On Sunday we embarked on the mighty chore of hanging lights on the house. Digging out old dusty boxes from the shed, fumbling through miles of tangled wires and garland while I shivered in the cold was not my idea of enjoying the Sabbath.
And yet, as I stood at the end of the drive way that night, admiring the twinkling white lights through the thick black night, I smiled ear to ear. It seems to me the hanging of lights is an incredible spiritual practice and ritual of recognizing luminosity no matter how dark the night.
Climbing into the womb of winter, we enter a metaphorical season of internal focus. We turn our attention to the life within as the life without fades; gardens die, flowers fade, summer dissolves. If we peel back the wisdom of the seasons, we find the deeper invitation to discover the eternal truth untouched and undistracted by such change.
Some know this particular time of year as Advent, the season of preparation for the coming Christ. What does “preparation for the coming Christ” mean as a universal teaching?
Birthing our enlightened consciousness and living a luminous, loving life is a moment to moment alignment with truth; and I can think of no better preparation then that! Yet as the days grow shorter and darker, it seems ever more important to kindle the remembrance of light that never dims, to feed the eternal flame of love in the hearth of the heart, to hold a vigil to the radiance of the Beloved, and to become anointed in our true divine heritage.
So as I begin my new ritual of turning on the house lights at dusk, I will light my own awareness of what is pure, perfected luminosity in the soul of humanity. And as the darkest nights of winter are yet to come, let us hold this light of remembrance for each other.
(Please contact me in December for private yogic or meditation instruction. We will resume group classes in January.)
