Intuitive Practice for the Winter Solstice
Holiday rituals and spiritual practices are often about tradition, passed down through the generations and repeated as precisely as before, but these days more and more of us are finding ourselves in the position of developing practices and rituals for ourselves.
During the winter holidays, I celebrate the Solstice, Christmas, and New Years and each holiday has a different significance. When I was little, Christmas was the big holiday of the year for my family. We would visit my grandparents, have lots of food, exchange presents, and spend a lot of time together. To this day, Christmas remains about family for me.
As I’ve become more spiritual personally, it’s become important for me to take some time to connect to that during the holiday. I've chosen the Winter Solstice to be the day I focus on my spiritual practice. Then New Years is usually a day for celebrating and reflecting on the year that has passed.
When you develop your own practices and rituals, there is a need to be very tuned in to what is helpful. My own spirituality uses rituals and standard practices, but is very focused on being responsive to the spiritual needs of the moment.
Intuitive Practice is a way of tuning in and noticing what you feel and sense in order to access deeper insight. It’s a foundation practice that is the basis of all my psychic readings. It’s also a way of discovering what you need now and accessing inner guidance.
The basic practice is simple. You just Relax, Notice, Describe and Repeat. The key is not to try to force understanding or “make meaning” from what you notice. Just allow the insight to reveal itself to you.
Use Intuitive Practice Shape Your Practice
There are many ways you can use Intuitive Practice to help you hone your practice, design a ritual and set intentions. I'm going to share two basic ones with you here.
Check What Feels Aligned
The first practice is to simply check what you feel about practices and intentions.
Make a list of things you are considering including in your ritual. For example:
- Lighting candles
- Different kinds of incense
- Meditation or breathwork
- Setting intentions
- Eating certain things or fasting
- Taking a cleansing bath
- Making offerings
- When to do the ritual
It's particularly helpful to note things you are trying to choose between, such as what kind of incense you might light or what time of day to do the ritual.
If you are using the Solstice to set intentions for the new year, you can make a second list of intentions you are thinking of committing to for the coming year. For example:
- To call love into your life
- To align your career with your highest purpose
- To be more present in daily life
- To deepen connections with loved ones
- To focus on gratitude
- To deepen your spiritual practice
Once you have assembled your lists of things you want to check your intuition on, find a comfortable place to relax and get started.
The Practice
Steps:
- Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down.
- Relax. Take a few minutes for this. You can meditate or just take a few deep breaths and centre yourself.
- Starting with the first item on your list, name it aloud or in your head.
- Relax and notice what you feel, sense and think of. Do you have a positive or negative sense? Does it make you feel open or closed? Energized or drained?
- Pay attention to where you feel things and how they feel as well. Pay particular attention to the abdomen and chest areas.
- Does anything else come up?
- Note how you feel about this item and then move onto the next one on the list.
- Repeat steps 3-6 for each item.
By doing this practice you will discover what practices feel right and good for you at this time. Developing a personal spiritual practice should feel expansive and energizing, not draining. Some practices or intentions might seem be a good idea in general but not what you need in this moment. Focus on what will serve you and your practice the best.
Discover What is Calling to You
The second practice you can try is a bit more open ended. The idea is simply allow yourself to intuitively answer questions. It is a very rich way to gain insight into what practices and rituals are calling to you at this time and discover new possibilities.
You can make up your own questions based on what you are curious about. Here are 5 to get you started:
- What practices will connect me to my higher self/my spirituality most right now?
- What do I need right now?
- What intentions will serve me best in the coming year?
- What is calling to me now?
- What would feel most fulfilling to do in honour of this holiday?
Once you have your questions, you are ready to get started.
Follow these steps:
- Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down.
- Relax. Take a few minutes for this. You can meditate or just take a few deep breaths and centre yourself.
- State your first question aloud or in your head with the intention to receive an answer.
- Relax and notice what you feel, sense and think of. If nothing is coming, relax more and just notice.
- Pay attention to where you feel things and how they feel as well.
- Record what comes up. You can write it down, record audio or use voice-to-text.
- Do not try to understand as you record it. Just notice and record.
- Repeat steps 4-7 for all your questions.
- Review your answers and see what you discover. Stay relaxed and try to allow the meaning to emerge as a sense of discovery rather than making sense of your answers with your mind.
The more you practice simply noticing and describing the easier it will get for you to understand your inner language. It can be difficult at first because most of use have been taught to discount inner information, but this practice is truly very powerful if you take the time to work with it. Your intuitive language will not be quite like anyone else’s so give yourself time to let it reveal itself to you.
Wishing you all the best for this holiday season.
Happy Practicing.