As we prepare for yuletide festivities and cooler temperatures, take a moment on December 21 to celebrate the winter solstice. Yet another season has arrived, offering us time to reflect on growth as we approach the end of the calendar year. Days are now shorter, and the air is chillier. Do not let external melancholia interfere with your personal transformation. Instead of hibernating, appreciate the wintery weather this season. Take a step back, reflect, and plan your activities as you head into a new year.

The solstice also marks the beginning of Capricorn season, which means that we are looking back at the past in an effort to change as we move forward in our lives. Honoring and remembering yesteryear is a wonderful way to find the path that aligns with one’s goals and desires. Now is also the time to manifest your visions during the upcoming days to ensure that you’re moving into the new season on a high. Refresh. Restart. Reboot. This will bring personal happiness and fulfillment in the months ahead.

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As we toast auld lang syne and bid farewell to 2021, try to reflect, remember, and move towards the future with high hopes. 2022 promises to be a better year than the past two. So, let’s all welcome winter with warm hearts, merriment, and cheer.

The solstice is a wonderful time to connect with family and friends. Invite the people you care about over for a feast with all of the season’s delectable foods (stews, hearty soups, root vegetables, and puddings for dessert). Also, wine, beer, tea, and cider are essential drinks to toast the new season. You may even want to have a potluck dinner and let your guests plan the menu.

Being that the solstice is the shortest day of the year, we honor the sun by wishing and wanting its return to us.  A great way to pay reference to the sun during the solstice is to light white candles around the home to purify the energy and cleanse the home for the upcoming season. The sun‘s light gives everyone and everything life on earth, which is what we will celebrate and pay tribute to on the solstice.

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Additionally, altar work is essential on the solstice. Cleansing and clearing the altar for the upcoming season will allow you to set new intentions and manifest your hopes in the upcoming months. Switch up the energy of your altar by adding seasonal staples, such as pine cones, bells, red wine for the spirits, and winter colors to help your manifestations along.

Lighting a yule log and placing it in the fireplace is a protective activity for the solstice. It’s said that the yule log serves as a great way to ward off evil entities or spirits that come our way during the winter solstice. In fact, due to the lack of sunshine in the day, many people believe that this gives way for mischievous energies, entities, or sprites to create havoc in our homes and lives. Luckily, the lighting of the yule log will protect us all from negative vibes.

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Exchanging gifts with loved ones is also an important solstice tradition. Whether or not you celebrate the holidays, it’s nice to give those you care about a token of your appreciation. After all, the new year is coming soon, and it’s a generous gesture to let people know that they are in your thoughts. The presents you give don’t have to be large. They could simply be something that you made yourself. If you are feeling the seasonal joy, you may opt to give a charitable donation in the names of those to whom you are giving presents. Or, you can start a toy drive in which you give gifts to those in need.

Although the temperature is getting cooler outside, it’s a wonderful time of the year to take a walk and connect with nature. Breathe in the fresh and crisp wintery air as you walk through your town. Embracing nature is a way to show Mother Earth how much we honor and appreciate the abundance that is given to us. Seeing nature in all its glory is also a wakeup call from the universe to be grateful.

By: Lisa Stardust/Horoscope.com