Did you know that Winter is the most powerful season to connect with the Sacred Feminine?
In this article, we delve into Winter as a Symbol of Feminine Power, exploring the feminine energy inherent in the season and how it can profoundly contribute to discovering a heightened sense of empowerment within our own Feminine power.
We’ll explore the wisdom embedded in embracing Winter, shedding light on various rituals and practices it offers to cultivate empowerment. Through this exploration, our aim is not only to empower ourselves but also to nurture the Sacred Feminine within us.
Why is Winter a Symbol of Feminine Power?
Winter’s darkness resonates deeply with the Feminine darkness, where dark is often linked to the Feminine, and light to the Masculine. It’s as if we find ourselves nestled in the womb-like space of Winter, of the Great Mother.
Picture a bear hibernating, turning inward. We are in the profound in-breath of Winter, where much transpires beneath the surface, yet perhaps not as visibly above it. In the realm of Nature, some perceive Mother Nature as slumbering, but in truth, Mother Nature is tirelessly at work. Below the surface, she labors energetically and physically, priming for Spring’s blossoming and the ripening energy of Summer. On the surface, Summer sees the fruition of this labor, as Mother Earth takes a brief rest.
This Winter period is profoundly rooted in the maternal, a time of womb-like existence and darkness, marked by nurturing and tending beneath the surface.
Embracing the Feminine aspect, delving beneath the surface invites us to explore our own shadows. It’s a journey into the subconscious, a time for self-reflection, and a quest to turn inward and find light within ourselves.
Amidst the darkness, there lies an opportunity to discover light. Through stillness, we can find a quiet calm within Winter’s Feminine energy.
Archetypally, Winter has been associated with the crone or the Cailleach archetype of the Wise Woman in Celtic tradition. This old Wise Woman carries the messages of the land and life. By immersing ourselves in this inner space, a profound wisdom becomes accessible during Winter, a wisdom not easily reached in other seasons.
The Sacred Nights of Winter, spanning from the Winter Solstice to around January 6th, capture a unique essence. This period, marked by the darkest Winter nights, offers a thinning veil where the Spirit world and our ancestors become palpable. It’s a beautiful convergence of Spirit and matter, a gift that Winter presents if approached consciously.
In stepping into Winter’s embrace with awareness, we uncover the profound gifts it offers.
Embracing Winter’s Wisdom
We want to embrace Winter’s wisdom and all of the tools, strategies and tips that can come with it to help us to take care of ourselves and to go deeper into the inner space.
I have a very special tool called the Sacred Nights of Winter Journal. This particular year that I’m writing this article, the journal is in its 10th edition. Every year I come out with a new theme. This year’s theme is Living Aligned with Nature, speaking about all the beautiful energy that Mother Nature gives to us that we can tap into so deeply, not only in the Winter, but throughout the entire year, using these Winter nights as an opportunity to connect with that energy.
The Principles of Nature will help us in the coming year to tap into our own Inner Wisdom, connect with our Inner Wise Self, and own our Sacred Feminine power that is more potently available to us through the Winter nights. You’ll be amazed at what the Sacred Nights of Winter Journal can do for you and how it can support you in the coming year.
Self care, reflection and inner work are so important during the depths of Winter.
This is a time when we’re often going against the grain of what Nature wants for us. We might be pushing the river, trying so hard to make something happen and then we get stopped, whether we get sick or something gets in our way and something thwarts our best laid plans.
Sometimes we get the cosmic two by four to the head, telling us to slow down and pause.
Winter is a time to self reflect, to take care of ourselves, to slow down, to find calm and to find peace.
This is such an important element of tapping into and embracing the wisdom of Winter.
Winter Rituals and Practices
There are a number of Winter rituals and practices. I’ve already mentioned the practice of journaling and working with the Sacred Nights of Winter Journal, and that’s through the entirety of this Yuletide, also known as the Twelve Nights of Christmas or Twelve Days of Christmas. It’s a tool to find the light within ourselves and tune into what we otherwise might not have been paying attention to.
