As we enter the solstice portal this week, and for some to prepare for the Christmas celebration, it is essential to remember the ancient stories and decolonize the Western ways those celebrations represent.
Long before Santa charioted his flying steeds across our mythical skies, it was the Deer Mother who drew the sleigh of the sun goddess at Winter Solstice. Associated with fertility, regeneration, and the rebirth of the sun, her antlers were frequently depicted as the tree of life, carrying birds, the sun, moon, and stars.
Unlike the stag who loses his antlers in winter, it was she who carried the life-giving Light of the sun safely into the new year in hers.
And from the British Isles, Scandinavia, Greenland, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, and across the land bridge of the Bering Strait, she was revered as the "Life-Giving Mother" who took flight from the dark of the old year to bring Light and life to the new.
Indeed it is the Mother who brings back the Light. Indeed, it is Her who remembers the path in the darkness.
Indeed it is Her who keeps her antlers (connection to the stars) during the darkest time of the year.
Also, it is always Her who suffers in a world that is violent, disconnected, and overly driven by the mind.
As she leads with the heart. As she is connected to the land. She is the first one harmed by our hardened world.
As we face the darkness in this season and in the world, reconnecting to the ancient stories and myth, the ancient native ways, will help us find the solutions and necessary steps to come back together to the Light, to wisdom, and to the truth.
Let's follow the Mothers, the grandmothers, the ancient Ones... ✨️🫎✨️
