Midwinter

Winter Solstice, in the universal calendar of sacred symbolism, is the entry point in the great darkness for the return to Light.
This small opening in the season of cold and night is the gateway to paradise, understood from a transcendent point of view. The homeland is Paradise, the realm from which we have journeyed into space-time. Having come this far on the arc of our journey, it is now time to return home with the gifts that have been given, the learning that has been won. At this midwinter point, this nadir in the Circle of Eternal Return, we begin our return voyage to the homeland with renewed intention. What Paradise means, however, is far different from the images we are used to receiving. The mystery is far, far more interesting. As Henry Corbin has said:

Even while one is materially present in this world, there is a mode of being in Paradise; but it goes without saying that this mode of being, Paradise, can be realized, can exist "in the true sense," only in a person who precisely is this Paradise--that is to say, who always personifies this mode of being. (Cyclical Time...)