Time of the Light’s Return
An article originally posted on my blog Lavender Fields Forever on 21st Dec 2025.
https://mylavenderfieldsforever.wordpress.com/2025/12/21/time-of-the-lights-return/
As a child, I hated Christmas. In my family, it meant a dull atmosphere, an increased amount of meaningless household chores, and the feeling of utter loneliness. It was only when, as an adult woman, I began working with cards and then creating my own deck of archetypal deities that I understood the true meaning of this holiday.
When I see how the festive season is starting earlier and earlier and becoming increasingly commercialised, on the one hand I feel sad, but on the other hand it doesn’t bother me at all. It’s because Christmas doesn’t have Christian roots at all, and has simply overlapped with earlier celebrations of spirituality in the ancient world. Mid-winter time used to be a particularly happy time for the ancient tribes. The Romans had been enjoying the festival of Saturnalia and later the feast of Sol Invictus, ‘The Invincible Sun’, which was established by Emperor Aurelian as a borrowing from the Persian solar cult of Mithra. It was such a popular holiday that early Christians did not even try to fight it. Instead, they adopted the ‘if you can’t beat your enemy, join him’ tactics and started to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. It has to be clearly stated that there is no historical evidence nor archaeological data confirming Dec, 25th as his date of his birth, it was adopted as a metaphor: Jesus was born then because he is light, and light is reborn at the winter solstice.
No need to mention that winter solstice was celebrated by many different tribes all over the world, most popular contemporary traditions originate from Yule, the holiday of Germanic tribes. If you dig deeper, it turns out that the whole December was the festival time in many cultures worldwide (more about it ). There is of course Hanukkah, the festival of lights, around the time of solstice but also Yalda in Iran where in the evening families gather, have a meal of pomegranate, watermelon and ajil (nuts) and read poems.
Winter solstice is mysticism itself. It is the time when the Light overpowers the Darkness; the Sun returns after the shortest day of the year, daytime is becoming longer and spring is getting closer and closer. The more I study the myths and ancient beliefs, the better I understand a universal rule of recurrence, bringing hope that even when we’re stuck in the biggest frost and snow, the time of resurrection and joy is already awaiting us. I could never stand winter, frost, chill, catching colds, trudging through the monotonous snow etc. I have already felt depressed at the end of summer. I could not stop thinking that all the good things are dying together with summer and nothing positive awaits me any longer.
It was not until I started to work on my deck of archetypal deities cards that I realised the deeper meaning of seasons change, particularly on the example of the myth of Demeter and Kore Persephone. The ancient people were much more dependent on the rhythm of seasons’ change than we are. They had no electricity, so when the sun went down, all they could do was either to go to bed or to sit down by the fire and listen to tales. They had no supermarkets either, if they did not manage to gather enough crops, they were starving in the early spring. It was natural to respect cycles. Earth is not able to grow crops, vegetables and fruit without breaks, it is necessary to let her rest. Ground is never dead. Even covered with snow in the wintertime, it still undergoes processes preparing it for revival when warm and sunny days come back.
Because spring WILL eventually come back. In most ancient cultures, the motif of Birth – Death – Rebirth is omnipresent, revealing the wisdom of those times. The ancient people had neither microscopes nor computers nor any sophisticated devices which would allow them to do scientific research. However, observing the world around them, they realised that there is some kind of power which makes flowers bloom, trees send forth new leaves and cereals to be ready to harvest at a particular time. And then this power suddenly disappears. So where is it? If it is not on the ground, then it must be underground. It is very logical, isn’t it? This is why one had to go underneath and bring it back!
Ancient people have created many beautiful legends to explain this process, either by maternal or lover’s feelings. This is why Isis, Demeter, Kore Persephone, Inanna and Ishtar had to descend, literally or figuratively, into the darkness of the Underworld to be reborn and bring Life back to the ground. In fact, this is exactly what we have to do if we want to grow. Underground is where the process of maturation begins. You won’t become a hero unless you face darkness, shadow, fear and uncertainty as Joseph Campbell correctly noticed. Each of us enters the Underworld at some point in our lives. You cannot stay happy, satisfied, smiling, productive and energetic all the time. Each of us has the right to feel fear, sadness, helplessness and weakness, it is consistent with our inner cycles and the laws of the Universe. The only thing inconsistent with the laws of the Universe is staying in the Underworld for too long. We live on the surface of the Earth, not underneath it. You want to eventually emerge from the Underworld like Ishtar, not to stay there forever like Ereshkigal.
And that is exactly the mysticism of the Light’s Return, the mysticism which had existed long before Jesus was born no matter when and if that happened at all. That is exactly hope, joy and wisdom I would like to bring to you. I wish you a very happy Return of the Light.
Time of the Light’s Return © 2025 by Blanka Solun is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0
Disclaimer: I do not consent to this text being used to train AI.
Cover image: Andrii Biletskyi via Dreamstime (ID: 141290743) – cropped and colour-adjustedLink: https://www.dreamstime.com/beautiful-sunset-mountains-wide-panorama-view-big-bright-white-sun-dramatic-orange-sky-over-dark-mountain-range-landscape-image141290743
