Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

I think it is such a good indication that the pendulum has shifted, that many of us are looking for ways to incorporate a recognition of the natural world into our spiritual lives.  Last winter, I celebrated for the first time in my life - the Winter Solstice. 

I lit a white candle upon the rock alter at my sacred place.  It was partly cloudy, the sun obscured and then, it did break out in a beautiful light for me.  I found a bit of Ivy on the ground in my path, it had broken loose from the tree upon which it was growing, and I planted the limb and Ivy into the ground near the rock alter where it did remain green for a long time but never took root. 

I brought a small sprig of the Ivy home and to my delight, it rooted in water and grew and remains on my window sill, though I intended all year to plant it at my sacred place.  The last thing I did last year, was let it be known that receiving a live Holly Tree would be very meaningful to me and so, my MIL did buy one for me.  It was a large tree and we kept it on the porch.  I decorated it with strands of artificial red berries (as there were none upon it) and little lights.  It was beautiful but it didn't do well, which I found heartbreaking to say the least.  The leaves fell off significantly and although we did eventually plant it out in the field after the holiday had passed, I haven't had the heart to look upon it since.  Perhaps, I will dig deep into my courage and go by there today on my walk.

The point of all this is - it is very satisfying to design, and be filled with, rituals of your own making that tie you back into the natural world.  This can be difficult to do in an urban area but I believe that given sufficient effort, anyone can find a way to reconnect themselves with all that has been throughout the ages.  That is why the holiday season, that some of us know as Christmas, endures as it does.  It is deeply satisfying always to connect with something larger, some commonality of spirit that gives meaning and continuity to life.

So, it was not a big surprise to see that Dr Andrew Weil (who we affectionately call Dr Fuzzy in our household) wrote about his own celebration of the Winter Solstice in his monthly newsletter Self Healing for December 2007.  I copy his words below -
 
It's no coincidence that the winter solstice, which takes place on the shortest day of the year and marks the onset of the season, is surrounded by numerous holidays.  It's the day when the sun is at its lowest point in the sky.  But it's also the point when the light will begin to return.  Since ancient times, people have celebrated this rebirth of sunlight, and I plan to do so on December 22.

I've been welcoming the solstice since the 1970s, when I became aware of its significance to our mind, body, and spirit.  I enjoy connecting with nature's life cycle and celebrating the sun's energy with customs rooted in history.  Traditions such as dancing, feasting, and chanting to bring the sun back can be traced to Native Americans, while gathering by a fire may be linked to Scandinavia's Norsemen, who burned Yule logs to mark the continuity of light from one year to another.

To celebrate this year, I'll spend the evening with close friends - preparing holiday foods and stitting around a fire, telling stories and singing.  We ususally choose an electic mix of our favorite songs from the book Rise Up Singing (Sing Out Publications, 2004).  Getting together with loved ones as the longest night rolls in adds warmth and brightness to the occasion.  Such traditions stave off the malaise of winter, and I find them therapeutic.  Although the harshest weather is yet to come in many parts of the country, I hope you find ways to enjoy this festive evening energetically, cosmically, and symbolically.  Happy Holidays.

          - Andrew Weil, MD

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

For several years I have observed the Winter Solstice as the New Year, and the metaphorical rebirth of the child within - the Christ consciousness.  My birthday is actually near the Summer Solstice, so I feel an affinity with its 'opposite'.  I love thinking about how the days will begin to be longer, and longer, for I love the sunlight!

Today is the New Moon, in the sign of Sagittarius. Today I bring my attention to the things I want to grow in my life - Sagittarius is the sign for higher learning, wisdom, travel and exploration, and philosophy .  I have decided that the year 2008 will be  a year of JOY (Y. O. J.) Each day, beginning with the Solstice, I intend to find the joy in my life.  I guess that is what one might call a new year's resolution.

Deb, I agree with you that connecting to our natural world through ceremony or ritual gives a sense of wholeness to our lives.  The simple act of lighting a candle sets a tone for what is to come next.  It is our intent that is the most important.  Wishing all here an uplifting and blessed season.

