Today, my friends, we are going to be embarking on a very special journey where we embrace and meet the guardian of the solstice flame. It's so interesting how we've been taught to fear the dark, to rush constantly towards the light. Everything needs to be, oh, it's all about the light. It's about the light. It's about the light. But the truth is that life begins in darkness.

How often we forget that the seed germinates in the deep dark soil. The child grows in the womb of the mother. Dark, safe, protected. Dreams are woven in the dark of midnight sleep. The winter solstice, this special time of year, is not a tomb where life ends. It's actually a womb where new life begins and emerges.

Winter is this sacred dark. It's that fertile soil of our potential, of your potential. So today, of all days, I invite you not to fight this stillness that's descending, but lean into it. Because it's in this fertile stillness that new light can truly be reborn. And the bowls gave us such a beautiful example of that. Literally leaning into me. Didn't I just say that before? It's incredible.

So, I invite you to go ahead and begin to find comfort, even more. Just a little bit more comfort in your body. 1% more comfort. What does that feel like? And I welcome you. Welcome to this sacred ancient vigil.

We have been called simply to come here together in this moment of time on the longest night of the year, the winter solstice, that great still point upon which the entire world pivots. This is the day, the moment of the earth's great in-breath, the time of penetrating fertile darkness when the outer world is at its most quiet, at its most potent. So today we journey perhaps less towards a celebration and more towards a sacred opportunity, a duty, the call to witness the rebirth of the sun and to become the keeper of its new emerging light. We are at that moment where the light is returning.

So let's just begin by attuning ourselves, our frequency, our energy vibration of our beautiful bodies to this great still point. So I invite you just to take a breath in and then exhale. Just notice your breath for a moment. And as you do, you notice that your attention begins to shift to the center of your chest, to your heart space. Just imagine your breath. Feel your breath flowing in and out of your heart, your chest area.

And as you do, you begin to breathe a little slower, a little deeper. Breathing in, drawing in the sacred silence of the longest night. It's cool, vast, infinite. Breathing out, releasing the dust of the journey of this past year, letting those heavy energies just dissolve, begin to melt. Good.

And as you feel yourself continuing to breathe through your heart, think, imagine, or feel that you are drawing in with each in-breath the diamond light of a midnight winter sky. Inhaling the sharp crystalline clarity of the stars. And as you breathe out, think, imagine, or feel that you were releasing a gray smoke of the old year. There you go. Exhaling the static, the noise. Mhm. And the density of the months that you are leaving behind now. Good job.

Feel that separation between breathing in stillness and breathing out all of the old burdens, information that doesn't serve. With every inhale, pull in the electric chill of the cosmos into that center, that portal of your heart, waking up your cells. Good. With the freshness of the season, with every exhale, watch the tired stories of the year just drift away. You don't need them anymore. See them leaving your internal space. More immaculate, clear.

Taking a deep breath in, holding that breath in, feeling your heart relax before you gently, with focus, exhale for a long extended count of seven. See how long you can exhale. A longer exhale effortlessly shifts your physiology into slowing your heart rate. Simply by exhaling longer than an inhale, your body changes.

And now feeling light and lighter and softer, let's begin to bridge the body and the mind with an activated energy of appreciation. Gratitude. Gratitude for this great rest, this wintry slumber that we are called to sit into metaphorically. Feel it like the purity of the snow-laden forest where every branch is held in a suspended embrace. Here the world has stopped its spinning and it's safe to rest.

Invite that hush into your chest. Feel it in your rib cage. Feel that silence nurturing you. Let this deep holy pause compose a symphony of order of a new rhythm within your heart. And as you breathe in, feel appreciation for the frequency of the solstice, this vibration of rest. From this place of perfect stillness, now you are ready.

In your mind's eye, see you awaken now in a landscape where time itself has held its breath. Your inner vision clearing to reveal a realm held in sacred suspension. You stand at the threshold of an old wood. Breathe in. Sense the fragrance of a silent cathedral of ancient pines, their boughs bowed low in reverence under the heavy-weighted snow, still and untouched.

