Winter Solstice: The ReBirth of the Light

This is a story about Grace. Do you know what Grace is? No? Well, Grace is a gift that Spirit bestows on all of us, regardless of whether we deserve it or not. It is an unexpected gift of Love, which we need to recognize and be thankful for. 

 

Once upon a time, there was a land shrouded in darkness. This was not always so; at one time, it had been a land of great Light and warmth and beauty. 

 

Until the Darkness appeared. And things began to change.

At first, the Darkness was just a vague impression on the edge of sight, an uneasiness that tickled awareness—then fled. Over time, the tickle turned into a shiver as the Darkness sent out tendrils, like premonitions, in the night. People were not afraid, however, for one reason: this Darkness made the Light in the land even more beautiful and radiant. The Darkness became a riddle that called out for an answer. 

 

But as time went on and the riddle went unanswered, people forgot to notice and give thanks for the Light, for they were fascinated by the Darkness. And slowly, over time, the Darkness spread and the Light became dimmer and dimmer, though the people didn't even notice that the Light had changed. You see, their eyes became accustomed to the dimness and they could see just as well as ever, or so they thought.

But not everyone forgot the beauty of the Light that used to cover the land. Sometimes these people read about it in old books; oftentimes they dreamed about it; and some passed the knowledge of it down within their families from generation to generation. 

 

And in not forgetting the Light, it turned out that it lived on in their imaginations so brightly that it filled their eyes with its very own clarity, and they could see things that other people could not see. But the ones who remembered were only a few compared to the others, and if they talked about what they could see, they were most often ignored and sometimes reviled.

Eventually the land grew so dark that more people began to acknowledge that they really couldn't see very well at all! But since there were so many others still stumbling around in the dark, everything became even more chaotic and frantic. In short, things got even worse! 

 

And the Darkness deepened.

One day, a woman sat watching her children at play. This woman was neither young nor yet very old, and her children were not babes nor yet were they grown. And because she was one of those who loved the memory of the Light, and imagined it and longed for it until it shone in her eyes, she saw something no one else saw. She saw her children, who were filled with a sense of her own inner Light, growing dimmer and dimmer with each passing day, for the full weight of the Darkness around them was too hard to fight off. 

 

Gradually a resolve grew in this mother until one night when she put her children to bed, she told them she was leaving on a journey to find the Light. Since she didn’t know how long she’d be gone, she wanted them to take care of each other, to love each other, and to remember her own love for them every day. She promised she’d come back to them as soon as she could.

The woman set out that very night, determined to travel to the source of the Light which used to cover the land, and entreat it to come back with her. Although she had no idea where to begin her search, she walked through the cold lonely winter night with great joy in her heart, despite her worry at leaving her children. For she rejoiced in the thought of seeing the Light at last, the Light she had loved and imagined all her life. She soon found herself singing to the Light in the dark of the night. And although their own light was very much dimmed in that land, still the stars and the Moon in heaven heard that mother's song, and they sang back to her melodies of the glory she was searching for.

In the morning, the woman came to the outskirts of a village. But something was terribly wrong! Trees had been uprooted and left to rot; the fields had been dug up in piles of dirt, while all the animals in the fields looked as if no one had taken them back to the barn for weeks! In the village, it was even worse. People scurried around like unsettled ants. They were so focused on looking for something they completely ignored the woman, even when she called out to them. She had never seen such chaos! 

 

The villagers were dismantling their homes, turning up the streets, peering into dark places. When she finally managed to get someone to stop and speak to her, she was told there was a great treasure of gold hidden somewhere within the village, and whoever found it would be rich beyond imagining. Then before she could ask another question, the villager rushed off to continue his search.

Shaken by what she was seeing, the woman came upon the village green—a small patch of undisturbed green grass with one white bare-branched birch tree. As she walked over to rest under the tree, she saw the most beautiful golden glow (like the glow of a summer sunrise in our world!). When she came to the tree, she saw within the golden light a carved wooden chest full of gold coins! 

 

There, right in the midst of the village, was the gold in plain sight! Yet obviously, no one saw it. As a matter of fact, she began to notice that people's eyes glazed over as they looked in the direction of the green, as if they couldn't even see the tree—as if they saw nothing at all! Then they quickly turned their gaze away and began seriously squinting at the ground they had already gone over. The woman watched this for a while, then sighing, shook her head, silently turning to go. It was not for her to take the gold, even if she could carry it away. 

 

At the edge of the green she stopped, for she noticed a young man building a house. As she watched him, she saw that he had the eyes of a dreamer, and that there was some Light in him. So she went to him and brought him to the tree, and asked what he could see. Why, the tree of course! And the green, green grass.

 

The mother looked in his eyes and asked if he could see anything else. He held her gaze and then blinked and looked again. Well, he couldn’t say for sure, but he did imagine there was a hazy golden something in the air. So he asked the woman to describe the gold to him and perhaps he could imagine what it looked like. The woman described the light and the gold, and before very long the young man could see the skillful workmanship of the carved chest, and the abundance and goldenness of the coins. The woman told him to take the gold and use it to help the villagers rebuild their homes after the madness of the search passed. And the young man solemnly promised to do it.

At nightfall, the woman found herself deep in the woods near an ash tree on a grassy knoll. Pulling her cloak tightly around her, she lay down under the tree, planning to rest for a few hours before continuing on her way. 

 

As she slept, she dreamed a luminous Moon came down out of the heavens and sank into the Earth beneath the tree. 

