Winter Solstice

Post by **Linnea** » 12-20-2004 11:58 PM

Tonight, Monday December 20th, 2004 - is the longest night of the year - 15 hours and 36 minutes. With the new light of the dawn - at 4:42 AM Pacific Time (adjust for your time zone) - there are celebrations around the globe to welcome the return of the Light - as the days grow increasingly longer. The most ancient of these celebrations takes place at Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland. Here is a link to information about the Winter Solstice, and traditions of celebration around the world:

Winter Solstice

Light a candle!

Pastor Dave · Post by **Pastor Dave** » 12-21-2004 12:26 AM

Thank you Linnea for the reminder and the link. I've printed it out to read through at home tonight when I'm warmimg up! It was a very cold night out on the streets tonight and this will be nice to warm the spirit!

Post by **Linnea** » 12-21-2004 12:33 AM

Hi, Dave. Nice to see you. Brrrrrr. I guess it is really cold in Chicago. There are probably many out on the streets that will not survive the night, unless they are offered shelter. We live in many worlds here - within the same culture and society. A good time to pause to think about this as well.

I will be thinking about you, and your ministry and works - on this night.

Many blessings -

Cpt Spike Mike · Post by **Cpt Spike Mike** » 12-21-2004 12:46 AM

SOLSTICE!!!
sfx- drums beating: *thrum!* * thrum!* * thrum!* *thrum!*

At 2:42 I will fulfill the ancient Ritual of Immaculate Power & Sexuality by sacrificing a small animal while wearing the tribal mask. But don't worry; the only masks I've got are Batman & a military gas mask, and the small animal is really a rotisserie-grilled chicken from Kroger. But I think it still counts, right?

Where's my loincloth?

mudwoman · Post by **mudwoman** » 12-21-2004 03:42 AM

Few words. Just came indoors from my quiet, solitary Solstice rite that I perform each year. It was quieter this night than it had been in the past, more somber, as though the solar clock were straining to keep turning.

I like these pictures, and hope you do too.

-
Solstice sunrise at Stonehenge.

mudwoman · Post by **mudwoman** » 12-21-2004 03:43 AM

5000 year old Newgrange mound in Ireland, is illuminated with the sun’s rays once a year - on the winter solstice.

mudwoman · Post by **mudwoman** » 12-21-2004 03:46 AM

Devastated · Post by **Devastated** » 12-21-2004 07:11 AM

What a beautiful Golden!

Sunday night, a bit early, we had a fire dance in the main square, out in front of the church and historic City Hall. How beautiful to live in a country where the city does not fear a lawsuit for combining paganism and Catholicism freely. All the kids got gifts from the Three Kings. A wonderful time was had by a couple of thousand people of various religions from various lands.

Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, and much love.

Iris · Post by **Iris** » 12-21-2004 08:32 AM

Great thread, Linn! We here in the PNW are happy to see Winter Solstice arrive, aren't we? The long sunny evenings of summer seem like a distant memory already. The plus right now is we don't have to water the yard.

I can't help but think that Joolz should be posting here, and I'm wondering what she and Corvid did to celebrate. Probably something fun.

Sandy, bless you. What a neat image to think of you out there by yourself doing your Solstice Ritual. It's COLD out there tonight, so I hope you didn't freeze your little toukas off.

Thanks for posting the photos -- you always have such beautiful ones.

Dev, dear Dev -- how I wish I could have been there celebrating with you and all your friends, Mexican style. It sounds like you all know how to party down there in the sunshine!

Love to all of the pirates, and the merriest of celebrations!

cherry · Post by **cherry** » 12-21-2004 10:33 AM

A special incense for Winter Solstice . . . .

Satya Sai Baba
Nag Champa
Agarbatti

Shrinivas Suguandhalaya
1/9, 8th Cross, Magadi Road
P.B.No. 2318, Bangalore - 560 023

Cherry Kelly · Post by **Cherry Kelly** » 12-21-2004 12:03 PM

Our winter outdoor solstice activities were a bit "lessened" due to this cold wind.

Candle flames would not stay lit, so we used flashlights. We do things a bit different - an apple for the horse (he thought us a bit odd to be out in middle of night) - chicken parts for barn cats (who were most appreciative) - and a walk around the outside of the house. ((Sounds strange - but thats what we did this year.))

Joolz · Post by **Joolz** » 12-22-2004 05:13 AM

Thanks for the wonderful photos of winter solstice sacred places, mudwoman. Beautiful!

