Solstice fires and winter dreaming
Musings and reflections on slipping through the creative solstice portal
The post I wrote before this one says it perfectly: we never mean to stop writing.
Which is precisely what I did this year. I drifted from my sustaining, nourishing creative practices until my well ran dry. But as I always say, even when this happens, I know there is an ember deep below that cannot be extinguished. I know if I can direct even the tiniest stream of oxygen to that ember, I can fan its flames back to a glowing, warming fire.
At solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, it seems the veil thins and offers us an easier pathway to discover, or rediscover, what is truly worth our love and attention.
Every year I ask myself the same questions:
What do I want to be known for?
What is the most sacred and aligned work for me right now?
How am I spending my most precious resources - my time, energy, and attention?
What will I be letting go of to make space for what matters most?
By reviving my writing practices, continuing to work with flower essences, and many long walks in nature, I concluded that it’s time for me to uncomplicate my business and be more discerning with where I dedicate my creative energy. This is not dissimilar to the book editing process - sometimes we must trim back in order to reveal the true heart of the matter.
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A picture has continued to develop wherein my life and business has me publishing more books, hosting one or two in-person writing retreats, and perhaps offering a few virtual weekend writing immersions. Even as I set these visions down, I feel no attachment to the outcomes, just an open-hearted curiosity to see what wants to come to fruition.
Have you also heard the drumbeat that is calling us to do less, carry less, worry less? Every month, every year, it has been getting louder for me. I hear the call, and I am choosing to answer in the hope it will bring some measure of peace, contentment, and radical joy.
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand.
Henry David Thoreau
Leah Kent is an artist and green witch who wildcrafts flower essences and drums before writing. Officially a book coach and author who helps wisdom keepers and visionaries write and publish transformational books about their work in the world.
Order your copies of Harvesting Wild Light (poems) and Awakening the Visionary Voice.