Good morning fellow Steemians!

Happy Solstice!

The light is returning.

I have to say, winter wasn’t always a favorite season of mine (I dislike feeling cold and that usually sticks out for me in winter), but as I grow older and foster my relationship with the land, I find I am loving winter more each year. Of course, it is easy to love the fresh burst of spring, the overwhelming flurry and growth of summer, and the beautiful abundance and die back of fall, but winter often takes a little coaxing to be loved (unless you are a snow hare or Holiday lover).

Recently, however, I’ve come to realize winter is a very special time and the cold helps in this. Winter is a time to go within and reflect upon the past year and to Dream of the one up ahead. It is a time to Vision and literally and figuratively get ready to sow seeds of future fruition. Without vision, we cannot move with intention so winter has increasingly become a very important season for us on the homestead. Plus, we are often spent from the year and winter is the time to Nourish and Rest. We cannot have the growth without this natural state of rejuvenation.

One of my favorite writers about Dreaming and the inner life is Toko-pa. She shares heartfelt words on dreamtime and how we can learn to be more connected to the (sometimes) soft whispers of our inner life through ritual and reflection. The picture of the candle above was inspired by this article of hers wherein she talks about setting up a solstice alter as a part of a winter solstice ritual to beckon in the light. Here is a taste (and if you like this, she also just published a book called Belonging):

“By coming together in sacred ritual with our community, we are restoring our relationship to the Earth, our Mother. As we re-establish our belonging in one another’s hearts, we quell the “never-enoughness” that drives so many of us to accumulate, achieve and produce beyond our (and Her) means. We let ourselves rest in the kindess of our togethering.”

Today I also want to shed light on two IRL friends of mine who have recently joined steemit!

@ozarkdogwood and @brazen. These are both very special people so I hope you’ll take a moment to go check out their blogs!

@ozarkdogwood (yes, lives in the Ozarks!) is a friend who is a kundalini yogini & massage therapist and she and her partner are building a cordwood house on their own! They will be detailing the process of that on their homestead so you won’t want to miss it! Going over to their homestead is quite a treat as they have cords and cords of organized peeled and cut (local) cedar logs prepared for their future cordwood house. It’s pretty amazing and a journey you’ll want to be in touch with if you’re into homesteading, alternative debt-free living and natural building!

@brazen is a friend I met almost 10 years ago at an apprenticeship on an Appalachian mountain at a Spirituality and Ecology based learning center in North Carolina. We had some amazing times there! @brazen is a true poet. At her blog you’ll find abundant creativity (it pours out of her!). She hails from the Appalachians and writes nature based poetry & prose with keen insights about the human/animal/nature connection, drawings and paintings, and perhaps even some writing on mental illness.

Again, I hope you’ll take some time to go show these two some love and follow them!

Blessed Solstice to you all!