December Lights
the last ritual
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Perhaps we associate the darkness with quiet because we sleep when it's dark. It could be because we have an ancestral memory of the dark being dangerous, and we must be quiet and listen intently for threats we can't see. Our busy minds naturally come to rest when confronted with the mystery of darkness, and we begin to consider knowing reality differently.
Total darkness is terrifying. Imagine the power suddenly going out at night, and you can't see your hand in front of your face. Of course, the opposite is also true; if we obliterate the darkness with ultra-bright light, it can also blind us.
There's a spiritual truth somewhere in this. If we equate darkness with evil and dwell in darkness, we're lost. However, darkness can also represent the deepest, most impenetrable, ineffable Divine mysteries. Holy darkness is beyond our comprehension.
On the other hand, the Ain Soph Aur of the Kabbalists, that is, the limitless light emanating from the Ain Soph (which is God before any self-manifestation in spiritual realms and beyond any manifestation of the Divine in the material realm), is also incomprehensible to us often leaving us equally as lost when trying to understand reality.
For us mere mortals, either extreme is beyond us, bringing me to one of my favorite parts of December: decorating with lights. The lights we decorate with are not harsh, blinding spotlights, but neither are we content to sit in abject darkness as the days grow shorter and the night takes over.
We sprinkle our trees, shrubs, eaves, roofs, and fences with tiny twinkling lights. We set candles in our windows and place them on mantles and table tops in our homes. These are soft lights, gentle lights. They don't blind us, yet they hold the inky blackness at bay and allow us to feel comfortable in the darkness of December.
Decorating with lights in public squares, downtown districts, and residential neighborhoods is one of the last communal rituals that occurs spontaneously across a wide swath of the population. Whether your lights are Christmas or holiday lights, whether you set up a nativity, a menorah, Frosty, Santa, or the Grinch doesn't matter. It's about engaging in a behavior every year and repeating it over and over year after year. That's a ritual. December lights warm my heart and give me hope every year.
In a culture increasingly fragmented, splintered, and torn apart by forces that seek to amplify our differences and inflame past wounds, infecting them with poison, the ancient impulse to light a candle in the dark seems more critical than ever this year.
What is your favorite Christmas/Holiday lights memory? Do you feel inspired this year to put up twinkling lights?
The comments section is a safe and welcoming space to share your insights and experiences.
Comments and conversation are always appreciated and enjoyed, so feel free to let your voice be heard. I read them all and try to respond to each one.
On Sunday, December 3rd, I began my annual Advent Series. You'll receive an additional Sunday email for the four Sundays of Advent. These will be short reflections to help you walk quietly through the hushed nights of anticipation leading up to Christmas, Yule, and the Winter Solstice. Use the Topics Library to find last year’s Advent Series and last week’s Advent Week One 2023 post if you missed it.
Thank you for reading Hedge Mystic and participating in this vibrant and growing community of creative, spiritual humans. You are always welcome here, appreciated, and loved.
PS
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I love how you tie together the original traditions of lights during winter. It’s not something we think about often, there is just a acceptance and even desire for that twinkle of something bright during this time. Yet it’s a beautiful reminder of the deeper context of why, and how it nourishes us in the darkness. Nice to come back to these ancestral ways. Especially because there is so much artificial light these days, many people anyway don’t experience this total dark - which I feel is a deep and important medicine on its own, and a pillar to celebrate the lights that are lit in recognition of it. It opens the opportunity for us to illuminate the night with our candles and sacred lights. So beautiful. Thank you. I always love the holy lights that sparkle in these dark days. My favourite memories are that of my families Christmas tree when I was growing up, a centre of such joy in the the household for me and my sister.
How I would wait for the blue lights to be strung on the tree. I would sit for a long time drinking them in, holding them to my heart, their cleansing and clearing energy.