December Solstice 2025

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This year the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, and Summer Solstice in the Southern, will occur at 7:03am PST on December 21, but the transition of the light will happen gradually over the course of a few days. During Winter Solstice time I usually talk about appreciating the stillness of darkness and welcoming the slow return of the sun, but this year it feels as if other energies that are related to our transition from 2025 to 2026 are intruding on this sacred, seasonal transition. From what I’ve understood, 2026 will be a very different kind of year than 2025. We will, all of us, experience a significant shift in our lives and within ourselves.

This shift has already begun to bring discomfort. I have felt irritable for weeks, and people I talk to have felt similarly agitated, confused, or shaken up by something they cannot identify. For some, it seems an intruding spirit, for others a soul-stealing, for others an overloaded energy field, for others simply a low-level dissatisfaction or annoyance with daily life. In my region of the planet, I’m reading about multiple mass shootings and tragic killings as the rivers are reaching record levels and wind storms batter the trees and power lines. It feels as if a pressure cooker is finding ways to release its overflow so that it doesn’t explode all at once.

Every year during the transition time of fall into winter, we are asked to let go of what we no longer need. But it seems that this year, more than ever, we need to release those things that cannot serve us in the coming year. I suddenly feel an urgency to organize my kitchen after weeks of not wanting to have anything to do with it. I’m finally hauling things out of clutter and to charity without reservations and signing up to volunteer in my community, after years of feeling on the fringes. It feels very, very different to place myself in these new situations, as if I’m finally opening a new cache of possibility in my life. 

According to expert Tarot reader Lindsay Mack (whose Wild Soul Tarot “Monthly Medicine” podcasts I recommend if you’re interested in Tarot), 2026 will be a year when we finally move out of the stagnation that has been energetically influencing the last four or five years. Things are going to start happening, and our load needs to be light enough (and we need to be willing enough) that we can be open to the changes that are coming. As far as I can see, we might feel more energized to make a difference in community, connect with those we’ve been reluctant to connect with, make our voices heard, take true responsibility for our thoughts and actions, notice when our hearts are not open, and step forward to do things we’ve been dreaming of or thinking about but haven’t tried yet. 

Alternatively, I see that this shift can also affect us negatively, in a way that feels as if we’re fighting ourselves, or going batty and out-of-control. Energies of change can activate deep fear, regret, and unworthiness as a way to keep ourselves from changing. I urge us all to be aware of these influences and slow down, spend quiet time with nature, and take the time we need to remain connected to our own inner knowing so we can make decisions and take action from a grounded place.

I also urge us all to be aware of the crackling energies around us, and, if things feel scattered or confusing, or we’re not feeling ourselves, take a moment to ask, “is this mine?” If our intuition tells us that it isn’t, we can proclaim aloud our sovereignty and release the energies to the deep waters of Earth, so they can return to where they came from or be transmuted into positive energy for the planet. (This basic energy hygiene skill is one that all of us with even a mild sensitivity to others’ energy should have in our toolbox!) If the discomfort doesn’t dissipate after some time, we might consider contacting a practitioner who can help.

I am hopeful that 2026 will be a year that is filled with more positive action, moving us towards balance within ourselves and with one another. While you savor this year’s transition from dark to light—or, in the Southern Hemisphere, light to dark–in your own way, I offer you blessings of a truly new year energy that I hope propels you to bring more of your True Self and true heart into your everyday life. You shine brilliantly! ☀️✨

Warmly,
Kathryn

To shore up supportive and inspirational energies for 2026, contact me for a Gateway Reading (offered throughout the month of January).

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