SOLSTICE

 Out of Darkness, Light:  Solstice and the Lunar Eclipse  from Starhawk!

-- Winter Solstice--the shortest day and longest night of the year.  For Pagans, Wiccans and Goddess worshippers, this is one of our most sacred holidays.  As winter closes in, the darkness grows and the light recedes.  For Pagans, darkness is the necessary balance to light.  We don't conceive of the dark as evil, but as a  place of potential, of gestation--the black, fertile soil where the seed puts forth roots and shoots, the dark womb where new life is nurtured.  But being humans, we also have a natural affinity for the light, the time of growth and new beginnings, of warmth and color and bright new hopes.  Solstice reminds us that no darkness, no loss, no grief or disappointment is final.  Out of darkness, light is born.   Every ending gives rise to a new beginning.   Out of disappointment and despair comes new courage, new hope.

This year, Solstice coincides with a total lunar eclipse.  The last time this happened was in 1544.  The earth aligns directly with the sun and the moon, casting a shadow on the moon's face.  The moon is a Super Moon, at its closest to the earth.  And, so my astrologer friends tell me, we are also directly aligned with our Milky Way's Galactic Center, where the galaxy gives birth to stars.  We are in a great birth canal, on the night when mythically Mother Night gives birth to the Sun Child of the New Year.

What does this all mean?  For those of you who like to align your meditations and your magic with the movements of the stars, we stand tonight between the past and the future.  For the first hour and a quarter of the eclipse, (starting at 10:30 pm Pacific Standard Time), it's as if we step out of time.  We are free of the past, and we can consciously create the future, for ourselves, for our communities, for the earth.

It's a night to take a good look at what you want to shed.  What are the behaviors, the beliefs, the patterns that no longer serve?  Let them go.  Make the commitment to change.

And it's a night to envision the future you want to create.  What world do we want to see?  How will we step up to face the huge challenges of healing our communities, our economies, our climate and our environment?  What risks will we need to take?  What will we need to let go of, and what will we need to embrace?

And hey, even if you think all astrology is bunkum, take a moment tonight to go out, to marvel at the moon with the mark of the earth written across her face, to let go of what you no longer need and call in what you want.  And if you can do this with friends, and family, in community, with good food and a warm fire and a few candles, and raise a cup of gratitude for all we have and all we share, you may find that the courage, the support, the power, the love and luck you need for this New Year are born in the depths of the night, and awaken at dawn with the rising sun.

A blessed solstice to you all!

**********************************************************

I was inspired to create this ritual celebration from visiting a church to St. Brigid, after having participated in sacred dances,
one of which was dedicated to Burgitta, "Goddess of the Flame" of spirit, truth and wisdom, purity and life. I imagined a beautiful
ceremony, when at the December solstice on the shortest day of the year (southern, longest day) we celebrate the return to and existence of light and life. I envisioned a great bonfire being created at the community center, perhaps on a beach or in a field. Youth of all kinds from that community would be the stars, literally, of the event. As they are truly the rising stars of new life and the ones who are to carry the beacons of the future, each would dress eloquently or simply, but in dignity, and come forward to share something beautiful and wise, either from their own writing or something that is meaningful to them.

I actually imagined the youth each on horseback, as it was in a place where this would have been possible, but this of course isn't necessary. Each will cast something onto the flame in a meaningful addition to its burning more brightly, as they make their offerings. It could also be a musical or dance offering, acknowledged in sacred acceptance by everyone present. After the youths, parents and grandparents of the community also will come forward, as they like, to offer wisdom and vision, give blessing and sharing in adding to the flame. Smaller children will of course receive the guidance of the elders; perhaps the youngest children could present in small groups or one
larger group.

The purpose, in its depth, is an acknowledgment of the blossoming spirit in each person as a treasure of the community, offering communal support. Also it is a healing of the most ancient, Brigitta, Goddess of the Flame, and the more recent, Judeo-Christiandom, with the future, - youth and age, creativity, wisdom and the torch of eternal living fire. Together each is to acknowledge that, in fact each one is the one whom all are awaiting. After this sharing there can be two circles formed; one facing outward, the other inward as two face each other in the twin circles. One circle turns clockwise the other counterclockwise, stopping at each partnering. The circles chant, changing each time from the outer to the inner until all are acknowledged: "I recognize divinity within you," to the response "Gratitude". This is chanted beautiful and slowly with dignity; it is from a Sufi chant. Homage to the jewel that is every spirit! Enjoy!--Kala Perkins