Pinhole Photo

Tonight, we’re lighting the bonfire planned for Friday, the Winter Solstice, the darkest day, the beginning of the light.

Today was longer than Friday, tomorrow the sun will be out longer than today.

For thousands of years, people lit bonfires on the Winter Solstice to signal renewal, the beginning of light, the promise of planting and Spring.

If you live with Maria, this is an important day in the calendar. Maria and I are both prisoners and warriors of color and light, the renewal is a big deal for us, a special moment, rarely noticed or honored in the modern world.

Maria is a pagan at heart, a wild woman and a strong one. She has been planning the bonfire for days, her enthusiasm and love are infectious.

The solstice has a lot of personal significance for both of us, so we’re lighting the bonfire at dusk tonight. We will celebrate our own rebirth and renewal, and the hope that comes with the light.

In our lives, we feel close to nature, and to the animal world. The darkness and light matter. This is the beginning of winter, but it also is the harbinger Spring, the season of renewal and light and rebirth. My season.

I want to say I wish all of you a year of hope and renewal, a peaceful and meaningful Christmas, and, of course, a New Year filled with peace and compassion.

We have some hard and troubling days ahead of us, but today is about hope, and I re-commit myself to the good and important work we are doing, to honesty and self-awareness, to creativity and to small acts of great kindness. We take action in the real world, every day.

Happy solstice to you and happy holidays. I hope to get a photo of the bonfire.