And above you, the moon hangs like a slender scythe of pearl against the velvet throat of the night. The stars pierce the evening sky. Brilliant diamond chips scattered across an infinite indigo expanse, watching over the sleeping earth below. The silence here is absolute. It's neither empty nor heavy. But it's held as if holding its breath, waiting for the light to return.

And suddenly the stillness shifts. You sense a presence emerging from the fabric of the night itself. From the deep woven shadows of the timberline. The darkness seems to gather, coalescing into form, almost knitting together. Muscles, sinew, bone, breath. And suddenly a great stag appears before you.

He is a monarch of midwinter, the keeper of the deep forest, standing tall, towering, majestic. His breath billows in silver clouds against the cold air. See how his crown of antlers stretch upward like a bone-white candelabra, vast and intricate, seemingly tangling with the stars themselves, catching the moonlight with every slight movement of his head. His body glistens with a golden radiance that speaks to another time, another place beyond the ordinary realm.

When he turns his gaze, his eyes, vast liquid pools of obsidian, stare directly at you. You see them as ancient mirrors, reflecting a solemn purpose. The stag doesn't just look at you. He looks through you with a gentle gaze. And in that loving gaze, there are no words, only an instantaneous understanding. You are chosen. You have been summoned here to bear witness to the turning of the great wheel. And you breathe in feeling the profoundity of that choice, that honor.

And with a slow, regal grace, the stag turns. He turns his great head towards the pathless woods. The invitation is quite clear and without a sound, drawn by the gravity of his wisdom, you begin to follow. The stag moves with a phantom grace and you follow. Feel yourself glide effortlessly over the terrain as if you've never touched the earth. And as you gently look down, you realize you are indeed leaving no footprints in the deep virgin snow.

For in this moment, you are weightless. Feel that weightlessness in your body. You are a spirit, a being of light moving through a dream of winter. The air is still, save for the echoing of the cosmic hum of the stars above, a comforting low frequency hum of the universe watching over you.

The stag leads you away from the certainty of the open fields, drawing you deeper into the timeless, pathless woods towards the sound of a great frozen silence. Ahead the trees part to reveal the face of a towering granite cliff rising sheer and black against the night. And there, clinging to the rock, hangs the most miraculous sight, a frozen waterfall.

And as you breathe, you recognize it's a cathedral of ice. A colossal curtain of sapphire diamond arrested in motion. Water that once roared with thunder is now held in perfect suspended stillness. A sculpture of time itself. Feel yourself standing before this great frozen monument of time. Begin to breathe and feel the power of its halted momentum.

And you know this, this is a threshold. This is a solid wall between the year that has passed and the year that is to come. A new year, a new opportunity to live your dharma. The stag moves towards the impenetrable wall of ice. And as he approaches, it's almost as though the physics of the world seem to soften, to suspend, for the ice yields.

Like a heavy velvet curtain responding to a breath, the frozen surface parts without breaking. A liquid shimmering tunnel of aquamarine light opens within the central core of the waterfall as if the water's memory has awakened to grant you passage. The stag bows his head and enters and you follow.

Feel yourself walking through the frozen belly of the frozen waterfall. The light gleams like an otherworldly sigh, a soft subterranean blue that seems to glow from within the ice itself. The air is unimaginably pure yet sharp as a blade. This is the ice tunnel, an alchemical chamber of inner transformation via stillness.

And you move through this corridor of crystal. The intense holy cold begins to work. And it's not a cold that is painful or hurts. Rather, it's a cold that begins to clarify, to transform. This is winter's alchemy. And with every step, feel the density of the old year beginning to loosen its grip. The disappointments, the heaviness, the weariness, the haunting what-ifs.

Feel them crystallizing on your skin. See them freezing into brittle patterns. And then watch as they shatter, flaking away from your field, like diamond dust falling onto the frozen floor. And you breathe. You notice as you breathe, it's a little easier to breathe. As you exhale, you let go even more, feeling safe, connected with a deep trust in knowing you're exactly where you are supposed to be.

For these old burdens, they cannot pass through this gateway. The ice demands payment and the currency is your burden. How perfect. You are shedding the old, molting that heavy winter coat of the past. As you breathe, you feel yourself embrace your immaculate nature, your true self.

