The Winter Solstice marks the depths of darkness: the shortest day and the longest night. At the same time as holding us in the innermost depths of unknowingness, it also heralds the rebirth of light and an intuitive understanding of self. Solstice in Latin is solstitium, meaning Sun Stand Still and for three days the sun appears to rise and set in the same position in the sky before once again beginning it gradual journey north. From The Winter Solstice, onwards through the year, the sun will appear higher and higher in the sky until it comes to another standstill – the Summer Solstice. Now is the time to embrace our own inner darkness as a place where symbolic death and decay, of putrefaction and composting, is a necessary part of birth and emergence: It is a time to celebrate intuition, feeling, compassion and unconscious connections with others. It is a time of darkness and renewal.