I have been observing Winter Solstice for the past twenty five years and actively celebrating the event for the last dozen or so years. This is old stuff by now for people who know me and maybe I should move on with something current. I observe and celebrate Christmas as well but that story is an exploited misappropriation of Winter Solstice. With that I should post a disclaimer: I have no agenda or dispute with religion (Christian or otherwise), with Baby Jesus or his devout followers. So said, celebrating Winter Solstice is one of several pagan (nature based) traditions that bring meaning to my insignificant, little life. With a few friends, a warming fire and a full moon, we did that last night. No secret, pairing chocolate and brandy with a Lakota Sioux prayer upgrades holy communion from a sober expression of Faith to a festive appreciation for the unbroken linkage of one life to another, to another. It goes life to life, mother to child and cycles again, life to life. Festive gratitude is our expression of interconnection and of our place in time. It simply is wha it is.
As I remember Easter was supposed to be the high point in our religious calendar. I could do the math but I never came away with a sanctified, righteous aftermath. By now, Solstice is the spiritual high point of my year. It swings on how the moon and stars line up, like they have for tens of thousands of years. The seasons come and go in a predictable fashion. No need for a miracle or an explanation to feel the plenty of harvest and the warmth of autumn give way to winter. Things change and we make the most of what we get. I like all religion when the people who practice it remember to put first the fundamental premise of all formal religion: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That is how truly righteous people begin and end every action and reaction: and everybody said, “Mitakuye Oyasin” All my relations - we are all related - everything is connected. Today the sun will arc just a fraction of a degree higher in the sky than it did yesterday; another fraction of a degree the day after that, and the day after that.
As I remember Easter was supposed to be the high point in our religious calendar. I could do the math but I never came away with a sanctified, righteous aftermath. By now, Solstice is the spiritual high point of my year. It swings on how the moon and stars line up, like they have for tens of thousands of years. The seasons come and go in a predictable fashion. No need for a miracle or an explanation to feel the plenty of harvest and the warmth of autumn give way to winter. Things change and we make the most of what we get. I like all religion when the people who practice it remember to put first the fundamental premise of all formal religion: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That is how truly righteous people begin and end every action and reaction: and everybody said, “Mitakuye Oyasin” All my relations - we are all related - everything is connected. Today the sun will arc just a fraction of a degree higher in the sky than it did yesterday; another fraction of a degree the day after that, and the day after that.
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