It's natural for human beings to contemplate the cycles of life and death as we watch the sun swell and grow in spring and summer and then settle and rest for the winter. We experience all kinds of losses throughout our lives, whether it’s loss of a relationship, the death of a loved one, or even the loss of an identity that comes with some change— even a good change, like getting married or having a baby. Despite the fact that we all experience grief, our culture does not like to address it, allowing unprocessed grief to linger in our bodies. The winter, and especially the winter solstice, is a nourishing and supportive time to hold our grief with some tenderness. This ritual takes up a whole moon cycle, from full moon to full moon. I recommend doing it anytime between November and February, but it is especially potent around the winter solstice. You can absolutely do it more than once, even for the same loss, as grief tends to be cyclic and you may need to return to these practices. I frame the ritual around the loss of a person, but you can also work with a lost object, a lost sense of identity, …