Journaling is one ritual, but we can also create rituals for ourselves such as meditation and having special quiet tea time. I like to call it my Mama time, when I grab a cup of tea and I sit down and imagine myself speaking to the Great Mother of Life. In being within the womb of Her existence, Her holding, there’s something so comforting to me about doing that, and really allowing myself to be with Her.
That’s an example of a simple ritual that I’ve made a daily practice throughout the year, not just in the Winter time. I will say that it was Winter that started allowing me to connect with such practices and make a ritual out of them.
I invite you this Winter to think about what some of the rituals and practices are that you can do to turn inward, to quiet yourself and to create more stillness. Maybe it means setting some boundaries. Perhaps it means creating some new traditions, or whatever it is for you.
Allow yourself to tap into new and empowering rituals that help you connect with the Sacred Feminine & Winter Solstice. There are lots of rituals around them. I’ve done other articles about the Solstice. I also happen to have a Winter Solstice Gathering coming up. It’ll be on the Winter Solstice, which is December 21st. I have free quarterly gatherings at all of the quarterly festivals, the solstices and the equinoxes.
Having gatherings is a beautiful way to enjoy ritual or practice around Winter’s wisdom and the Feminine Wisdom of Winter to turn inward, to reflect upon the season, and to allow ourselves to connect with all of the Feminine energy, to embrace the darkness, and find the light within us.
Empowering the Sacred Feminine
Embracing the Sacred Feminine in the Winter proves to be surprisingly accessible. Yet, it’s worth acknowledging the distinctive ferocity or intensity inherent in the Feminine, reminiscent of the Cailleach character in Celtic tradition—a figure closely akin to the Russian Baba Yaga. On various levels, her actions may appear obstructive.
Folklore and fairy tales depict her as one who imposes formidable challenges on individuals traversing their Soul’s journey, hindering the completion of assigned tasks or the confrontation of inner struggles. Nevertheless, her profound beauty lies in compelling us to confront these challenges. Willingness to undertake these tasks results in a remarkable strengthening of character. In fact, she graciously imparts her own power to those who dare to embrace the journey.
Hence, there is a profound resonance with the archetype of the Elder Wise Woman, endowed with remarkable power, a force accessible to those navigating midlife and entering the second half of their lives. This phase invites us to approach our next stage of life in a novel manner, engaging in self-recreation, reinvention, and the reimagining of our future. This is a power that many of us begin to feel.
I remember a story of a friend that I met when I was in my 30s, and she had just turned 50 and she said to me, “Turning 50 changes everything. It’s like, you just don’t care what other people think. There’s something of just being able to do your own thing, and say it like it is, and tell it like it is.”
Not all of us can feel quite so comfortable with that, but I will say, now that I’m in my 50s, I totally agree with her and that is the energy of this Elder Wise Woman and this energy of Winter.
I’ve been aligning with Winter and this womb space for a really long time. It’s an opportunity to go into the depths of our being, and really get to know who we are. When you’re willing to do that, you get to reimagine your life. A process of rebirthing happens.
This archetype of the Elder Wise Woman is an archetype that can really support you in connecting with the darkness of the Sacred Feminine, and also the wisdom of the Sacred Feminine, the depths, the creative capacities, the intuition, the inspiration and the imagination.
These are all so deeply available in the Winter. This is how Winter is such a powerful symbol of the Sacred Feminine for us, the feminine power that many of us hear about, but don’t connect with. If we start connecting more and more with Nature and Her rhythms, we realize all of that exists within us.
I invite you this Winter to check out my Sacred Nights of Winter Journal. Be sure to look at that as an opportunity to connect more deeply with Nature, the Sacred Feminine, and most importantly, your own Inner Wisdom and sense of empowerment. Use this Winter as an opportunity to really step into yourself again, reconnect with who you are, remember who you are, and allow Sacred Feminine energy to pour into you. Steep in it. Allow yourself to feel the magic and how it begins to propel you forward.
May you connect with that Feminine Power of Winter’s Magic.
For a video version of, Winter as a Symbol of Feminine Power, watch here: https://youtu.be/d0oqzsLI6Us?si=WXNRjUIub7dCEVgB
