Darkness. For many today the word itself is enough to raise gooseflesh or offers a reason to turn on a light. But to the ancients, darkness is the beginning.
For my Celtic ancestors, everything begins in darkness… the year begins in winter and the dark half of the year… the day begins with the darkness of night… and the awakening of new life begins in the darkness of the womb. Everything – the universe, the earth and all of its beings – emerges out of the womb of the Great Mother, out of the Cauldron of Potential.
Darkness is not loss. Darkness is not lack or even absence. Darkness is the place of potential. It is the place of raw materials, the ingredients for the stew before the cauldron is placed upon the fire. Darkness is a place of renewal, a place to release the old and discover possibilities yearning to awaken.
Above us the moon is being reborn in darkness. Like Her, we can sit in darkness, can draw inward and return briefly to the womb. We can rest in darkness, in a new beginning and remember the potential of self. We can drink again from the Cauldron of Potential.
Winter’s Dark
by Jennifer L. Jacoby
Tonight the world
is silence
steeping darkness
devoid of even a moon
The space around me
as within
yawns empty
a fertile hollow
awaiting the dawn
Peace and long life… Jennifer