Dark nights

Welcome to the dark nights, the preparation for the rough nights

The Dark Nights are, as the name suggests, the darkest days of the year.

The first night is today, December 8th, and the dark nights prepare for the energetic turning point in the annual cycle, the winter solstice (on the night of December 20th to 21st). By reflecting and then letting go, we create space for new things. The winter solstice symbolizes the dawn of the new, so to speak, followed by the rough nights, which we actively use to design, visualize and manifest the new year.

The dark nights are in principle part of the rough nights - for the rough nights I offer you a workshop on spirituality and rough nights - and are ideally included.

But back to the beginning:

The rough nights are the time after the winter solstice.

During the rough nights, the focus is primarily on the coming year.

Our ancestors believed that in this special time the gates to other dimensions, to the other world, were open. The rough nights are particularly suitable for manifesting and creating new things, sending wishes into the universe and visualizing the new year. According to tradition, each Rauhnacht represents a new month in the coming year. The first rough night for January, the second for February, etc. If you want, you can “design” each individual month for 2023. But this is not a must. Personally, I prefer it to be a little more open, because the universe usually has very nice, positive surprises or twists in store that you may not be able to manifest very well.

The Dark Nights are even less known than the Rauhnächte and there are far fewer traditions about them so far. Since they represent the darkening time before the winter solstice, they can be seen as a counterpart to the rough nights. The time is used here to look back and let go. You look back on the last year and reflect. What was I allowed to learn this year? What am I grateful for? What do I want to let go of? What shouldn't I take with me into the New Year?

If you celebrate the Rough Nights, the Dark Nights are a useful counterpart. Because in them you can create the space for the new things you want to create in your rough nights. A custom that has become popular in recent years states that each curfew night represents a month of the previous year. Here, too, I personally prefer to look at the entire year and not go into every single month in detail. But you can do that however you like.

In principle you can say that the dark nights are ideal preparation for the rough nights. If you use it to reflect and let old things go, you can fully concentrate on manifesting your desires during the rough nights.

December 21st is also important: the winter solstice is the longest and therefore darkest night of the year, after which the days become longer again and the light slowly returns.

For our ancestors, the winter solstice was an important event. They were very close to nature and the sun and moon in particular had an elementary meaning. For this reason, the days before the fall of the Berlin Wall had a special importance. 

According to tradition, the name Dark Nights or Closing Nights comes from the fact that work ended during this time and the house and yard were made winter-proof. All equipment and everything that was no longer needed was “locked away”. People prepared for winter and for the special time between the years, the rough nights.

What are the dark nights (or closed nights) and what are the rough nights?

The dark nights serve as preparation for the rough nights.

In the magical time of the rough nights from December 22nd, we manifest our year 2023 and send our wishes into the nights.

These special days between the years, which are perfect for spiritually preparing for the next year due to their magical peculiarities and the peace and quiet that also prevails in our western world, are important days of contemplation, reflection and, above all, for me personally ideal time to mentally shape, visualize and manifest the next 12 months (each rough night day stands for a month).

If you've ever wanted to delve deeper into spirituality and manifesting, I can only recommend Rauhnächte and my workshop on Spirituality and Rauhnächte . And don't worry, we won't jump around the fire together, I'll give you my tried and tested tools, rituals and approaches in advance so that you can design YOUR rough nights in a way that feels right and meaningful for you this year.

The dark nights before the winter solstice are part of my preparation for the rough nights and serve to end the old year, with 2022, in order to look at 2023, freed from everything old and with a fresh perspective. And above all, without taking old and unresolved problems with you into the new year. Energetically speaking, the darkness supports us to go into silence, to reflect, to look at our shadows and to let go of everything that we might not want to take with us. Otherwise, everything that has not been processed, everything old will become a projection (a transmission) for 2023. That is what we want Rule out in advance.

So how do we proceed?

You register for the spirituality and rough nights workshop 😊

We'll spend 2 Zoom Lives there (of course these will be recorded if you can't make it in time) and I'll share with you my thoughts, tools, insights, rituals and routines for the 12 rough nights, which you can then design on your own the way you want .

I'm a big fan of Solitude when it comes to energetic work. In other words, I like to do it privately and just for myself.

Of course there is also a workbook for you!

We will use the nights and days from today to prepare.

And don't worry, if you don't have much time to actively do anything in the next few days, it's enough to mentally deal with letting go and cleaning up the current year.

You will probably do that anyway after reading this blog post. Because you definitely didn't end up here by chance . 😊

Here are a few ideas for the next 12 days (and nights) and to prepare for the rough nights, which start for me on December 22nd.

Annual review:

If you want to work your way through the last year month by month, it usually helps to take a look at your cell phone and the photos saved in each month. A little ritual is that every day you write down one thing on a piece of paper that you would like to let go of that month. On December 20th, the last dark day, or on the day of the winter solstice, December 21st, you can light and burn all the pieces of paper together and thus let go of everything written down, all things from 2022.

Evening letting go:

You can use the dark nights to slow down and take time for yourself. Meditation is very suitable for this. Or even calming yoga flows especially for the evening. Because in the peace and darkness of the evening, special answers can come to you on these special nights. Meditation can help you reflect and see what your subconscious wants to show you and what you can still let go of. And of course meditation is also very good for letting go. Dreams also have a special meaning on these nights and also show you in which areas you are “allowed” to clean up.

Speaking of cleaning up:

My favorite dark night ritual of all, although it's better done during the day with a bit more light, is tidying up. 12 garbage bags, 12 rooms or areas. I'm a very practical wizard and tidying up (and thorough cleaning, with an eye on otherwise neglected corners) makes a lot of sense now and for me tidying up and cleaning is such a beautiful, quiet activity that it's almost like meditation.

My 12 rooms and corners until December 20th are:

1.My office

2. My closet

3. My laundry drawer

4. The inside of the kitchen cabinets

5. The pantry

6. The household cupboard

7. My jewelry box (even tiny things count)

8. Wash and iron woolen items

9. Discard a carpet

10. Clean up the medicine cabinet

11. Clean up spices and teas

12. Sort books

Design a place for your dark nights:

I always put candles, favorite healing stones, incense, a pen and small pieces of paper on a tray, especially for the dark nights. There is also a bowl for collecting the pieces of paper to be burned. Whatever seems right to you symbolically or emotionally has a place here. There is no right or wrong.

Have fun letting go! I wish you many inspiring and valuable thoughts in the next 12 days and look forward to seeing you in the Spirituality and Rough Nights workshop .