Taking a deep breath in, holding that breath in, feeling your heart relax before you slowly exhale. And you take a final step emerging, moving out of this tunnel, feeling lighter, more transparent, completely set free. There's a sweetness around you. As you step out of this womb of the ice and into the velvet embrace of the dark, you fully arrive at the eternal now. It's simple and elegant, sitting squarely in this new present moment.

As you have stepped out of the ice and into the deep memory of the mountain etched in stone, you realize you have entered the sacred dark. Let your eyes adjust. This is not the darkness of the void. It's not the darkness of fear. Rather, this sacred dark is that rich, heavy, velvet cover of the earth's own womb. It's a blackness of the soil where the seed lies dreaming. It's a darkness of the cocoon before the butterfly emerges new, transformed. It's a silence so present it feels like an actual physical embrace.

And ahead of you, the great stag pauses as he halts. The tips of his antlers begin to glow with a soft silver light casting long dancing shadows across all that ancient rock of the mountain. His illumination reveals a vast cavernous chamber stretching up into a sky of solid shadow. As you breathe, you recognize that you are standing in the grotto of echo.

Stand in the center. It's quiet, haunting. Feel the ancient strength of the mountain cradling you, held within the stillness. And it's in this perfect stillness where you begin to listen deeper, not with your ears, but with your heart. You can feel sound moving through your skin. So feel them.

Sense the whispers of the old fears that you have been carrying. That ancient dusty echo of I'm not enough. That quiet haunting echo of I'm alone. I can't do this. I have no support. I'm not lovable. Maybe that sharp brittle echo of what if I fail. These are those final shadows, the residue of the year, and they are ready to be laid to rest.

And the stag, your guardian, stands at the entrance as a silent sentinel, powerful, gently, kindly blocking the return back. He's holding the space now for what must happen. Sense and feel how you're completely safe to let go, to undo. You are held. You are seen. You are protected. And you are supported.

There are no shadows to fight. You don't need to fix anything. You simply need to open the door of your heart and allow any final burdens to arise like vapors shifting form. And in this moment, it's easy to release the tightness in your belly. It's comforting and effortless to relax your jaws. And as you continue to let go, listen as the echoes speak their final words and witness what happens.

For as you watch the vast receptive darkness, the sacred dark seems hungry for your burdens, for your cares. Like dry earth drinking in the rain, the velvet walls of the grotto reach out and receive your pain. The darkness absorbs your fear. It neutralizes the sting. It shifts the grief. It drinks the echoes and dissolves them into pure absolute silence.

Feel the heaviness beginning to leave. Leave your body, leave your heart, leave your bones. Feel the anxiety draining out of your feet, pouring out into the receptive, loving, silent earth. You are embracing the darkness and in return the darkness is setting you free. You are no longer full with the heaviness of the past. You are free. You are clear. There's a beautiful sacred hollowness in you, ready to receive the breath of the promise of the light.

Take a deep breath in. Holding that breath in, feeling your heart relax before you slowly exhale. And the great stag turns his antlers towards the dark, guiding you even deeper, slipping into the narrow artery of the mountain. Here the atmosphere begins to settle, to shift once again. The timeless chill of the ice tunnel surrenders and the air becomes soft, almost humid, gently maternally warm.

Ahead, a faint rosy glow begins to pulse against the stone walls like the rhythm of a sleeping heart. And you step through the archway and emerge into the very center of the earth's in-breath, and you know you've arrived to a hidden, a sanctum, a secret place that not all find, but you have. Here you are in the crystal heart, where the fire burns eternally.

The room, as you gaze around you, notice it's a perfect sphere, and its walls are not cold rock but a living geode lined with giant raw pillars of rose quartz. The walls and its pillars are humming, pulsing with a soft incandescent blush. A blush of life. The feeling in this room is thick with safety, like an amniotic weight of life creating, birthing love.

In the very center of the chamber, resting on an altar of emerald moss, lies a single massive clear quartz crystal. And the stag, your friend, your beloved companion, guides you to it. You fall to your knees in awe. For as you breathe, you recognize that you are now a witness to the great mystery of the solstice.

