That being said, we are about to enter into Winter, though more truly we are already in the darkest time of the year, and as soon as Winter begins, the days will begin to lenthen and the days to shorten. On this day (Yule/Solstice) the Night is longest and the day is shortest. Many peoples throughout time and geography have celebrated this day as the promise of the coming light. The Norse, for example, celebrate with four candles on a wreath which would be lit in gradual succession until the day of Solstice.
In Golden Dawn terms, this day is the cosmic equivalent to the "place the neophytes in the northern part of the hall" portion of the Z formula... "the greatest symbol of darkness". As we see later on in the 2=9 formula, this is the place of Midnight in the day, Winter in the year: Kephera, the sun at night.
So, I would like to offer the following lines of the Hierophant as the watchwords of the day and, if you wish, perhaps an inspiration for how you will prepare your personal Solstice ceremonies in your temples and working areas:
"And the voice of my undying soul spoke unto me and said, let me enter the pathway of darkness, peradventure there shall I find the Light. I am the only being in an abyss of Darkness. From an abyss of Darkness came I forth, ere my birth, from the Silence of a primal sleep... and the voice of Ages answered my soul and said, I am He who formulates in Darkness, the Light that shineth in the Darkness, though the Darkness comprehendeth it not..."
Happy Holidays!
Frater BT
Esoteric Golden Dawn
Source: paganism-new-age.blogspot.com
