Winter Solstice 2024
Dear Lovers of the wild,
Like the sun, can we stand still at the darkest time of year where the pulse of life stops for a timeless moment? Can we face the darkness together and as we do so reach out to find and touch the light within ourselves?
As the sun kisses the darkness it reflects the sun’s rebirthing as it brings with it the potential awakening and divine spark that lies within all hearts and souls.
Winter’s cold winds whispers to the fallow land a song of what lies beneath the frozen ground. With words of all that lies dormant and some things that will succumb to deaths door. Carrying with it melodies of memories of what lies ahead. Awaiting renewal and rebirth.
This time of hibernation allows for a natural slowing down to make space and time for a much needed pause. For discernment and self realization. To attune oneself to what matters, and to find purpose and meaning. A time to discover the hidden garden just below the frozen ground.
Though many demoralized people see this “dead of winter” a metaphor as description of their bleak inner lives. It begs the invitation to ask the winter landscape of ourselves what feels dead in us? And wonder in fact what might be dormant? What is still left unrealized?
The winter season carries the seeds left from last summers end through to the much needed final gestational period towards the miracle of life. May all beings hold steadfast towards the reclaiming of the divine spark within each of us. That is our birth right. Wholly, holy, holy.
May it be so.
In service with heart,
Silvia
Oh winter’s wisdom give me solace, keep me clear, and make me strong.
Well I know this frigid land and darkened place where I belong.
Yet can I bear a moment more? will I pass this seasons test?
Another year of standing brave and moving towards my best..
I open wide my eyes that I might see the path with clarity and insight.
The path of wisdom’s way that leads me towards the subtle glow of light.
The bird of hope is near and its song is whispered in the air,
giving me the needed strength and lifting my despair.
- st From Winter’s Test
Silvia Talavera (she/her)
Inspired by the wild places without borders Silvia guides from a full life experience that is filled with the sacred, profane and the wild graced with humor and curiosity.
A wilderness guide since 1993 and a seasoned hospice nurse and a Reiki practitioner. Silvia continues to hold the similarities of the symbolic death and the physical death and how one mirrors the other and how both of these have informed her life.
She is a supporter of deep immersion into the natural landscape where exploration of the mythic, the archetype and the imaginal dimensions is the gateway to the hero/heroine’s journey.
Silvia is an elder, great grandmother, mentor and embraces her elderhood with great joy, deep humility and daily gratitude.
Her work in all its expressions is devoted to the reawakening of our true selves and remembering our natural instinct to love and healing for the benefit of all beings and remains committed to service of the greater good.
The loving sister of a Marine Vietnam Veteran, Silvia has brought her magic and spirit to Veteran Rites since 2020.
Email: silvia@lostborders.org