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

I've felt unsettled and a little untethered for the last few months since my mom made her transition.  Just recently…in the last day or two…I've started really reconnecting with my strong knowing that all is well.  I have been saying it all along, but underneath I've been open to all possibilities including the possibility that all is not well…and doubt kept popping up to be considered.  Being open to doubt is not a bad thing, but it's back where I was a few years ago before I proved to myself that I could trust that I live in a benevolent and meaningful universe.

I had the idea that I'd like to mark the return of my faith somehow, so your posts about the winter solstice and the pleasure of creating a personal ritual really resonate with me perfectly right now.  Thank you for writing about it Deb and TA.  Just in case I haven't said it lately, I really appreciate both of you for more reasons than I can say.

I'd like to allow a while for my intentions to become clear and then design a ritual just for myself for the winter solstice. 

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

I understand the Winter Solstice to be a time of bringing in the energies, somewhat like a breath, holding it in, and when the shift of light starts to slowly increase as we move again to the Equinox in March, the breath slowly is exhaled. This is the time to breath in the new joy, love and light being extended to all the world, breath in the wonder of the season, breath in new strength and vitality. The day after the Solstice, sometime on Saturday, start the process within of letting go of old, outworn patterns of belief and thought.  Welcome in the new, fresh light, as each day will now increase by a few minutes of light in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the light slowly lessons by a few minutes a day, but it is also the time of the greatest light and potential for change.

So enjoy the beauty and wonder of the Solstice, wherever you live! Breath in the new energies and fill your body, mind and soul with the Light!

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

Red Falcon,

Thank you for sharing this beautiful conception of the Solstice breath.  I like that.

My Solstice turned out drizzly in a freezing sort of way and so I did not light my red “peace” candle out doors.  What I did was draw a circle in the sand and draw sun rays from it.  Then I drew a short arrow going in for the shortening days and a longer arrow coming out for the lengthing days and did a little dance.

When I returned home, I lit my candle while I cut up vegetables for the pot roast I was cooking for dinner at my MILs.

It started snowing and snowed all night.

The next morning dawned with a bright, clear blue sky.  It was gorgeous and seemed fitting.

Deb

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

Mother Earth/Nature to Deb . .

Last Saturday was NOT the Winter Solstice.  How you lose all sense of time and day ! ! !

OK, just chalk it up to a dress rehersal and go on.  Perhaps next Sat will be a nicer day …

We now return you to your regularly scheduled broadcast …

- - - MomE (Ms Nature)

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

So is it today or not?  Today is December 22nd.

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

“The precise moment of the 2007 solstice will be Sat., Dec. 22, 1:08 A.M. EST (06:08 UT).”
Source:http://www.infoplease.com/spot/wintersolstice1.html

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

Thank you again Meenakshi…I was happy to learn that you're a Florida girl now too. 

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

Thank you Lori for the question and Meenashkii for the answer…and Deb…thank you for the chuckle about having the wrong weekend.  I was also wondering how to tell the exact point of the winter solstice.

As I was planning my personal ritual, I hoped our daughter, Terri could join me since she'd be here from California.  Just then the phone rang and it was her!  She was delighted with the idea, so we planned to do it on Friday night while her Dad had friends over to play poker.  When I told my husband, Paul that while he was playing poker, we'd be doing a winter solstice ritual he said he thought it was witchcraft!   I had to laugh…isn't it amazing that kind of misinformation is still hanging on with otherwise informed and intelligent people??  I have nothing at all against the wiccan religion because I suspect what I know about it is just as ill-informed and wrong as the belief that there's some sort of negative connotation associated with an ancient observation marking the changing of the length of the days.

Fortunately I don't think the ritual needs to be exactly time specific because my daughter and I ended up doing some of her Christmas shopping last night and by the time we got home the poker party was breaking up and Paul wanted to sit around  with us.

Terri and I rescheduled our ritual for tonight when we can devote our full attention and consciousness to the letting go of the last six months and set our intentions for the next six months.  It is sacred to us because our intention makes it so.  …and it's good to know that we're close to the officlal solstice;)

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

Helen,

Your Paul and my Steve are cut from a similar cloth when it comes to anything Pagan.  I agree that it is the recognition and not the precise time that matters.  Because in a very real way, time or space don't matter.

