Letter from Cressida Pryor
December 22, 2018
Midwinter 2018
Dear Friends,
Sitting now with my laptop on my knees I am at last able to draw breath after a day of work and seasonal tasks...satisfaction at having just topped my home baked festive mid winter cake with walnuts, marzipan and orange peel...and some relief that there will be no more clients now till the New Year. Just as well as my voice is painfully hoarse and has dropped pitch dramatically after much carol singing and loud festive social gatherings.
It s been a tumbledown year for many and the current wind and grey rain seem to echo the sense of overall uncertainty and bluster. This end of December murk meant that even earlier in the day the dark seemed just a blink away despite clock time saying it was midday...and in contrast tonight the moon is only one day from total fullness and some say it could be bright enough to read by. This wide moon in the longest night can perhaps lighten our spirits and foster courage to see beyond the seeming stasis that has settled over our political world here in the UK...the sun s declination appears to hesitate for three days at the Solstice and then a seeming magical shift of direction happens slowly but irrevocably. Some people describe a miracle as a change of perception...a shift of awareness that unfreezes a locked and stuck situation. We experience such a miracle at each solstice.
People ask what the Solstice means to me and I say; it gives me hope. Hope that despite bleak times and suffering there is light beyond; that there can be miraculous changes however small...Many faiths at this time have festivals of light; Jewish Hanukah and Hinduism s Diwali are both centred on the need to bring light into the dark times...it appears a human need to gather in the gloom and dream of lighter times.
This leads me to another beacon of hope...the recent second issue of "Isian News, Isian Voices" or INIV for short...with 15 pieces to inspire and inform...I especially direct you to Cait Branigan's thoughtful Editor's Note. The fellowship is blessed with a diverse and culturally rich membership and a channel now for communication that I know will feed and inspire us all.
I finish this letter with a Celtic inspired prayer:
Divine Isis, Queen of Light
May we not hoard our blessings,
but create miracles and give them away:
so that others might learn new dance steps,
so children might be fed,
so bridges might be built
and so love, truth and abundance may flow to all.
With love & blessings,
Cressida, FOI Steward
