Happy Winter Solstice! Today is the shortest day of the year (on the Western Hemisphere) and the sun is miraculously showing itself today. The contrast will then probably be even bigger when the long night falls.
I wish I could just stay in all day and continue to rewatch my favourite children’s show with a cup of mulled wine, but I have somewhere to be. Together with a group of feminist activists, I’m going to transform a creepy tunnel in my city into a makeshift living room tonight, with couches, carpets, plants and lights. Since a lot of people don’t feel safe biking through this tunnel (especially when it’s dark), we are going to try and make it cute and cozy. We’re going to hand out tea and cookies and try to have a conversation about public safety for women and other minorities. I’m really proud to be part of this, but I’m also nervous. You never know how people are going to react to something like this. Some people will just see things like this as some sort of disturbance, no matter how well-intentioned. And I know there’s a lot of press coming, which I also don’t feel too comfortable about. Last but not least, I am dreading to sit there for hours in the cold. I guess I just have to accept my feet will be frozen at some point and will only unfreeze when I get home. Not much to be done about that. But I also look forward to the new connections I’m going to make, the conversations I’m going to have and just the general vibe of Doing Something to make a statement.
I know I’m slightly going against my own philosophy of resting and retreating today, but it’s okay. It’s just for a few hours. And I’ll spend the rest of the day reading, writing, doing a tarot spread, eating cookies and drinking tea. Oh, and I need to burn one of the 13 intentions I wrote down yesterday. Exciting!
Happy Yule, everyone. For my winter people: enjoy the season. For my summer folks: the light is returning, the days are getting longer from here on out. Yes, the cold will remain for a bit longer, but how much more will you appreciate the warmth after? (In the meantime, just take a lot of hot showers and listen to the song below; it sounds like sunlight to me.)
Tea Time With Amber 