Winter Solstice and Chinese Medicine
There are a great many reasons and methods to celebrate the winter holiday season. Numerous religious holidays, New Years and the American holiday of Thanksgiving have a tendency to keep us moving at top speed to keep up. In Chinese medicine, the coming of winter is associated with the movement of the water archetype.
With fall, we had the metal archetype- pulling in that which is most valuable and letting go of what is not essential at the time, just as the plants store their nutrients and shed their leaves. With winter we have a time of stillness to sit deep within ourselves and avoid arousing excessive passion. A time to embrace solitude and introspection, and a truly perfect time for the giving of thanks. A good image is the crisp clarity of a deep winter’s night, the moon shining down brightly through the dark as an embracing stillness is felt as a presence all around, and precious things are remembered.
In addition, the winter solstice itself is a powerful time in the tradition of Taoist alchemical practices. The power of the moment as the earth’s yin movement (toward increasing darkness) mysteriously transitions to a yang movement (toward increasing light) is reveared as one of the most important times of the year. Within the exact moment of the transition, there is thought to be a moment of perfect harmony, a mysterious blending of the yin and yang that opens the possibility of new creation and rebirth. It is a time to bring together those parts of ourselves we hold in the light, and those that we hold in the dark. A time of redemption, reconciliation, acceptance and rebirth.
Oh, and P.S.- take it easy on the cookies and spirits! There, I got it out of my system. Happy Holidays!
