Winter solstice

Today is the winter solstice – “sun stands still”. Midwinter. Soon the sun will begin rising further north. In my corner of the world the sun continues to rise later into January but the sunset is later as well and after December 26th the days will slowly begin to lengthen.

I sometimes try to imagine how intense the darkness and cold, how complete the sense of abandonment must have felt to early man. It’s no wonder so many myths find origin around the solstice.

Our lives are woven into the natural light cycles; the day, month and year. Each sunrise, each waxing crescent moon stands as a small reminder of this. Circles within circles within seasons.

Gardeners live by these cycles. We know that the earth is never dead. Beneath frozen ground are seeds, bulbs, corms, roots; all waiting, suspended in varying degrees of torpor, waiting for the light.

Winter solstice has long been my favorite marker of the seasons. When I celebrate this dichotomy of dark and light I feel as if I am part of a force so elemental that it reaches past conscious knowing to both the deep within and the vast beyond.

For we are the stars. For we sing.
For we sing with our light.
For we are birds made of fire.
For we spread our wings over the sky.
Our light is a voice.
We cut a road for the soul
for it's journey through death.

Excerpted from Song of the Stars Passamaquoddy