When the Sacred Left the Kitchen: Why We’re Hungry for Ritual

On Winter Solstice, sacred rhythms, and the marking of time.

At the time of writing, today is Winter Solstice here in the Southern Hemisphere. By the time this is published, it will have been yesterday. The shortest day of the year. The longest night.

I’ve been reading The Great Cosmic Mother, and one idea keeps returning to me: our ancestors lived much closer to cycles than we do.

They lived by moon cycles and seasons. By planting and harvest. By birth, death, bleeding, pregnancy, winter, and spring.

Time wasn’t something you squeezed into a calendar app or tracked by the clock on your phone. It was something you felt in your body and observed in the world around you.

And ordinary life carried meaning. Cooking, feeding children, tending the fire, even the changing of seasons carried meaning.

Over time, the sacred was pushed out of ordinary life and replaced with efficiency, speed, productivity, and optimisation.

The question stopped being, What season are we in?

It became:

What time is it?

What’s next?

What still needs doing?

I don’t think our hunger for ritual is random. I think we miss something our bodies were built for. We are cyclical creatures living inside a culture that worships linear productivity.

We are cyclical creatures living inside a culture that worships linear productivity.

Of course we feel exhausted.

Of course we feel disconnected.

Of course so many of us feel like life is rushing past while we barely have time to notice.

Psychologically, rituals help create stability. They reduce decision fatigue and give shape to time. Repeated actions become anchors, especially in seasons of stress, grief, transition, or uncertainty.

Spiritually, rituals do something else, they make ordinary life feel meaningful again.

As Christina Baldwin writes:

“Ritual is the act of sanctifying action, even ordinary action, so that it has meaning.”

Ritual doesn’t need to be elaborate.

It can be as simple as lighting a candle before dinner, or a sea swim on New Year’s Day.

I included a Yearly Rituals page in A Year That Feels Like Home: 2026 By Design.

These small practices anchor our days and remind us of what matters most.

Yearly Rituals Exercise

Take a few minutes with a journal and reflect on the rhythms already shaping your year. Note down the little rituals that open and close your seasons, months, and quarters.

They do not need to be elaborate… Simple, repeatable acts often carry the most meaning.

Consider:

• New Moon rituals
• Quarter turns (March / June / September / December)
• Birthday traditions
• Seasonal markers (spring, solstice, harvest)
• Holidays
• Family traditions
• Other moments you want to intentionally mark

Ask yourself:

• What rituals do we already have?
• Which ones feel meaningful?
• What traditions do I want my children to remember?
• What rituals would help this season feel more grounded?

Write them down and start small.

It’s about reverence…

It’s about choosing what deserves to be repeated, and letting those small rituals turn a year into something sacred.

With love,