Witch’s Almanac — 27th of December 2025: The Days of Settling After the Turning
- Sorcha Lunaris
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
“The light has returned. Now it must find its place.”
The 27th of December occupies a quiet and often overlooked place in the Irish seasonal year. The Winter Solstice has passed, and the long descent into darkness has reached its deepest point, yet the year itself has not released its final breath. In traditional seasonal understanding, this day was never regarded as a beginning, nor fully as an ending. It exists instead as a holding space — a narrow bridge between what has endured and what has not yet learned how to move forward.
The darkness has loosened its grip, but it still lingers. The returning light has appeared, but it does not yet command the land. This creates a subtle imbalance, one felt more than seen. The air seems slightly different. The hours stretch and contract unpredictably. Even familiar spaces feel altered, as though adjusting to a new weight they do not yet recognise.
For the witch, this is not a day for declarations or redirection. It is a day of orientation — of standing still long enough to sense where the balance now lies. The old year has not vanished. The new year has not arrived. Both are present, and both are quiet. This coexistence creates a rare moment in which nothing demands decision, and nothing requires defence.
The Seasonal Character of the 27th of December
In Irish folk perception, the days immediately following the Solstice were treated with great care. They were believed to be formative rather than active — days that shaped the inner tone of the coming year without outward display. The 27th of December, in particular, was regarded as a settling day, when the land itself recalibrated after the great turning of light.
Rural households often noticed subtle changes now. Fires seemed to burn more evenly, without the sharp hunger of the darker weeks. Sounds travelled differently through rooms, carrying farther but landing more softly. People spoke less, not from solemnity, but from instinct. There was an unspoken understanding that the world was still adjusting, and that unnecessary disturbance was best avoided.
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