The winter solstice takes place on 21 December and is presided over by the Archangel Gabriel.

“On 25 December, the feast of Christmas celebrates a birth, in other words a concretization, a descent into matter. The Archangel Gabriel directs forces whose specific task is the condensing of matter. This is why, on the sephirotic tree, Gabriel is the Archangel of Iesod, the region of the Moon. Unlike the Sun, which dilates, disperses and distributes, the Moon compresses, contracts and condenses. If it were not checked by other influences, it would petrify all life in plants, animals and humans. Initiates, who are instructed in this science, try to use the period of the winter solstice to make their ideas and plans concrete, for this is the time when a birth takes place on earth. The other cardinal feasts correspond to other processes: Easter, to resurrection; St. John’s day, to the kindling of fire; Michaelmas, to a stripping away. The feast of Christmas is linked to an incarnation, and this is why the birth of Christ, in the person of Jesus, has traditionally taken place in winter.”

2008 Daily Meditations, 25 December

“On Christmas Eve, Christ is born in the world in the form of Light, warmth and life. Long before being an historic event, the Birth of Christ was a Cosmic event: the first manifestation of life in Nature, the beginning, the springing forth of the flowing spring. The Birth is also a mystical event, that is, the Christ must be born in every human soul as the Principle of Divine Light and Love. That is why it is so important to prepare for the Feast of Christmas, to start preparing long ahead so as to understand the entire significance.”