Gaze upon this stone. Watch it. As you look into its transparent depths, the crystal begins to quicken. It pulses with light at once. Twice. And on the third beat, a miracle combustion. A single tiny spark of brilliant light is ignited, birthed deep within the belly of the stone. And like a lullaby, the air begins to sing. Settling, relaxing, falling into the security of safety, structure, of inner sovereignty.

You witness this magnificent spark, this new light, the sun reborn, the first fragile heartbeat of the new year. It's so small, so new, so precious. The great stag lowers his head, his breath mingling with the glow, and his obsidian eyes lock with yours, transmitting a silent suggestion. This light is not just a spectacle to be watched. It's a treasure. A treasure to be carried. This flame doesn't belong to the cave. It belongs to you.

And with this depth of revelation, you slowly, reverently cup your hands and hover them just above the crystal. And in response, the tiny warm spark detaches from the stone, floating upwards. A firefly of divine promise coming, settling softly in the cradle of your palms, as if to say, "Here I am. I am you and you are me. I am yours. Yours to protect from the wind of the world that is also us. Yours to feed with the food of the world that is also us. Yours to carry into the darkness of the world which is also us."

Feel yourself gently close your fingers around this delicate flame. You feel the tiny, steady, hopeful warmth softly beating against your skin. The stag nods and you realize that you are the keeper of the spark, the guardian of the solstice flame. Taking a deep breath in. Holding that breath in. Feeling your heart relax even more. Pulsing with a bit of excitement as you slowly exhale.

And you recognize that this beautiful light is not meant to stay just in your hands. It was meant to fuel your core to take you into a new realm of understanding of this life, of this expression of the divine. So slowly, reverently, you lift your cupped hands towards your chest, pressing your palms gently over your heart space. And you take a deep, deliberate breath, inhaling the flame.

And as you do, visualize a spark passing through your skin, passing through the bone, the cartilage, the sinew of your beautiful body, nestling deep into that inner chamber of your sacred heart. And you feel it catch, feel it merge, feel your own heartbeat begin to adjust its rhythm to match the pulse of this new sun, this spark of life. This light's no longer separate from you. It is shining from within you. It is you.

It's now time to reascend. Clasping this precious living hope within your chest, you turn to follow the stag one last time, leaving the crystal heart, winding your way back up through the stone, back through the velvet warmth of the sacred dark, back through the cleansing tunnel of the frozen waterfall, until you step out into the crisp biting air of the midnight sky. Standing once again at the edge of the old wood under the watchful eye of that silver crescent moon.

And here your great stag friend stops, turning his obsidian eyes to you one last time. For this is as far as he goes. He is the spirit of the deep winter and he belongs to the silence of the trees. But you, you are a child of the world waiting to be born yet again.

And with a heart full of gratitude and appreciation, feel yourself offer him a bow of deep silent gratitude. Thank him for the guidance. Thank him for the passage. Thank him for his presence and watch as he slowly turns that massive beautiful head of his. And with a breath of mist dissolves back into the shadows of the ancient pines. He's gone. And yet the magic he led you to remains.

Taking a deep breath in, holding that breath in, allowing the heart to feel joy before you slowly exhale. Sensing that as you stand alone now, you're not empty. For in fact, you hold the medicine of a mountain, that mountain deep within you. Begin to weave these sensations into your skin. Imprint them upon your soul.

That merciful chill of the ice tunnel that washed you clean. The velvet silence of the sacred dark that absorbs your fears. That transformative safety of the crystal heart. And most importantly, the living ember, that tiny, steady, invincible spark of the solstice sun that now beats in rhythm in your own heart.

And if this is your time to drift off into the great mystery of sleep, simply allow the image of a snow-covered forest to fade. Surrender your body to the gravity of your bed. Trust that this spark needs no effort to return. It's always there. It will always be there. It is self-sustaining. And it sustains you. And you know, even in your dreams, you are the guardian of this light. Sink now deep into the silken dark, knowing that you will awaken tomorrow, refreshed, renewed, holding the dawn of light inside your chest. Sweet dreams.

