Winter Solstice 2020
Dear, Patient and Enduring Children of the Earth,
Winter Solstice is here! The longest night of the year has arrived. For as long as humans have existed, Winter Solstice has been a time to gather with loved ones, celebrate the warmth of our connections and share what we have. We all need human touch. We all need to share.
Those words take on extra meaning as we make our way to the end of 2020.
The history of Winter Solstice is not only filled with celebrations and gatherings. This is also a time of quiet reverence for what happens on this night: in the deepest silence of the longest night, Dawn comes over the horizon a minute earlier than the day before. The Sun has returned, bringing the promise of more daylight, more warmth, more growth.
Mother Nature's teaching at Winter Solstice is simple: in the dark of the longest night, Light will always return. You can count on it.
There may be lots of things we don't understand right now but we can all share the peace of Solstice.
This year, at sunset on December 21st, we can look to the southwest and see something very, very unusual. The planets Jupiter and Saturn will appear to come together and form one very bright Light.
The last time Jupiter and Saturn appeared to come together like this was in the early 1200's. Over 800 years ago.
In the language of Astrology, Jupiter is a symbol for joyous expansion, faith and exploring new paradigms. Saturn represents healthy boundaries, material reality and a love of solid, sustainable infrastructure.
When two planets come together like this astrologer's say they are finding a way to work together. The conjunction happens in the Zodiac sign of Aquarius which means this partnership will be finding its expression through the concepts of equality, liberty and justice.
The last time this conjunction was seen, the Magna Carta was created. The American Constitution looked to the rights enshrined in the Magna Carta: the Right to be free of seizure of yourself or your property without due process -- and the Rights of the community to ensure no one is above the Law, not even a King.
Before the conjunction in the 1200's there was an earlier Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 B.C. which some consider to be the Star of Bethlehem, heralding the birth of Christ.
The New Testament of Christ's teaching differs from the Old Testament in bringing the 'Good News' that put an end to "an eye for an eye" judgement. He taught that all sins are forgivable and the miraculous experience of Compassion is available to everyone, at any time, no matter what.
Whether our Great Conjunction on Winter Solstice 2020 is a reminder of these great leaps in human social constructs or heralding something we're just beginning to understand, this extraordinarily bright light in the dark of the longest night, can show us something beautiful, rare and perhaps full of hope for a better way to live together.
Happy Solstice Everyone,
Mary
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The Power of a Smile
by Tupac Shakur
The power of a gun can kill
and the power of fire can burn
the power of wind can chill
and the power of a mind can learn
the power of anger can rage
inside until it tears u apart
but the power of a smile
especially yours can heal a frozen heart
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Follow these links for more information about Solstice and the Great Conjunction:
https://www.weather.gov/dvn/Climate_Astronomical_Seasons
https://www.sunset.com/lifestyle/wellness/winter-solstice-rituals-nature
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/december-solstice-customs.html