'Tis the Season! Winter 2025

By Rev. Carol Bodeau

Happy Holiday Season!

It is the time of year when people of a wide variety of religious traditions celebrate a 'season of lights.' Christians (and most everyone in the secular sense) celebrate Christmas; Jewish people celebrate Hannukah; earth-centered people celebrate the Winter Solstice. At Westside, we honor many of these traditions, and some others in the late fall and early winter, as a way of honoring our neighbors of many cultures.

At the center of most of these traditions is the simple fact that December 20-21 is the time of the solstice. In the northern hemisphere, it is the winter solstice, when light is least and days are shortest. In the southern hemisphere, it is summer solstice, when days are longest. Either way, it is the literal moment of the 'turning of the season.' And people throughout time around the world have found ways to mark this annual shift.

A lone figure stands before a glowing candle labyrinth in the forest under a starlit sky, capturing the magic and warmth of the festive season.

This week, we will be celebrating a tradition that goes back many years at Westside, but much farther in our cultural history. On the winter solstice, we gather to deepen into reflection by walking a 'solstice spiral,' an actual path of greens that we lay out on our sanctuary floor. Walking meditation paths are an ancient and cross-cultural tradition in which humans intentionally walk in a non-linear design as a way of deepening the mind and awareness into a more reflective, contemplative place.

Our celebration focuses on the power of silence and stillness, on the simple beauty of nature, and on shifting away from the hubbub of the world and into a more centered, less frantic place. But you don't have to literally walk a spiral path to find this place, though spiritual practices like meditation, sacred walking, and listening to music can certainly be aids in the process. You may find this place by sitting in your garden, or looking at photos of loved ones. You may find it dancing to loud music, or resting in the silence of a forest. It may come upon you suddenly, when you are struck by a sunset or sunrise. Or perhaps it is something you consciously and intentionally remind yourself to cultivate as you go about your daily life.

At the winter solstice, we are particularly invited to honor and appreciate the richness of the dark. Though we cultivate the light in response to the dark of the year, it is also good to enjoy what some call 'the fertile dark.' Like the dark soil that rests in winter from the busy activity of summer growth, we can appreciate the womb-like nature of the winter season, giving ourselves rest and renewal.

I hope that, however you greet this season of turning, you are able to abide in a place that full of life and yet restful.

Happiest of holidays, everyone.

Rev. Carol