By Berenice Andrews
Here’s my gift to help you connect with the changeless energies of the midwinter.
Although this shamanic journey can be experienced by you alone, it can also be shared in a circle around a Winter Solstice fire. Call in your tribe! Ask each of them to bring along a lightweight sheet for “cocooning.” For greater effectiveness, you could pre-record the words.
[For recording, read slowly and speak clearly. Where a pause is indicated wait for a few seconds and use “…” to assist your cadence.]
[Begin recording.] “In this sacred space, we gather to observe a turning-point in a cycle that has occurred for millions of years…while our dear Mother Earth made her journey around the sun…and bestowed her unfailing gifts of life upon her children…In this year of 2014, the Spring Equinox…bearing the gifts of renewal…the Summer Solstice…bearing the gifts of growth…and the Autumn Equinox…bearing the gifts of ripening…have come and gone…And now, Mother Earth gives us the Winter Solstice…It marks the culmination of the annual cycle…and bestows the gifts of life ending…then, entering into renewal. [pause]
On this dark December night, we will make a shamanic journey through the centuries…In that journey, we will explore and experience our Winter Solstice legacy…This is possible because time itself really doesn’t exist…It’s all now…Your shamanic journey will be in the timeless now… Let us prepare. [pause]
We’ll begin with a shamanic practice given to us by Mother Earth…It’s called “cocooning.”…Just as the caterpillar, who has spun a cocoon around itself, dissolves and is transformed into a beautiful butterfly, so also can you, by cocooning, enter into your deepest places and experience transformative energy “shifts.”…Now, open up your sheet. [pause] Sit comfortably. [pause] Place your sheet lightly over your entire body, including your head. [pause]
Settle inside your cocoon…Close your eyes…Start to breathe deeply…Focus on your breath…Breathe deeply…breathe deeply…Now, speak these words inwardly: “I intend to explore and experience my Winter Solstice legacy….I intend to explore and experience my Winter Solstice legacy.” [pause] Breathe deeply…breathe deeply…Breathe…breathe. Sink into the stillness…Become the stillness…Breathe…breathe…[pause].
Dear one, I speak to you while you journey…journey in the timeless now…Surrender…surrender…All of the past is now. [pause]
You are an ancient Celt…clothed completely in animal fur…You feel weary…For many days and many miles you have trudged through the snow and cold…with the others…Now, you are standing at the foot of a gentle slope …There, ahead in the wintery sunset you see the stone circle…and you feel a surge of strength…You and the others hasten your steps…Directly ahead in the Earth is the opening you seek…You step into it…The others follow…You are in a downward-sloping tunnel…Smoking torches are affixed to the walls…You shuffle forward in the murky light…You feel the hard, cold Earth under your feet. [pause] Finally, you emerge into a large cave…In the center there’s a tiny fire…You and the others sit closely together around it…You clutch your coverings tightly…You shiver and wait …You sit…and wait…You feel the hunger gnawing in your belly…You huddle…and wait…[pause]
Suddenly there’s a shout!…“Light!…Light!…Come!…Come!”…Quickly you and the others jump to your feet…You hasten out of the cave…up the tunnel…through the entranceway…across the snow-covered space…past the standing stones…and into the stone circle…[pause] There it is!..A glowing shaft of the rising sunlight is touching the center altar stone…Silently, you stare in awe and wonderment…The glow steadily increases…You can barely breathe…Then you feel a burst of joy…“Hail Belenos, Bringer of Warmth!” you shout…And the others echo…“Hail Belenos, Bringer of Warmth! Hail Belenos!” Then all of you form a ring around the altar stone…You hold hands…You start to dance…Around and around the glowing altar stone you dance…Slowly, the sunlight floods the stone circle…You rejoice and dance…You dance… dance. [pause]
The scene fades…Breathe deeply…breathe deeply…Dear one, you are feeling what it was to be an ancient Celt at the Winter Solstice…The past is now…Stay in the stillness...and wait…wait…[pause]
I speak to you as you journey…journey in the timeless now…Breathe deeply…breathe deeply…Surrender into the stillness…Stay in the stillness…It’s the Winter Solstice…The past is now…[pause]
You are an ancient Viking…half-naked and sweaty…Roaring with laughter you are tussling with a strong playmate…Suddenly, you fall flat…You sit up and look around…You’re in a huge hall made of massive timbers…Festoons of evergreen branches…of holly and ivy vines…are hanging on the walls and in the rafters…A monster log is burning in a huge fireplace…You see long wooden tables cluttered with metal dishes and tankards…and dripping with spilled meat, gravy, and beer…There’s more roaring laughter…You see that you’re surrounded by huge, hairy people… all uproariously drunk…Then, you look down at your body…You, also, are huge, hairy, and drunk…You chuckle…“It’s Yule! We’re celebrating Yule!…We’ve been asking the gods to give back the light…At last the cold will leave…the sun will warm my back…It’s Yule!… Ah, yes!…That’s why Olaf gave me this skinning knife…It’s a beauty…the best I’ve ever had…It’s Yule!…Thank Odin it’s Yule!…I must celebrate the light with the others”… You pull yourself upright and leap into the merriment. [pause]
