THE WINTER SOLSTICE ALSO KNOWN AS THE LONGEST NIGHT
The day with the least amount of daylight and the longest night of the year
in the Northern Hemisphere
This night was also known as Mother Night as the goddess worked her magic so new life could emerge from the dormant seeds lying in the earth
Beiwe is the Sun Goddess of the Sami, who rely on the reindeer. Their stories show her flying through the heavens on the Winter Solstice in a ring of reindeer antlers, flinging fertility & life onto the land
Freya the Norse Goddess sat at her spinning wheel on the Winter Solstice weaving the fate of the year to come
The reindeer were a sacred animal to our ancestors, the doe was the giver of light & life
Saule, the Latvian goddess of light & sun, took to the skies on the solstice in a sleigh pulled by horned reindeer. Her aid caught her tears in a golden cup and they transformed into amber, she threw these pieces of amber, like little pieces of sun down to the world to spin sunlight
Let us remember the ancients belief in the reindeer, goddess and mother night when she flies high on the sky and dives deep into the earth to nourish and promise a renewal of life
It may be dark now, but the light will return
Taken from Judith Shaw The Reindeer Goddess