In Praise of Darkness

(Newsletter: 17th December 2023)

As we tiptoe gingerly towards the Winter Solstice, the days are fleeting and feel cursory. Darkness can be strangely soft, silent and sensorially enlivening. There is something dignified and comforting about its privacy. Midsummer elicits crazed behaviour through the saturation of light; it is riotous, but there’s no escape. We roar with delirium. Midwinter has the opposite effect. It encourages gentler behaviour with smaller, quieter rituals that don’t disturb the hibernation of others. Sunshine on the skin might be a wonderful sensation but a long, deep breath into the darkness can take you outside yourself and make you feel at one with the atmosphere. In. Out.