The scene fades…Breathe deeply…breathe deeply… Dear one, you are feeling what it was to be an ancient Viking at the Winter Solstice…The past is now…Stay in the stillness…and wait…wait…[pause]
I speak to you as you journey…journey in the timeless now…Breathe deeply…breathe deeply…Stay in the stillness…It’s the Winter Solstice…The past is now… [pause]
You are an ancient Roman…shivering inside your robes…You are sitting on a low bench in semi-darkness…Beside your feet, a tiny charcoal fire burns in a small metal firebox…You look around…You’re in a small bedroom…The cold winds are gusting through the wall hangings…You mutter: “The river is solid and every day more frozen bodies are found in the doorways…I have made offerings at Saturn’s shrine…The priests and priestesses tell me that the light will soon return…The time of celebration draws near, at last!”…Your eyes gleam and you shiver again…with anticipation…You whisper: “Soon it will be Saturnalia!…I will celebrate the great Saturn’s birthday…Ah! the feasts, the flirting!…The courts will close and the laws will be suspended…The wars will cease…for only a few days, of course…By Jupiter, by Venus, what a wonderful time!…I love the presents I get…I must remember to give my friend Octavia a really nice one…I need Saturnalia!…I hate this darkness and cold!…But with Saturnalia the warmth and light will come back…I can endure if I have Saturnalia..” [pause]
The scene fades…Breathe deeply…breathe deeply…Dear one, you are feeling what it was to be an ancient Roman at the Winter Solstice…The past is now…Stay in the stillness…and wait…wait… [pause]
I speak to you as you journey…journey in the timeless now…Breathe deeply…It’s the Winter Solstice…The past is now…[pause]
You are a modern American…wearing your warm parka…You are carrying many full shopping bags…and hurrying out of the mall…You feel anxious: “There’s still the holly and evergreens to put up, a feast to prepare, gifts to wrap, guests to entertain.”…you sigh deeply…”There’s big brother Walter who decided that he was the reincarnation of a Viking…So Walter grows hair all over his face and heaven knows where else…and he celebrates Yule…He has a great time slopping beer all over the place.”…Then you chuckle…“Well, what can you do…he’s my baby brother, hairy body and all…I’ll clean up the mess…It’s only once a year.”…You sigh again…
“Then there’s great-aunt Tilly…a lovely old lady…but after a few sips of Gran Marnier, she tells everybody that the early church fathers destroyed the ancient gods and goddesses and replaced all that paganism with Christmas….“And why?” she asks with eyebrow lifted…“So that the new god, Jesus, could have the field all to himself.”…Then after a few more sips, she chuckles and adds: “But we still have the Winter Solstice and we still have Saturnalia!”…You sigh again…“Dear, sweet Aunt Tilly, you’re probably historically correct…but I think you’re missing something.”…
You adjust your parcels…Then, you hear a jangling bell…There’s a Salvation Army red kettle… a little group of carolers with song books open…You hear the first notes…[sing: “Silent Night, Holy Night…”]…You stand there and listen…Suddenly, you are back in your childhood…joyously anticipating Christmas…How beautiful it was!…The song ends…You dig past the parcels into your pocket for a few dollars and place them into the kettle…You feel a deep inner peace…Then you step out into the winter cold…[pause]
The scene fades…and in this moment, dear one, you are back in this place…inside your cocoon…Stay there…Breathe deeply. Focus within. [pause] What you are feeling is a new knowing…And what you can know is this: that your Winter Solstice legacy—the accumulated energies of centuries of human rituals expressing those beliefs and feelings—is here…in the timeless now…and that the meaning of the Winter Solstice is embedded in you…Thus, you can know that you are an integral part of an eternal cosmos, whose ongoing cycles of darkness/cold, and of light/warmth…of ending/dying and of beginning/rebirthing…repeat themselves in you. [pause]
Now, gently…slowly…remove your cocoon. [pause] Hold it closely…Look around you with new awareness.” [pause]
[Stop recording. Feel free to add more ritual; for example, one that helps to release old, unhealthy beliefs—the darkness/cold—and replaces them with healthy beliefs–the light/warmth.]
And please accept this seasonal gift from me. Its purpose is to help you grow into your next stage of becoming all that you are.
Peace and blessings…
Berenice Andrews is a shamanic teacher/healer and a regular contributor to Transformation Magazine. To learn more about her teachings, see her book Rebirthing Into Androgyny: Your Quest For Wholeness, And Afterward. To register as her student, click on her website thestonecircleclassroom.com.