Here was the extent of my ritual.  It was raining lightly when I went out for my walk in the mid afternoon.  I stopped at my sacred place.  The bouquet of natural vegetation I had placed on my rock alter still looked pretty one week later.  I took my red Peace candle in the little metal tin that I had forgotten the week before and lit it on my alter and left for my walk again.  As indicated, my sister was very much on my mind.

I also encircled our construction site as we are changing architects and altering the design significantly.  So, I wanted to put emphasis on it - the ending and the beginning all flowing into one another in a seamless way.  I too thought about time, about how it was just a brief instant that is like a quantum - a particle (the exact moment) and a wave (the continuing flow).  It was a nice realization.

Wishing you and Terri much warm satisfaction in your work together.

Deb

Re: Winter Solstice - Summer solstice-->GAIA!

This time, I did not do the usual ceremony that I do with K'sitew's Medicine Reiki group [we meet in sacred etheric space]. But as I woke, slept, dreamt, qi-gonged, collecting chi from Earth and universe, I realized the ceremony had been done.

In that half-awake time, three messages wrote themselves.Two I have already sent out; and the third, is this:

It is time, as the seeds of Zaadz fly around Gaia, that we see the world as a whole. Our beautiful mother is round, and experiences summer and winter, night and day at the same time. There can be no better perspective of physical non-duality than this.

She is suspended in space, where there is no up or down. Australia and Antarctica and the other lands in the “southern” hemisphere, are as much up, as those wonderful maps show us, as the other lands in the “northern” hemisphere.

Perhaps it is time to take a global perspective!

After all, Christmas is not only about snow but sun; and Jesus may have been born in summer and not winter!

Re: Winter Solstice - Summer solstice-->GAIA!

Meenakshi,

Thank you for this beautiful “wholistic” concept of Mother Earth.  Yes, I see now that duality is a limited human perspective but not of Gaia.  This will stay with me forever.  What a wonderful holiday gift.

Deb

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

I've enjoyed this thread very much. I can exactly echo the words of Traveling Alchemist:
Traveling Alchemist said Dec 9, 12:25 PM:

For several years I have observed the Winter Solstice as the New Year, and the metaphorical rebirth of the child within - the Christ consciousness.  My birthday is actually near the Summer Solstice,

All of that is true for me, too.

This is the first winter solstice in a long time I have felt moved to really focus on the event, even the exact day and hour, which here in Seattle was Friday night the 21st. I had previously posted a blog about the metaphors and insights around solstice, and haven't had a chance to add what came to me in my solstice-moment meditation:

That not only is there the POTENTIAL of “spring” and summer (a metaphor for just about any wonderful change) even within winter, there is actual MOMENTUM in that direction, could we but see it. The metaphor is about the planetary changes we are all seeking. The message was LIVE IN THE MOMENTUM, NOT IN THE PRESENT APPEARANCES OF THINGS. The momentum is real; the current appearance of deadness in the natural world, and doom in the human and ecological worlds, is simply a phase, and the momentum is more real because it represents the future which is ALREADY UNDERWAY. (This is not to say ignore or deny current stuff; it's to say focus more on where it's leading to.)
 
Sure lifted my spirits!!!

A friend says there are three days with no change in length of day. Solstice is therefore U shaped, not V shaped. My blog mentions what we might learn from this.

Thanks for all the wonderful thoughts all have shared here.

Blessings, OM Bastet

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

I (too) have enjoyed a moment to reflect on the theme, “For every time and season, there is a purpose under heaven,” through opportunities, which endings and beginnings bring.

I once wrote an alternative definition to the word beginning:

beginning - n (esoteric)  a point in time when one becomes aware of something, everything, or himself/herself; a shifting of one's conscious attention to that which through perspective alone seems more obvious, although it has been occurring all the while; a point in time when one consciously chooses to acknowledge an experience, deciding to participate, interact, or create through that experience, because it is natural or it feels appropriate in that moment

I have learned that in between the endings and beginnings, I intentionally take time to reflect on me, and the way I have changed, like going to a teenager's high school graduation and while observing commencements, I reflect on how I viewed life back then in comparison to how I view life now, gleaning bitter-sweet nuances of wisdom from this nostalgic or familiar experience, which I would not have noticed before.