Here's one from our own continent. This place was discovered by an archaeologist friend of Corvid's (and mine, too). It's in Southern California and is an ancient sacred place (a cave) used by Chumash shamans a very, very, very, very long time ago. Our friend speculated that this was a winter solstice site, and proved it by taking these photos (and more, but these two will give you the idea) of what he calls the "light dagger" that points to the center of the concentric circle solar symbol on the cave wall on winter solstice at sunrise a few years ago.

I feel honored and awed every time I look at these photos and am delighted to share them with you.

Dale O Sea · Post by **Dale O Sea** » 12-22-2004 05:31 AM

Devastated wrote: ...Sunday night, a bit early, we had a fire dance in the main square, out in front of the church and historic City Hall. How beautiful to live in a country where the city does not fear a lawsuit for combining paganism and Catholicism freely. All the kids got gifts from the Three Kings. A wonderful time was had by a couple of thousand people of various religions from various lands.

Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, and much love.

I have to agree with you Dev, it must be amazing. Americans can learn much about freedom from it's neighbors.

Joolz · Post by **Joolz** » 12-22-2004 06:28 AM

Our own solstice was spent in the foothills of the Sierras at the new home of some dear friends of ours. It was a much-needed quiet respite from the city hustle for Corvid and I. We became reacquainted with the wonders of the night sky during the long night as the moon played peek-a-boo in a sky dappled with swift-moving high clouds then cleared to reveal the stars as only the skies far from city lights can do. Oh so beautiful and peaceful. In the morning, we rambled about the hills and renewed our roots to the land. I was given gifts this morning. First, I came upon two deer feeding in a thicket in the woods below our friends' house, and then, nearby, I found two cones of the foothill pine (the biggest pine cones I've ever seen... at least 8" long and almost as wide... dense, thick, VERY heavy and loaded with resin... they were used as food and medicine by the native peoples here). I feel blessed. My spirit is refreshed and renewed and my soul is full of beauty and wonder once more. I am replenished. Thanks and blessings to that which is.

O sun, the father of all, maker of ripe flowers, creator
of fat corn, return this day to our part of the shrinking sky.
Your journey to the south is now complete and we pray to you
to remember the drear, dark days of winter caught between
Your strong fingers struggling to release the earth from sleep. In this
long gasp of icy silence, all creatures find renewal, a pale hope
That spring will not forget to come this year, nor will birds forget to lay
eggs heavy with the yolk of generation.
~ Nancy Wood, Shaman's Circle

Joolz · Post by **Joolz** » 12-22-2004 06:16 PM

Devastated wrote: Sunday night, a bit early, we had a fire dance in the main square, out in front of the church and historic City Hall. How beautiful to live in a country where the city does not fear a lawsuit for combining paganism and Catholicism freely. All the kids got gifts from the Three Kings. A wonderful time was had by a couple of thousand people of various religions from various lands.

Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, and much love.

What a lovely picture you paint, Dev! If only... if only... tolerance and respect... is that too much to ask? Dale is correct... we here in America have much to learn...

Your post made me think of a passage from one of my favorite books that reminds us vividly of how it could be... if only...

The upper slopes of the hill were dotted with shrines to Goddesses and Gods, ancestors and spirits. Some were elaborately sculpted and painted, some as simple as an offering basket under a tree. They encompassed an eclectic mixture of traditions. A cairn of memorial stones crowned a green mound dedicated to the Earth Goddess, who could be called Gaia, or Tonantzin, or simply Madre Tierra, Mother Earth. Kuan Yin had a shrine and so did Kali and Buddha and many bodhisattvas, along with devis and devas, African orishas, and Celtic Gods and Goddesses. Some formed natural clusters: The Yoruba Oshun, Love Goddess, Goddess of the River, stood near Aphrodite and Inanna/Ishtar/Astarte, in front of a small circle of cleared ground where, at the moment, a woman danced barefoot and bare-bellied. Farther down the hill, the Virgin of Guadalupe overlooked the Stations of the Cross. Up here, the sun was welcomed at dawn on the Winter Solstice, the shofar was blown to announce the Jewish New Year, gospel music was sung on Easter morning, the call to prayer was chanted five times a day, and at almost any time of day or night someone sat in silent meditation, counting breaths.
~ Miriam Simos/Starhawk, The Fifth Sacred Thing

I love the last line of this passage. What a wonderful image it draws in my mind of how we all could so easily co-exist... with truth, honor, respect... if only...