A Winter Solstice Spell for the Darkest Night

Are you looking for a Winter Solstice spell to work during the darkest nights of the year? A way to feel the magic of this season more deeply? I want to share a two-part spell that you can do at Winter Solstice, Yule, or any time during the dark of the year.

Part one is about shedding old patterns or anything you don’t want to carry into the dark months. Part two is about noticing what you have in your life and letting the slowly returning sun, light that up to warm you through winter. You can do this spell over multiple days, and I’ve included an adaptation at the end if you want to do it just at Solstice.

The Spiritual Meaning of Winter Solstice

Solstice is the time of year when the night is at its longest. The power of the moon and stars are at their strongest, and the power of the sun is at its weakest. It is a time where we hold hope for the future, for ourselves, and for our visions and dreams in the coming year. It is a time of year where we are in gratitude for those who stand with us in the dark. It is a time of welcoming and calling the sun back. Check out my last blog if you want to know more about the solstice.

Supplies for a Winter Solstice Releasing Spell

For part one of your spell, you will need one black taper or chime candle, or if you don’t have that, use any color. You could also use one birthday candle each night. I like them because they are inexpensive and burn quickly. You will be lighting that candle for a short period every night until the Winter Solstice. You will also need:

Part One

~ One black candle
~ Matches
~ Some slips of paper, a pen, and an envelope
~ Some dried rosemary or another clearing herb
~Altar items (optional): black or dark cloth, and evergreens,

Part Two

~ A warm-colored candle if you have one. I always just use beeswax tealights.
~ A simple altar with gold, white, or warm themes.
~ Bird seed or nuts as an offering
~ A journal or small slips of paper
~Small bundles of evergreens and natural fiber cord

Part One: Beginning the Winter Solstice Release Spell

In the evening a few nights before Solstice, start your ritual and spell by centering and grounding, or doing whatever you usually do to start a piece of magic. Go outside and take a few minutes slowly walking if you can. Imagine or feel yourself gathering in the stillness and dark. Return inside when you are ready.

Turn off as many lights as you are comfortable with. Take a breath in, light the candle, and then just spend some time in stillness. Remember how the night felt and imagine or feel it moving into your home. Try to see it as restful if you can, and imagine or feel the ways that it could soothe and support you.

When you’re done and you’ve taken in as much darkness as you can without your attention wandering away, write down on a piece of paper one thing that you don’t want to carry into the new year with you. Put that in an envelope.

Working the Magic

Then you just repeat that ritual the next few nights. You don’t need to go outside again unless you want to. The spell is set in motion, so the next few nights are usually quicker. Light your candle and write down another thing you want to release to the dark.

Snuff your candle each night when you’re done. Don’t blow it out. If you are using birthday candles, let them burn all the way out and use a new one the next night. Just keep repeating every night until it is Winter Solstice.

On the Eve of Winter Solstice

When you come up to the eve of Winter Solstice, tuck all those slips of paper into an envelope. I like to write a symbol or a little graphic on the envelope, something that means releasing to me. That could be as simple as drawing an arrow pointing downward or upward. If you wanted to get elaborate, you could draw a horizontal line with arrows dividing and going off into the ground to compost or into the night sky to change. It can be very simple, or even just the word “release” if you want.

Burning the Old and Letting Go

When you’re done doing that, you can add some rosemary to the envelope if you want. Then light that envelope on fire, preferably outdoors if you can, but indoors in a cauldron or fireplace is fine too.

On Solstice night, if you have been using a larger candle, keep that candle burning until it is all the way out.

Once you’ve burned what you wish to release, take a shower, maybe with a salt scrub. Put some salt on a washcloth and scrub yourself down. You can add salt to a bathtub if you happen to have a bathtub.

Part Two: Welcoming the Returning Sun

Once you’re done with the shower and you’ve really let go of what you’re releasing, make a fire indoors or light a candle. You can use white, yellow, gold, or any sun-colored candle that you want.

You can stay up all night if you choose, holding vigil, waiting and welcoming the sun when it rises in the morning. You can share that vigil with friends if you want, talking about hope, community, what the old year has meant to you, and what you’re looking forward to in the new year.

If you don’t want to stay up all night, spend some time journaling about these ideas before you go to sleep, and then get up before dawn to welcome the new sun returning.

Working With a Simple Sun Altar After Solstice

To complete the spell, the next morning when you get up, create a very simple sun altar that welcomes the sun back using gold, white, and other sun colors. Light the warm-colored candle. Spend a few minutes being grateful for what you have in your life, the friends that stand with you at this time of year, and think about your hopes and visions for the coming year. Maybe write them down and put them on that simple altar.

Do this for however many days feels right to you. You can also hold gratitude for the sun, which is our local star, for its warmth and what it gives us. Charge small bundles of evergreens with this gratitude and offer them to the land or to your friends as gifts. Each day when you are done, snuff your candle, or if it’s small, let it burn all the way out and use a new candle the next day.

Closing the Ritual

When you feel like you are done, let whatever candle you are using burn all the way out. Take your wishes, bury them in the earth, make an offering of the evergreens, or share some seeds and nuts with the outdoor wildlife. Perhaps make a donation to a group that fosters community or offers support to those who are marginalized.

Shortening the Winter Solstice Spell

This is a busy time of year, and if you just want something special for Solstice itself, you can consolidate this spell. Start part one on Solstice night at sundown.

Light your candle, gather in the power of the night, write down what you are releasing, and burn it. Let your candle burn all the way out. Take a shower and sleep or stay up in vigil until the sun rises. Then do part two and close the ritual.

Final Thoughts for Winter Solstice

This is a time of inward reflection and stillness. I’m wishing all of you a magical solstice. May the stars fill your dreams and the darkness fill you with a deep appreciation for the mystery of the night.

A Witchy Winter Solstice to you all,
Colette Gardiner
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