Or if you're ready to return to this time, space, place and move through your day, come with me now. Taking a deep deliberate breath, filling your lungs with the oxygen of the present moment, this present moment. And as you exhale, feel your consciousness beginning to anchor back into your physical form.

And know that anytime you choose to journey in this way to reconnect, reignite your sacred spark, you can do so more easily with less effort. Each time you do so, listening to these crystal chromatic singing bowls, they are your friends, your guide, your ally in shifting your subtle vibration.

Beginning to sink back more into your body, bringing back with you everything that you loved. Feeling that inner flame igniting even more. Feel yourself grounding back into the earth below, rooting in, aligning. Feel the warmth of your blood returning to your fingers, your toes. And beneath that, feel a new quiet warmth, that solstice spark tucked away safely in the portal of your heart.

And as you breathe, you become more aware of the room around you, the sounds, the air, the space, and you notice something is different, something has changed, and you recognize somehow that it is not the space that has changed. It is you. You have changed. You have transformed into a sacred guardian of light. More empowered, more activated, more aligned with your core mission, your purpose. Enlivened, enriched by your time. Your journey inward.

The old has been released. The darkness is honored and the new light is secure. Begin to invite gentle movement back into your body, wiggling your fingers and your toes. And can you do so with even more reverence for the sacred temple with which you have been gifted? For you are no longer just you. You are the keeper of the flame, the guardian of the solstice flame. You are the vessel that carries the fire through winter.

And when you begin to feel more fully present, fully grounded, and ready to begin this new cycle, allow your eyes to just gently open. You have honored the night. You have birthed the light. And we welcome you back.

Take a deep breath in. Holding that breath in. Feeling your heart soften. Your body let go of anything that it might want to hold on to longer than it should. And as you slowly exhale, welcome with gratitude this time of stillness.

My friends, how was that for you? What was your experience today? If it feels good and comfortable and safe, I'd love for you to share it in the chat. It's always good to connect and hear what this was for you.

You know, every session, as you know, for those who have joined us hundreds of times, you know that every session is completely unique. It's completely different. And what may be calming and soothing for one can be uplifting for another and can bring forth new information that's sometimes very exciting and sometimes uncomfortable. The journey is always unique to what we need in every moment. And yet we all choose to be here is I always find so miraculously inspiring.

So while you take a moment to reflect in the chat, I thought it was so beautiful how the bowls guided us through. We very squarely sat in the several keys today. We sat in F, in D minor, which they're connected. So that makes sense. C, E, E minor, and E major. So let's talk just really quickly about those.

E minor, which is where we really started this journey, is a very pure key that connects us into the hope of restoration. There's almost a naivety that's there that is calling forth an information that we long for, that we need, that we crave. It would subtly shift later on. It would transform into E major, which is very fascinating because most of the time in classical music, E major is connected to the vibration, the frequency of spring.

But spring is a calling forth, something that's bursting through but that has not yet been materialized. It's not summer. It's something that's coming up to the surface. And that makes sense because of the work of moving out, moving things that no longer served us. And that release. So that beauty, the beauty of the release was really magnified and solidified through the key of E major. Very fascinating.

D minor is a very melancholic. It's a very feminine key. It connects us into our watery centers. D minor feels a pulling, a longing of the heart and into a watery sort of tone and experience. And yet that was also then also paired with F major, which, F major connects us into the place of the heart, is a very calming and soothing key that vibrates our heart space.

What's interesting is that D major, that we would also then transform to, is a cry of rejoicing. And sometimes those cries of rejoicing, they don't always have to be exuberant, do they? They can sometimes just be, "Wow, thank you." And that's how they came through today. Subtle like the midnight stars in the cosmic sky. I use the word velvet a lot today. Hope you don't mind. Kept coming through.

The last is C major. It's also a very pure key. It connects us. C major connects us into a purity of tone, of clarity and innocence of who we are. Unabashed, no holds barred. It's just clear. It's crystal clear. You know exactly what you're seeing and what's coming through. So very interesting of how that all worked today.