Welcome to the midwinter issue of Hermits Bazaar.  Just as the year has come full circle, so Hermits Bazaar has also come full circle, and we are back to where we started 12 months ago. 

In my first editorial last December I wrote of stillness and how this time of year is a time to retreat, to be still, while we mirror the wisdom of nature.  Right now all of nature is resting and even the sun appears to stand still as, for a few days over the Solstice period, it rises in the same place on the horizon and sets in the same place on the horizon.

Of course the sun isn't standing still (although this is the true meaning of the word Solstice), and as it charts its course low over the horizon, it is about to end our cycle of darkness. Retracing its steps,  the sun will begin its approach towards the earth once again, bringing with it the promise of new life and abundance for the new year ahead.  Just as beneath our feet, all is quiet but with the promise of  new life as the seeds of nature prepare to begin their new journey.

The ancients knew all of this and watched the cyles of nature and of the sun with wonder and awe .  For us though, it can be easy  to miss the true wonder and magic of midwinter whilst rushing around fulfilling obligations, all the while possibly running on increasingly low reserves of energy and going against our true nature.  So take a moment for yourself amongst the rush, go with the flow of midwinter and be guided by your heart.

We hope that over the past year our articles have been able to offer you some tools and techniques to restore and maintain harmony in your lives - so that just like the natural world around us, we can be fulfiling our true nature whilst outwardly appearing to be at complete stillness.

Hermits Bazaar will be back in March for the Spring Equinox issue.  Meanwhile the Whats On section will continue to be updated with local events for the Wessex area.

We hope you enjoy the Yuletide articles which explore the magic and folklore surrounding this time of year, and David Hand gives us his psychic predictions for 2009.  We also look at using Sound as a healing and balancing tool, which may be really useful for replenishing our energy stores over the winter period, and we re-visit Ayurveda with a delicious soup recipe.  In the Eco section, our focus is on waste and how to reduce it – another important issue for this time of year when its easy to buy goods which we don’t really need, and goods with an excess of packaging, which we don’t really need.

Midwinter Blessingsx