The Winter Solstice does that for me…

Re: Winter Solstice - Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere

Bryan, that sounds like a really good use of winter solstice, and I like your alternative definition, it's very thought-provoking.

I have updated the blog mentioned above to incorporate the insight I posted above. The new blog URL is http://adliac.zaadz.com/blog/2007/12/solstice_insights_–_second_version . 

debyemm or another moderator, if and only if you have time and inclination, it would be lovely if you would edit my post above and update that hyperlink (the words “a blog about”) to go to the new URL. That way people who click there won't get the frustration of ending up nowhere, as the old blog entry is deleted now.

Many thanks!!!

Blessings and Beginnings, OM Bastet

Winter Solstice - Dec 21st in the Northern Hemisphere

From the Wise Woman in the Woods blog located here -
http://wisewomaninwoods.blog.ca/2008/12/20/capricorn-sun-scorpio-moon-solstice-5251498

Power Play Solstice Day!  Change and Shift happens!  Both the Sun and Moon change signs on Sunday to Earth and Water energy.  If your Sun, Moon or Ascendant is in water signs of Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces, you noticeably will be affected by the emotional energy over the next couple of days.  The rest of us will have moments of our day which will be influenced by the Moon floating in this water sign. 

Empower yourself and use the Moon energy wisely!  I'm grateful for the Winter Solstice energy.  This energy will be in effect until the next solstice.  Over the course of the next 4 months people will feel huge shifts and have the opportunity of changing inwardly quite dramatically.  Positive change is in the air with the Sun twinned with Pluto and Mars.  That translates into energetic inner transforming.  The Sun is sextile the Moon in Scorpio which is ruled by Pluto.  This indicates most people will choose to change themselves.  It's time for a global shift in consciousness.  This next 4 months will be one of the main opportunities for people to connect the dots of what is truly important in their lives.  If you choose to flow in the lava flow of Pluto it will be much easier for you!

The Moon is trine Venus conjunct Chiron conjunct Neptune during this eclipse.  This concentration of energy suggests that female energy will get a strong booster shot.  Expect insights and intuition to flow through your mind-body-spirit.  It's an equinox gift from the Universe!  By spring you could literally have changed your DNA at the cellular level.  Normally that takes 7 years, but the Universe is speeding up the process for just this moment in time.  Use this major shift in consciousness wisely and for the greater good! 

Green Gift # 7:  http://www.theshiftmovie.com/

In your family life and at the office responsibility and family commitment will be uppermost in your mind with the Sun shifting into Capricorn.  While it might not have the glitz and glamour of other signs, Capricorn Sun will focus on what is good for the family as well as for your career. The Scorpio Moon might be struggling with changing jobs or changing careers, but the outcome should you choose the change is positive.  Part of your difficulty is wondering what your legacy is, or what will people remember you for.  If you are doing the right thing by your spirit and working in your passion, your legacy will be remembered fondly by the people who truly count in your life.  Be true to yourself!

In your love life and friendships of all types intuition will reign supreme over the next couple of days.  You will intuit or pick up all kinds of signs.  Pay attention to the coincidences as they are directions on the roadmap of Life.  For some of you visual people you will get a Youtube version flashing through your brain.  For those of you who are auditory, just the right words will sing their way into your life.  Perhaps it will be whispered on the wind from an angel.  Perhaps it will come to you through the words of a song or while watching television.  This is dramatic shift time.  Change with the energy or you will be left behind to eat the dust!  

Reflection Questions!

1. Where or in what area do I want to make positive changes in my life?
2. How can I honor women and female energy?
3. How well do I respect the flashes of insight that come to me?
4. What do I truly want to manifest for my life?

Affirmations and Intentions:  I intend to change positively and willingly with the solstice energy.

“We lift ourselves by our thought.

If you want to enlarge your life,

you must first enlarge your thought of it and of yourself.

Hold the ideal of yourself

as you long to be, always everywhere.”

(Orison Swett Marden 1850-1924)

 Gratefully Dance in the Solstice Moonlight!