Mid winter Festival

bewarned

the below content is seriously out of date

but i uncovered these words today and i felt a connection still alive for me

and so i share with you belatedly

xx

Traversing the long dark nights of mid winter
I turn to gratitude and reflection in moments
While a light is also shone inwards at my anxiety and trepidation s of adventures ahead
The inner reveal is both joyous and cantankerous and truly everything betwixt

Last night we joined the Winter Festival at Lily’s school

(my first Chrysalis school festival the only other was joining Candlenut school last year, this is a trully beautiful post btw i am vewy pwoud of my sentiments from last year)

Each class created age appropriately complex lanterns of immense diversity and beauty

After the school community sang fire into the bonfire under the rising moon
We joined the children with their lanterns as they brightly snaked singing up the hill through the campus

to chatter with cups of soup and then be enthralled with storytelling and the spiral walk of the children.

each one taking their journey to the centre to light a flame and add their own candle to the brightening room

simple~ beautiful ~ enchanting ~ singing ~ darkening ~ centering

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Class 8 lanterns! stunning!

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I have previously made this style of lantern they glow so beautifully with stars
see here for how to

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the older classes walked this shining labyrinth while the younger classes where indoors walking a spiral or branches to an alter in the centre

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Lily’s lantern featured a tree dropping it’s colored leaves for the winter


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yet my own personal connection to the festival this winter came later in a simple moment of lantern lighting and singing our own composition and bringing the glow through the garden and up to our friends smiles

our own song we composed when Lily was three in Fremantle, we put candles in jars and sang around the block with a friend, passing by our neighbours doorsteps with warmth in our hearts and the simplicity of our own festival.

~

we bring the light in the dark night

we sing the songs in the morning

~

blessings friends

The long dark night…

New Moon in the Western sky at sunset Kuranda

In the hushed glow of new moon

an invitation to join the Candlenut Steiner community

with Winter Solstice forces gathered round

Lily and the beautiful handmade lantern lent to her

a parade of glowing gold and soft singing through the grounds

to the green, adorned with leaved spiral and central alter

children in a ring of gold

families in quiet witness

each class had different handmade lanterns and encircled the green

lights doused and deep invocations spoken

the single glow in the centre

our reminder of inner light

soft spiralling of glowing children

inwards to the light and kindle ones own flame

a quiet delight and gratitude welling in my soul

to witness and enjoin in ceremony

bathe in the singing night

my children close by

joy to ground here

feel and hear and sense the vibrancy around me

a deep breath

our first stop after the roadtrip

a blessing to help the intergration

my inner wobbly and wonky

i emerged into peace

blanketed by night and kissed by stars and candlelight

the magic of night

the beauty of that which is bright

may i remember in the long dark nights of my life

the shiningness

inspiredness

connection

kindness

one kind word

one kind deed

the moments we can create and say yes to

the moments we can hold our children in

then encourage them to fly into the experience of life

to feel their own centre

and find their own connections

to feel their own solitude in the journey

and know their connection to all

as a birth right

may peace and insight be with you

and me

as we turn once more to the sun

***

with enormous gratitude to the Candlenut community for including us in your very special celebration