 Elana Gibeault

 

She got up to search for it and started digging up the dirt around the roots, until she came upon a pearl-like crystal, which shed its milky light upon the tree, giving it a glimmering sheen. The light grew brighter and her heart filled with hope that she had finally found what she was seeking.

Suddenly the villagers were all around her and when they saw the light-giving crystal, they took out their pick-axes and hammers and began chipping away at the stone, until all the light disappeared and there were only shards of crystal left scattered on the ground.

The woman awoke, crying. 

 

She desperately searched the darkness of the surrounding forest, fearful that the villagers had come, but there were only the animals and birds of that place, making little adjustments in their dens and nests. She looked at the knoll beneath the tree, and without thinking began digging in the ground. Very soon she came upon the shining stone of her dream, and with an anguished cry, she stopped. She didn't want to expose the light, but it was her only clue to finding the Light. 

 

What should she do? What should she do? 

 

She sat there, waiting . . . waiting for an answer. And before long it came. She heard a gentle voice telling her to Come in. But come in where? Why into the stone, of course! 

 

And once again without thinking, the woman stretched out her hand to the stone and suddenly found herself slipping into its pearly light.

 

Once inside the luminous light, she was filled with such sweet warmth that it brought to mind an old memory of a time when her grandmother rocked her to sleep. In truth, she felt as if she was being held within a woman's arms, all safe and snug and listening to a lullaby about the beauty of the Light that used to shine upon the land. 

 

Her quest! And with the memory came a voice that bide her to go on, on through the luminescence in search of the source of the Light. She felt a gentle shove on her back and started walking, even though she could discern no path for her feet to follow. 

 

Quite unexpectedly, she found herself in darkness again, but this time a very warm, almost cozy darkness. Before long, she realized she could see what was around her, because unlike the upper world, this lower world's darkness was very alive! She saw all the flower bulbs tucked into the Earth for the winter, just as snug as her own children in their beds at night. 

 

She saw the roots of trees stretching down into the Earth, just as their branches reached up to the heavens above. There were rivers and streams of pure water, flowing through crystal rocks, as well as solid rivers of gold, silver and copper veining the ledge. The stones themselves were so colorful, they rivaled our most beautiful sunsets, and there were gem stones that twinkled like the stars in heaven! She walked past all these wonders until she came to the center of the Earth, and in that crystal cavern, beyond a pool of azure water, she saw a glorious Light.

Gazing across the watery depths, her heart thundered and tears flowed down her cheeks. Here was the Light she was seeking. On the wings of that joy, she suddenly found herself standing before the source of that Light.

There, in the heart of a shining halo, was a Baby, a most wondrous and beautiful Child. And just as mothers always do, that mother couldn't help but smile with love at the sight of the tiny baby enfolded in the Light. 

The Child looked at the woman with a tender smile and she seemed to hear it say to her, I’ve waited for you so long! How glad I am you’ve finally come." 

 

With these words, the woman's heart grew large with love and she bent over to pick up the Child, cradling the baby in her arms. She wrapped the baby inside her cloak and turning, left the cavern. She made her way back to the pearly chamber, and as she passed through, she felt a feather-light kiss upon her brow and knew that she was loved just as surely as she loved the small baby in her arms. 

 

She couldn’t say for sure when she finally left the luminous light behind and emerged into the wintry night, because the pearly light and the first snowflakes blended into each other. As she hurried home with her precious burden, the snowflakes drifted down faster and faster from the night sky, and she had to go slower and slower. But a Light shone from within her cloak where the Child lay next to her heart, and as she went on, the animals of the forest and the winged ones of the air saw the Light and followed after her.

She silently passed through the village, now quiet and cozy under its blanket of snow. As she passed, the young dreamer suddenly awoke in his chair next to his hearth, and with a cry of delight, ran out into the snowy night. Then the children of the village woke up from their sleep and ran to their windows to see the Light filling the night with splendor, and they called joyously to their parents to Come out! Come out! And see the great wonder.

The mother finally approached her own village, followed by a great crowd of humans and animals. She was so intent on getting home to her own children that she didn’t see they were already hurrying down the road to meet her, for the Light now flew before her and filled the night. 

 

When the mother saw her children standing there in the snowy night, her face lit up and she stumbled through the snow to embrace them. Then, gently unclasping her cloak, she bent down to show them the baby. A great glory shone from the Child, and all the creatures there that night imagined that they each sheltered the baby from the storm. Everyone felt their hearts open and they smiled, just as anyone would smile at the sight of a beautiful newborn baby, and the Child smiled contentedly back. 

 

No one could quite remember when the Child and the Light began to fade away with the storm, except the mother who heard the silent farewell in her heart. The stars glittered brightly in the cold dark sky and the Moon sent down her blessing. Blessed with this unexpected grace, the people felt a great peace and joy descend upon them, the Light once again shining in their eyes. The animals and the birds sang out their own joy, and there was great rejoicing all around. And in the days that followed, the humans and animals made a peace which exists to this day.

And from that night, the Light and the image of the Child lived on in their hearts, and it spread from heart to heart, until the Light was as bright as it had once been in the land. Now, all people could see and love the Light, but they didn’t reject the Darkness, for they had finally solved the riddle. They knew that the Darkness had a beauty all its own. 

 

For it was in the Darkness that the light of the stars and the Moon brought to mind the Child of Light who had come back to them on that cold and snowy winter's night.