Winter's Dance and the Snowflake Faery Winter Dance The Snowflake Faery is  a magnificent creature, her hair decorated with thousands of tiny snowflakes, each in their glistening splendor and light. She is all alone, surrounded by eternal ice, desparate to entice brave visitors to her kingdom of light, that is so cold no man could survive it. In order to keep them under her spell, she drives an ice crystal into their heart, opening up the gates of oblivion and irresistible infinities. Unfortunately, the ice crystal always melts and the sleeper always wakes and flees. Being both an aerial and an aquatic creature she takes on all sorts of forms to pursue him; she flies over him in the shape of an eagle, she follows him from cascade to cascade as a salmon, from branch to branch as a stoat, and as a gust of wind she throws him into the abyss. Then the Ice Maiden kneels down and places an icy kiss of death on his forehead, transforming him into an ice giant.                             The Light of Winter's Wisdom A zillion stars adorn the midnight sky on a clear, crisp winter night. The earth beneath you is still, robust with the beauty of the present and expectant with the promise of the future. 'Tis the season to hold your dreams firmly against your heart and enrich them with the power of your hopes as they germinate and grow. Choose your star, kiss the sky, and make your wish! If living a life rich with love is your desire, ignite your goddess power now, when the universe is most receptive to your petition. Your intuition flows most potently at the new moon, while Mother Earth, this season's elemental "guardian of the watchtower," lends a secure foundation for planning, sorting feelings, resting, and preparing for your passage into awareness. During this gestation between endings and beginnings, the moon, our great lunar lady, is at her newest, so also at her darkest glory. Because of this, no confusing shadows will be cast on your intentions. The goddess will help you delve into the dark lunar aspects of your subconscious and illuminate the wisdom, self-knowledge, and self-love resting there. The gift of this solstitial season is vision--light returns to open your heart and you see love reborn. The intrinsic cycles of love, like the phases of the moon, transcend imperfection simply by BEING; the moon is never too bright, the weather is never too stormy, the sky is never too beautiful, fire is never too hot, water too moist, nor the wind too breezy. Likewise, love is never too perplexing nor too fleeting. It simply is as it is. You see things not as they are, you see them as you are. If you lack a clear vision of love, it will elude you; it becomes limited, conditional, and objectified. In its need to be enveloped in mystery, love will retreat, and become as silent as the night in winter. But within the dark circle of winter's silence, mystery exists. Here love is undefinable, unutterable, and as it should be. For during the symbolic season of purified love, it is a time to glide through the looking glass, clarify the optical illusions of your mind's notion of romantic love, and see the gifts of winter's pristine reality. It is a time to be resolutely honest with yourself as you envision and acertain what you want in love- and most importantly, what you are willing to give. You have entered love's realm of winter, planted deeply within a zone of regeneration, purification, and blunt realization. It is a time to reflect, recharge, and rededicate your intentions. This is the season to invoke the goddess of light. The passionately adored Sophia represents God's female soul and source of his power as the Virgin of Light in time of darkness. Isis, the exalted Egyptian goddess of creation, appears with a message of great love for her consort Osiris. But she also teaches that love is a dance- you draw near, connect with romance and sexual passion, then pull away, and finally reunite with the ability to maintain the bond of love even through death.