Honoring the Solstice
By Pernille Plantener, coach PCC and lead trainer of Needs-Based Coaching
Across cultures and centuries, the solstice has been a moment of pause—a turning point where darkness and light meet. Ancient traditions marked this day with rituals that spoke to deep human needs: connection, meaning, and renewal.
In this post, I hope to inspire you to ponder what really matters to you in this time of turning.
Writing this, I’m aware that if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, you’re not in sync here. You’ve got your solstice too, but with a very different energy, where light peaks and the season of fruition proclaims itself. May that come to the North, too, in turn!
For me in the North, the darkness is tangible these weeks, as a withheld breath within, as an irrational wondering; what is it in me that must burst for the light to re-enter?
The ancient Solstice traditions can point us toward what matters
Our lives back then aligned with nature, something many of us experience only sporadically these days. In earlier times, people built stone circles and temples to catch the first rays of the returning light. Think about the enormity of wo/man power, transportation of boulders, of glove-less hands, heavy lifts, squeezed fingers, devotion! Back then, we put all this into marking and celebrating the apex of the Earth’s journey around the sun and the mystery of days soon growing longer. The visual proof being the rising sun moving along the horizon toward the North, day by day (South, for our down-underers).
Humbly, I ask myself:
What does it mean for me today to live in rhythm with natural cycles?
Do I allow the quiet, inactive period in the year cycle to rest and replenish me? Do I let the past year settle within and enjoy its fruits, making space for something new to incubate? Do I notice time for celebration? Do YOU?
Without electricity and gas lamps, the dark season was very dark. Our ancestors met around the bonfire, and might it be that torches and candles were placeholders for the sun? Reminding us about the hope that light would return? Some of us still meet around a fire. Something about the sparks and crackling and fumes. It’s easy to be silent around a fire. To contemplate.
My introspection goes:
Where do I need light to return in my own life right now?
Not just ‘what’s next on my to-do list’, but looking for patterns in my relationships. What feels dark and closed, needing more light? Can I open myself to the blinding clarity that light brings? Can I step into the light and stand by myself? While allowing others to do the same? What about YOU?
In earlier days, community gatherings and shared gratitude glued us together, as Christmas and other cultural traditions do for many of us now. We gather to share food, stories, and offerings.
I raise my glance and look beyond the Christmas gift exchange rituals and ask:
How do I express gratitude for what sustains me during my dark seasons?
Those who have my back, who bear with my snappiness (you know who you are!), who trust me. GRATITUDE. In capital letters. What is more important than expressing to those who’ve touched us that they make a difference in our lives?
Whom have YOU not yet expressed your gratitude to, and for what?
The solstice invites us to slow down, reflect, and plant seeds for the next season. If the coming year were my last, how would I spend these precious, irreplaceable 365 days?
Would I muscle through my everyday duties as last year? I would see every little action from a new perspective. I would expand those moments of connection with those I care about, have conversations about what matters, and inhale the beauty of planet Earth and all its beings.
What would you do? What is even more important for you - if you don’t?
What inner seeds do you want to nurture as the light grows?
And whom would you like to share these reflections with?
I wish you a festive, reflective, and connecting turn-of-the-sun.
May you rest and replenish yourself.
May those you hold important notice your care and benefit from it.
May you find comfort in moments of loss and loneliness and relief in your busyness.
May you walk towards your dreams.