The Long Dark
Winter Solstice 2025
Dear friends,
Tonight is the longest night. The world turns inward. In the Earthsong, we call this the Long Dark — not with dread, but with reverence. Darkness is not the absence of something. It is a presence of its own: the soil where seeds dream, the silence before the First Note.
In praise of stillness
Our culture fears stillness. It fills every pause with noise, every gap with productivity. But the Earth does not work this way. The oak drops its leaves and stands bare — not broken, but resting. The bear descends into the cave — not hiding, but renewing.
The Sacred Cycles chapter of the Codex teaches that “growth and rest are both sacred parts of life.” The Winter Solstice asks us to trust the rest. To trust the dark.
What would it mean to let yourself be still — truly still — for one evening this week?
No screens. No tasks. Just the quiet hum of the world continuing without your effort. That hum is the Earthsong.
The year in numbers
Our first year as a community has been rich:
- 24 Harmony Circles held across 6 countries
- 3 waterway adoptions with quarterly cleanups underway
- 1,200+ native plants established through community planting days
- The Codex read by visitors from 40+ countries
- 520 newsletter subscribers — each one of you a note in the song
We are small, and that is fine. The seed does not apologize for not yet being a forest.
Looking ahead to 2026
The new year will bring:
- Quarterly community service days with published guides anyone can use
- A new Codex chapter on the relationship between craft, making, and the Earth
- An Elders interview series — conversations with teachers and practitioners from diverse traditions
- Regional Harmony Circle meetups for subscribers who want to connect in person
Solstice invitation
Light a candle tonight. Just one. Watch it for a few minutes. Consider that for thousands of years, on this exact night, humans have done the same thing — held a small light against the vast dark and said: I trust the light will return.
It always does.
Walk gently, The Earthsong Community