Step 1: Release
Since I have been doing this for a while, I take my 2023 solstice spell, read it, and then burn it. I give thanks for everything from the spell that came to fruition, see what wants to be carried forward, and release what needs to be left behind.
If you don’t have a spell from last year, you can write a list of things from the past year that you want to let go of and that you don’t want to carry forward, and burn them.
It hopefully goes without saying, but if you use fire, treat it with the respect it deserves and always do it in a safe way. An alternative to burning is ripping it up and burying it (or just ripping up and recycling).
Step 2: Solstice Spell
Now you are ready to create your solstice spell. Using the free writing you did in the earlier steps (or doing additional free writing to the prompts below), your spell can distill the key ideas that came through, using more succinct phrases and ideas written as affirmations (I-statements in the present tense). The idea with the spell is to be clear and succinct.
The following prompts can be a guide for the structure of the spell (feel free to use all from each section or just one, or create your own. It’s your spell!). These prompts were inspired by this podcast episode with adrienne maree brown, which I highly recommend listening to if you would like some guidance and inspiration.
Gratitude
I honor…
I celebrate…
I am grateful for…Release
I let go of…I leave behind…
I release…
Present Moment Power
I stand in (my strengths, my gifts, my ancestors, the land)…
Calling in
I step into…
I call in…Commitment (what will you commit to doing to make this happen? What’s your part?)
I commit to…Write your spell on a piece of paper, ideally using nice paper and pen3. Make it pretty and artistic if you want. Speak it out loud somewhere outside. Place it on your home altar (or you could put it under your mattress, or wherever has meaning for you).
Step 3: Gratitude
Offer gratitude to everything and everyone providing you with support and guidance, seen and unseen. Close the spell with gratitude.
Closing
As you opened, close with a few mindful breaths, a bell, or a song. Mark the closing of the space. Honor what you have created.
As I send this out, I am imagining all the spells you will be casting out into the world, imagining our world better for them. For I know if you’re here, dear Enchantable reader, you are working and practicing and living toward more just, peaceful, livable worlds. We need you, the world needs you. The world needs your wishes, desires, spells, and dreams. Please cast them and make them known.
Cast them for ceasefires and justice for all.
I imagine our spells working their way in the world for collective liberation and flourishing.
May our spells reverberate across space and time
Enriching each of our lives
And all lives we touch.
May our spells do their work for the greatest, highest good for all.
May these words weave their way into the collective, inspiring thriving and flourishing for all beings.
May it be so.
Happy solstice!
Love,
Stephanie
P.S. If you try it, let me know how it goes!
P.P.S. There will be one final installment of the Making December Magic series: Visualize. Materialize. Celebrate! Stay tuned!
People who have influenced my thinking and practice around spells adrienne maree brown, Natasha Myers, and Ro’t write about spells but talks about writing as reciprocity), as well as astrologer extraordinaire Chani Nicholas and lunar legend Sarah Faith Gottesteiner of the Moon Studio.
I am writing from the north so will be speaking to the winter solstice, but either way it is a remarkable day
My favorite pens of all time are ooly Radiant Writer glitter gel pens.