Winter Solstice

Regardless if you're Pagan or not, I think the Winter Solstice (and all the solar holidays really) are interesting and worth some acknowledgment. Today in the northern hemisphere it's the shortest day, and the longest night. This is caused by the tilt of the earth's axis in relation to the orbit of the earth around the sun. Right now the north end of the planet pointed as far away from the sun as it can get, see below in the handy-dandy graphic I found.


What I find interesting about observing the cyclical wheel of the year (the solstices, the equinoxes, the growing and harvesting) is what a metaphor they are for the way life can be. We all have moments of darkness that seems like they'll never end. Where we lose, where what or who we love or tried so hard to create and keep is gone. It's the long dark. Fortunately though the nature of the universe is change. Just as the sun comes back after the longest night of the year, so too does the dark moments in our life go. Not all at once (most of the time), but hold on and the light comes back a little more each day, and the world will warm up and things will start to grow again.

Tonight for us in the Americas also there will be a complete Lunar Eclipse. It's going to last all night long, peaking for us in Ohio at around 3:30 am. There's going to be cloud cover, so I may not be able to see it, but here's to hoping. Friends down south are lighting bonfires in the night, hoping to watch the lunar event, my thoughts are with them.

In contrast to the festival I attend for the Summer Solstice, today I'll be alone and self reflecting. I'll probably make cookies, Christmas too is coming (which I celebrate with my family) and damn it they need some cookies!

So it's all good.

Here's hoping your holiday season is most festive, how ever you mark or celebrate it (or not). So Happy SolsticeYuleChristmasHanukkahKwanzaaAshuraETC ETC ETC and New Years to All of you crazy cats! Next time I post it'll be back to normal... whatever that is.

and for those who require poetry today, here you go.