Winter Solstice

The Thirteen Magical Nights

A Winter Solstice Reflection

There is a quiet stretch of days at the turning of the year, between the darkest night and the return of the light, when time seems to soften, and a hush comes over the earth. Particularly in the north where the beauty of the changing seasons offer their own reflections.

Winter Solstice has become a living season for me. Incorporating its traditional foundation with my own winter season practices. Over the years, I’ve honored each Winter Solstice season in quiet, in reflection, in listening. Thirteen Magical Nights is a tradition that I was first introduced to in 2015, while living in Sebastopol, CA.

The Thirteen Magical Nights, also known as Smoke Nights, Rauhnächte. It is a pre Christian winter solstice practice of Germanic/Celtic origin. The original spiritual practice is of reflections, release and manifestation between Winter Solstice and Epiphany (Dec 24/25 to Jan 6).

Overtime, I have adapted this practice, quietly making it a personal practice. I have altered the traditional dates of the Thirteen Magical nights to Winter Solstice Eve – January 1. It has become a quiet practice that I look forward to each year. It is a practice rooted in release, simplicity and trust. I begin by slowly turning inward as the days get darker, in the stillness just before the Solstice, often on the New Moon that precedes it, and carries through to the New Year. During this time, my yoga practice increases, my meditation practice feels deeper, my days are quieter, softer, my nights are silent, my food intake decreases, my creativity is heightened. For me, Winter Solstice is not a practice of goal-setting, It’s become a relationship of sorts, a relationship with one’s dreams, one’s breath, and the unseen unfolding of time.

At its heart, the practice invites us to name what we long for, not as hope, but as truth. Intentions are written as statements of being, then slowly released, one by one, over the final nights of the year. Each is offered without being reread or reconsidered, an offering of trust in the unseen. What remains on New Year’s Day is not something to chase, but something to walk with, a quiet touchstone for the year ahead.

This practice asks for very little, a candle, a few moments of stillness, a willingness to listen. It pairs naturally with gentle movement, meditation, journaling, or evening quiet. What matters most is the space it creates in both the outer and inner world.

In the depth of winter, I also turn toward nourishment as ritual. One tradition that is increasingly becoming a practice in its own right is the making of ghee, slowly clarifying butter over low heat until it becomes golden and luminous. When prepared during Winter Solstice, and with attention, ghee becomes more than food it becomes a prayer of love and care, a way of tending the inner flame when the outer light is faint. When prepared during the Full Moon, in silence, it carries the quality of intention, listening, and integration, reminding us that presence itself can be a form of prayer.

The Thirteen Magical Nights is not about manifesting a perfect future. It is about cultivating trust, trust in ourselves, trust in timing, in listening, and in the quiet intelligence that moves through us when we allow ourselves to slow down.

As the year turns, may we learn to release what no longer needs to be held, and carry forward only what asks to be held with care.

Happy Solstice.

~Leora