The traditions and ceremonies of the Northern Hemisphere Christmas are well known. For Southern Hemispherians though, it is hard to know how to celebrate Christmas without the presence of cold days, winter solstice and the possibility of a white Christmas. The energies of the Northern and Hemisphere Christmases are distinctly different – while the Northern Hemispherians are in their dark season, the Southerners are relishing the light season, when the sun is showering us with its light, warmth and energy.
Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere sits closely beside winter solstice – a time of introspection, going within and hibernating in warm houses like a bear’s cave. It is the place in winter where the cold, dark days begin to slowly grow longer, giving a flickering of hope for the spring that is to come.
The energy in the Southern Hemisphere is almost exactly the opposite. While the Northerners are inside seeking warmth and resting from the year, the Southerners are out, relishing the light season, when the sun is showering us with its light, warmth and energy.
So for all you gorgeous Southern Hemispherian Goddesses out there, I thought I’d share some ways we can celebrate the Christmas season in a soulful way that resonates with our summer. If you’re a Northern Hemispherian, you can absolutely use these practices and make them fit in your own celebration season in a way that works for you.
Ways to make your Christmas soulful this year…
– Summer and the Southern Christmas is a time of the seeds growing into full bloom. For me, I always find myself creating more than I ever do. Use the creative fullness of summer to create, paint, write and start a project. It can come so easily, with the sun so close to us to fill us up with energy.
– Gratitude tree – a gorgeous friend of mine told me how her and her partner created their own Gratitude Christmas tree one season. Celebrate the blessings that have already been birthed into your life by using a living indoor plant as your Christmas tree, and creating and decorating your own ornaments out of card and ribbon for every person in your life you are grateful for.
– Make Christmas a celebration of light and all its meanings: decorate with stars, golden globes and shimmering golden tinsel, and enjoy the full lover’s force of the sun’s attention. Light candles to represent the eternal light, and the light that shines in you, and in me, and in every soul around us.
– Use your favourite herbs in cooking and aromatherapy – they are at their highest potency during summer. Because the Sun’s strength is at its highest, the oil of herbs are most concentrated when harvested during summer.
– Celebrate joy with laughter, friendship, relationships and moving your body – fuel up on enough joy to carry you through the rest of the year starting in summer.
– Instead of making an Advent Wreath, make a Native American Solar Wheel to adorn your home. Use thin branches, vines, yellow ribbon and feathers to create an equilateral cross within a circle representing the four seasons. When hung in the window, the Solar Wheel is believed to protect the house, as well as celebrate the joy of the solar season.
– To celebrate the Earth’s fruitfulness at summertime, make your Christmas centrepiece an altar of fruit, honeycakes, wine, produce, flowers and green leaves.
– St Nicholas’ Day is celebrated on 6th December to honour a man of generosity and goodness. His story crosses over religion, culture and hemisphere, and inspires us all to do the best we can for others, and to share the fruits of our lives with others.
Making Christmas your own…
There’s so much beautiful possibility about ways to intertwine meaning into our celebrations that resonate with our season and energy. Use your abundant summer creativity to find a way to make your Christmas season sacred and soulful for you.
Tomorrow I’ll share a simple ceremony to celebrate summer solstice and Southern Hemispherian Christmas.
Wishing you precious, joyful days that resonate with meaning and soul for you,
with love,
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Start the New Year with six weeks of creativity, joy and inspiration by enrolling in my Creative Goddess e-course & circle. Signup by Dec 1 to receive a Creative Goddess surprise in the mail in time for Christmas!
