Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year, and thus the longest night. With each passing day we witness the sun's fire showing itself a little more, a little more.

So it is with the ebb and flow of our Life's Shadow & Light. One gives to the other in cycles of time, sometimes imperceivably, until that moment, tipping over our perception to the changes that have taken place. A new orbit begins, the tides shift, night interchanges with day.

The succession of phases has a marked difference between the scientific swirlings of celestial bodies and our personal experience of time and change. Perhaps things seemed much darker and shorter, say in part due to external storms, or in part due to an interior cosmos clouded from the sun.

If your inner landscape is feeling murky, there are any number of methods to clear the particles of mind, matter and spirit. There is the contemplation of what is, turning inward for exploration. There is also the consideration of what is not, viewing outward to what is possible. In the case of looking to venture out of a mist, one may consider thinking of a day that burns brightly in memory to see if any aspect of that mindset or activity is re-creatable in the present.

If current weather has you huddled, allow creative innovation to be your muse. Find an image that resonates with the mood you're in. This inspiration may be a piece you've created, or one you've seen in another artist's repertoire. Let this be your impetus to actualize an internal change of seasons.

Whether darkness begets light or vice-versa, all things come around, in their time. It may be the huddle itself that brings your focus to the fore, the darkness may well lead you to the light.