{"id":982,"date":"2012-12-19T16:08:24","date_gmt":"2012-12-19T15:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sallypommeclayton.com\/blog\/?p=982"},"modified":"2023-06-22T13:44:16","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T12:44:16","slug":"into-the-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/makeandbelieve.uk\/?p=982","title":{"rendered":"Into the dark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

The winter solstice is a time of faith. Darkness gathers around us as we approach the shortest day, we light candles, decorate trees so they glitter,  string up lights, and we celebrate a birth. A virgin birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find the winter solstice the most hopeful, magical of days. The brilliance of the summer solstice is strangely tinged with sadness and the impending loss of light. But paradoxically the shortest day is uplifting, a turning point, each day  will bring a minute more light.<\/p>\n\n\n

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light up the dark<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The long dark night reminds me that creativity is born out of darkness, out of not knowing. The image of the Virgin Mary waiting and receiving describes the process well. Visiting the dark place of the imagination requires faith. We don’t know what, if anything, we will find, and if it will have any value when we bring it out into the light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May you be bold this winter, go down into the dark of the imagination, be still, listen. And may new stories, images, poems, prayers and songs be born.<\/p>\n