In Peace We Dream the Coming Sun, Tonight We Light Candle One

We are a Circle
Within a Circle
With no beginning
And never ending…
by Deborah and Rick Hamouris

Once again it’s time to begin our annual Advent candle lighting, also known as the Solstice Sun Wheel Prayer Circle.

Starting TONIGHT, Nov. 28, we will gather at our homes every Sunday evening through Yule (and/or Christmas) at dusk. As night falls across the Earth, thousands will be joining our circle, with prayer and celebration.

If you have been a regular reader of mine, you might know that this is our seventeenth anniversary! The numbers joining us have doubled multiple times, making it now a huge, truly world-wide event. The Facebook group, alone, is well over 1,200 participants!

So please join us each week, and please tell your friends and loved ones. You can’t do it wrong and you can start ANY time. So if you have to miss it this week, you can still start with us next week, or any time until it’s over.

The underlying energy of this practice is, by its very nature, inclusive and welcoming to all beliefs, traditions, and philosophies. (Suggestions can be found on the main page).

And here’s a handy, shortened link so you can cut, paste, and share far and wide:
http://bit.ly/AdventCircle2021

The Basic Idea

The original source for this particular adaptation was the late Helen Farias, founder of The Beltane Papers magazine, and then it was continued by the late Waverly FitzGerald in her School for the Seasons teachings.

From my earliest days in the Goddess spirituality movement, I followed in their footsteps, for I found this annual ceremony to be a gentle, inclusive, yet very powerful tradition.

Thus, I began sharing it on my first tiny website back in 2004 and have adapted and published it each year since, with an exponentially growing number of participants around the world.

Over the years, I’ve added a few of my own embellishments, plus the many wondrous ideas that you, the global celebrants, have inspired.

Simplicity Itself

This ceremony is simply an adaptation of the more familiar Christian practice of lighting candles on an Advent wreath.

All you need is a wreath, five candles, and a peaceful time-out each Sunday evening from now until Winter Solstice, and/or Christmas, depending on your preferred climax of the celebration. Of course, you can make it as elaborate or simple as you prefer.

Each Sunday, you will light a candle that is symbolic of some attribute, element, or vision, as we go into the deepest darkness of the year, and prepare for the birth of the Child of Promise, the standing still moment of Solstice, the reawakening of the Light.

The wreath is suggested since it represents Unity, wholeness, the circle of life and family, the One. For many it is an acknowledgement of the Divine Feminine, or the Zen Buddhist symbol Enso. But whatever is most meaningful to you is what matters.

If you use evergreens, they, too, are full of ancient meaning: how life survives even the most severe Winter. They represented immortality to the ancestors of Greece and Rome. You might choose to add botanicals for their magickal energies, such as bay, laurel, or olive leaves, which comprised the crowns of honor for poets and athletes.

Tonight, we light one candle only. Next week you will light first the candle from Week 1, then the second candle. And so on, until Solstice night, or Christmas Eve (or both!), when you light the fifth, final candle, depending on your preference. More suggestions for different faiths and philosophies can be found here.

 

Looking Back on 2021

Wow. Another shockingly difficult year. For almost two years, our everyday relationships have been disrupted (at best). Every touch, every visit, every ordinary interaction is fraught with the specter of contagion. So many dear ones have died, or are struggling with long COVID. And a whole new mutation and wave seem to be getting underway.

A grim “backsliding” of democracy is also unfolding. The notion that an autocracy, and not the people, should govern themselves has taken root across the globe.

Not to mention the paltry, fossil fuel industry-managed response to global climate catastrophe bearing down on all that lives.

Who could have ever imagined that we would still be in this nightmare scenario as the old paradigm crumbles, taking lives and fortunes with it as it goes. The death of the previous age is inevitable and not likely to be pretty.

And yet…

We are witness to the turning of the aeon, and change is afoot. It is no accident that you are reading this, or that you and I have been born into this pivotal moment.

What will fill the vacuum is up to us. We are the seed-keepers for the promise of tomorrow.

For, behold: every year, Winter comes and our lands grow dark. The hours of daylight dwindle, and there are many places that only barely see the Sun before night cloaks all once again.

It would be easy to believe that in the Northern Hemisphere, this darkness will get worse and worse, and eventually snuff out all life. All recent evidence points to this. Ever since June, one could truthfully argue, the sunlit hours have diminished, and now, they are so minuscule, there are lands in this world where the Sun no longer rises at all.

But you and I know that at this very moment, our sisters and brothers below the Equator are preparing to celebrate the climax of their lengthening daylight.

And not only is our lengthening night a finite and temporary phenomenon for us, but hidden in the depths of this event lies the larger truth: our planet is a homeostatic, self-regulating creation that is constantly coming into balance, rectifying what is out of order.

This is a promise and a golden fact that we can count on, and, even more importantly, align ourselves with.

The Wheel turns. Dark gives way to the light. This year, perhaps more than ever, it is our sacred duty to bear witness and aid the birthing of the Light. We stand for what is fair, good, decent, and kind. And with steadfast purpose, we can weave the shining thread of calm and equilibrium into this threshold moment of history.

Our Intention:

By this candlelight, we stand for the Light that cannot die. With our prayers, we embrace the most ancient Divine One(s) whose name is Love. With our hands and hearts joined, now crossing this threshold of permanent change, we invoke the irrepressible dawning of healing, grace, and rebirth.

