My name is Damh, and I’m a Sun Worshipper

I admit it. I’m not a fan of our British Winter. It’s nice at first at Samhain when the nights draw in – that feeling of being held within the dark embrace of the Crone, and the stillness that allows me to actually stop, remember, and recharge – but by now I’m ready to get going again, and January can feel like a real grind.

It might not be politically correct to say that within Pagan circles, particularly when one of the gifts of the Pagan Wheel of the Year allows us to connect fully to each of the revolving seasons, but there it is. If I’m honest I spend much of late Winter searching for small signs of the approaching Spring, the sight of Snowdrops, Hazel catkins, fresh Hogweed, fills me with hope and excitement for the coming year. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve really tried to get to know and love Winter, but maybe it’s that I’m a Summer child, born in June, or maybe it’s the genetics of my two distant South African ancestors, that just makes my whole being yearn for Spring and Summer; to look each day towards the ark of the Sun to see it grow higher, and the sky each evening grow lighter with each passing day.

So here’s to the Sun, the life giver, the Bright Wanderer. I watch you as the plants of Albion watch you, and in this time of dark and cold, I yearn for your return, for the time of the Equinox, after which I know that I will once more feel your glorious warmth upon my skin, and smell warm earth once more!!

13 responses to “My name is Damh, and I’m a Sun Worshipper”

  1. welcome to texas, where it is 70 degrees farhenheit today. walking outside at lunch, i found a small flower already blooming. several trees already believe the winter is over for us and are starting to flower. yet, i’m sure we still have at least several more weeks of winter ahead of us. for now, the flower’s delicate blossoms give me hope that there is warmth in the earth and the cycle will be reborn.

  2. I had such a good chuckle when I read this as I feel exactly the same way (I live in Wisconsin in the US – a very cold, snowy place). People have told me for years that I need to “Make friends with winter”. Goddess knows I’ve tried and tried but alas, it is just not to be. The only thing to which I look forward in winter is my annual trip to the beaches of Florida.

    By the way, I was born in June as well.

  3. Damh,
    While I admit that the summer and spring are nice, I am not particularly fond of the heat that come with them. Feeling new life spring from the earth each spring is a refreshing and renewing sensation. You’re not alone in the difficulties in connecting with a particular season and I believe that many pagans have the same difficulty. All dogma aside, The wheel of the year speaks to each of us in a different voice. For me, it’s the voice of autumn and spring. Temperate and never to harsh, subtle and renewing. The smell of crisp cool autumn breezes through the maple trees and the sound of autumn leaves tumbling in the wind is a sensation I adore and look forward to every year and on the same note, to feel the gentle warmth of the suns return as I watch the first doffodils of spring poke their heads through the frozen ground is equally refreshing.
    The wheel will spin and seasons will change, the connections we all feel with each season are as varied as the falling leaves. Thank you for your words, which have given me something to meditate on. 🙂
    Cheers to the return of the sun, and cheers to you and yours. May you be blessed in the coming year!

  4. i have to say i have always been a winter lover~but this year…well it seems to be a cold, hard endless winter and i too am seeking out signs of spring. funnily driving through the forest today i suddenly shouted out ‘catkins!’ to top that we have green somethings pushing up through the earth and the sound of the birds are suddenly different.
    spring is closer than we think 🙂

  5. This is interesting, thank you for raising the issue.

    I have been trying to make friends with summer, as you have with winter. I think there are several things to be said for any season, and we all experience them differently.

    Summer can be wonderful. It can also be too bright, too intense, too stinging, for some.

    Winter can be dark and dreary, but it can also be calm, contemplative, spacious.

    Thanks again for interesting thoughts!

  6. I’m with you on this, Damh. Try as I might Winter is a chore, and my Paganism just about helps me deal with it. With Imbolc I feel a sense of relief, that develops strongly with Ostara.

    I was born September, so don t know how that works…

  7. We love the Sun, but I gotta say after a few weeks of 40 degrees, the Winter months look mighty fine, even if Adelaide’s minimum rarely falls below 0.
    We do get below that up in the Adelaide Hils. Coming from the Uk originally (18 years there) I can certainly appreciate you wanting Winter over with though.

    BB Tom

  8. I’m a February baby, and Spring through and through. Always suffer through winter, this past one finally enough to snap me into realising I need to solidify my understanding of the path I walk in time for next Winter, I definitely believe it’s going to be the first step in making my peace with the darker months that usually leave me too lethargic and down to remember to do so.

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