In the Belly of the Light

My journey as a Waldorf teacher has taken me ever deeper into honoring the path of the light. Ever since entering adulthood, I’ve loved marking the summer and winter solstice with ritual, though I didn’t grow up knowing about Imbolc. Honoring the light feels as true as anything I know. We feel it in our bodies. We respond to it in our energy systems. It’s one of the clearest ways I know to teach children connection to the Earth—because they can see it too: the darkness of winter, the long light of summer. My daughter is turning ten this year, and perhaps because this is her birth month, I’ve been drawn more deeply into the rituals of this season. She tells me she loves winter because it’s when she was born. I’ve always loved spring, for the same reason. She’s helped me deepen into this time of year and its many gifts- having always loved a long, warm summer’s day- complete with dips in refreshing water.