With unfailing devotion, with all our courage, from within and without, for the Earth, Her resources, and all Her beings, so mote it be.

Naturally, you can adapt this with your own words and to your own vision, but it is best if we are in reasonable harmony together. Additional thoughts can be found in the general information page here.

Inspiration for Tonight’s First Lighting (Nov. 28)

Tonight, wherever you are, around sunset, gather with your loved ones, or alone if that is your circumstance (and yet you are NOT alone). Ground and center yourself, or create sacred space in whatever way is right for your practice.

I especially love that tonight is not only the first night of Christian Advent, it is also the first night of Hanukkah. Welcome to all my Jewish friends! As you light the Shamash, you can easily combine this practice with the happy celebrations that begin this evening.

For those of us who practice magical and Earth-based traditions, the first candle may represent the Element of Air: knowledge, perception, intellect, information, understanding, communication. Air is the first breath of Life, and its sacred magical symbol is the Sword. As such, you might choose a candle whose color is associated with the direction of East and Air. In many traditions, this is yellow.

For some Christian denominations, the first candle on the Advent wreath represents Hope. Others consider the first candle to be in honor of Isaiah and the other seers and prophets of the Bible, who promised the coming of the Savior.

Note how this is in harmony with any Solstice celebrants in your household, who may see their first candle as the Element of Air — imagination, visions, song, story, the mind.

We all can agree: in the beginning, was the Word. The Song. The Breath of Life.

Breaking It Down

Before lighting your candle, I’d suggest that you allow the dark to fall, and acknowledge the dissonance and conflict currently affecting this element.

In order to bring true healing, we must see with clear, steadfast eyes what is true. We must permit ourselves to feel the pain of the world, even if it breaks our hearts open. Turning away from unpleasant realities makes us complicit with the suffering being created.

From pollution in the air we breathe, to bitter politics and self-righteous opinions, to spying and hacking of global communications, think about how fearful perceptions distort our allegiances, what we see, what we believe, how we make choices. We pass judgments, we are told and sometimes share hurtful stories about one another.

We still remember the final words of George Floyd: “I can’t breathe.” There were clouds of smoke from the fires in the western United States that darkened the skies on the other side of the continent.

There are millions of COVID-19 victims, whose sense of smell fails, and then their lungs. All of this is about Air, sacred breath of Life.

If you are with others, you might have a discussion about this.

But then stop.

Inhale deeply. Exhale and release. What a miracle!

Allow some silence. On your slowing breath, inhaling and pausing, and then exhaling, allow those images and concerns to dissolve, for indeed, they are thoughts only.

So. Many. Thoughts.

Turn your attention back to the here and now. Breathe, soften, and be fully present … and begin to see, know, and understand the potential power of this first candle.

With clarity and compassion, ignite the spark that will awaken the candle of East, dawn, and Hope. Let its flame illuminate with the Word, which is the divine promise given to all.

When your candle is lit, experience with profound awareness and gratitude your own breath — the first, last, and most vital gift of life. Feel your inhale and exhale — your life-long companion, as it helps you relax, become alert, and aware. Let your breath sigh, or laugh, or sing, or pray.

As you gaze at your candle, think quietly of all it represents to you. If you have words, Bible verse, a prayer, a chant, or a song to share aloud, please do. If not, simply focus on how this one candle changes the darkness to light in and of itself. Isn’t that exactly what our common desire is, regardless of denomination or belief?

Bask in its beautiful light, giving thanks in whatever ways your heart speaks to you.

Please Come, No Matter Where or How You Are

Important: I know that many reading this are really at the end of their endurance. This year has been hard in ways unimaginable, and if you are one of the exhausted, the depleted, and feel you just have nothing left to give, please know: you don’t have to keep giving.

Light your candle anyway, and listen. Receive. Just find your way into the loving energy field that we are creating.

Soak up as much as your tender, beleaguered heart can hold. There is more than enough love to share.  We will carry you.

Also, you should be aware that there are thousands of other people, in nearly every different time zone around the world, who are participating with you. Maybe not at the exact instant your candle flares into Life, but even then, there will be many. Of this, I am certain, thanks to the massive correspondence I have received and the beautiful way this has spread around the globe.

But even more, know that all of us are joining in a sacred Time Out of Time. This enables our powerful act of unity as we enter the enfoldment of the dark. Together, we step out of the ordinary time-stream, and into Stillness.

Together we can gaze with unflinching compassion at our fears. Thus, we shall bless the fertile, necessary night; we will accept the shadowy, silent Mystery of the unknown.

Acknowledging this, we are in unity as we light our candles.

As you do so, send your energy and intentions for empowering and welcoming the birth of the Light. Consider all the meanings that “Light” has for you – in your own personal life, for the good of our community, and our planet as well. We are preparing the way.

Gaze a while upon the dancing flame and call upon the powers of the week’s Element or Gift of Spirit, to heal and bless. See how the frayed and broken gifts of Air and Truth can be mended. Let this illuminate you, sparking your own spirit.

Now, the Advent begins. We look for the coming Sun Child, the renewal of Life, the attainment, for all humanity, of Awareness.

When you are at peace, and the time feels right, gently extinguish your candle.

See you next week.

Blessed be!