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June 2009 
Solstice Insights -- Second Version
Posted on Dec 24th, 2007
by 
1Vector3
1Vector3
Got some NEW metaphors about solstice.
One is that we cannot go by appearances. Things appear dead. We do not see the potential for renewal, rebirth, if we just look at the surface of things. How often in life do we JUDGE, which is going by appearances?
To not go by appearances, we need to turn to a Bigger Picture, a picture that gives the CONTEXT of present appearances: the context of cycles of nature. In life, the context is that things always change, and always have the potential of change. How much potential don't we see, because we are going by appearances?
Another metaphor is that a seed needs some external conditions like warmth and water, to germinate, but basically, it carries its initial nourishment within itself. We would do well to allow our true nature, our Source, to be the ultimate source of our nourishment, our fuel to keep living and to grow. Not depend quite so much on the externals. Or, more accurately, to allow BOTH inside and outside sources of nourishment in life.
Third: Did you know that solstice is U-shaped, not V-shaped? There are three days where the length of the day barely changes at all, compared to the amount of change on other days of the year. That must be a good metaphor for something. Perhaps that during a change, we can't always see the momentum shift. Often even in the middle of a change, even as things are shifting radically in a new direction, we get discouraged that nothing is seeming to change. Gotta look at the Bigger Picture.
SECOND VERSION ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS: This is what came to me as I was meditating at the moment of solstice:
Not only is there the POTENTIAL of "spring" and summer (a metaphor for just about any wonderful change) even within winter, there is already actual MOMENTUM underway in that direction, could we but perceive it. The metaphor is about the planetary changes we are all seeking. The message was LIVE IN (let your consciousness abide in) THE MOMENTUM, NOT IN THE PRESENT APPEARANCES OF THINGS. The momentum is real; the current appearance of deadness in the natural world, and doom in the human and ecological worlds, is simply a phase, and the momentum is more real because it represents the future which is ALREADY UNDERWAY. (This is not to say ignore or deny current stuff; it's to say "Focus more on where it's leading to.")
This addititonal insight sure lifted my spirits, and I hope yours too, and gave me a guideline for beginning this new year.
What metaphors and insights do YOU get from winter solstice?
One is that we cannot go by appearances. Things appear dead. We do not see the potential for renewal, rebirth, if we just look at the surface of things. How often in life do we JUDGE, which is going by appearances?
To not go by appearances, we need to turn to a Bigger Picture, a picture that gives the CONTEXT of present appearances: the context of cycles of nature. In life, the context is that things always change, and always have the potential of change. How much potential don't we see, because we are going by appearances?
Another metaphor is that a seed needs some external conditions like warmth and water, to germinate, but basically, it carries its initial nourishment within itself. We would do well to allow our true nature, our Source, to be the ultimate source of our nourishment, our fuel to keep living and to grow. Not depend quite so much on the externals. Or, more accurately, to allow BOTH inside and outside sources of nourishment in life.
Third: Did you know that solstice is U-shaped, not V-shaped? There are three days where the length of the day barely changes at all, compared to the amount of change on other days of the year. That must be a good metaphor for something. Perhaps that during a change, we can't always see the momentum shift. Often even in the middle of a change, even as things are shifting radically in a new direction, we get discouraged that nothing is seeming to change. Gotta look at the Bigger Picture.
SECOND VERSION ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS: This is what came to me as I was meditating at the moment of solstice:
Not only is there the POTENTIAL of "spring" and summer (a metaphor for just about any wonderful change) even within winter, there is already actual MOMENTUM underway in that direction, could we but perceive it. The metaphor is about the planetary changes we are all seeking. The message was LIVE IN (let your consciousness abide in) THE MOMENTUM, NOT IN THE PRESENT APPEARANCES OF THINGS. The momentum is real; the current appearance of deadness in the natural world, and doom in the human and ecological worlds, is simply a phase, and the momentum is more real because it represents the future which is ALREADY UNDERWAY. (This is not to say ignore or deny current stuff; it's to say "Focus more on where it's leading to.")
This addititonal insight sure lifted my spirits, and I hope yours too, and gave me a guideline for beginning this new year.
What metaphors and insights do YOU get from winter solstice?
Access: Public
THANK YOU for taking the focus away from the “Ain't it Awful” to the “Aren't things grand?” Unless we focus on the latter —which does NOT mean denying the surface, but seeing it and then seeking below it; we can't get sustained momentum to keep the changes going in the healthy direction.
The only perspective I got, so far, was that solstice is the earth showing summer-winter as a physical manifestation of unity in duality.
Yes!!! Turn that Wheel, honey! It's all a beautiful cycle.
Great insights and metaphors! Thank you! And if I may add another, in the solstice U wherever you might be at a moment, you just have to go forward with the flow trusting that it will lead to something good, no matter how uncertain things might look from where you are.
Thanks for adding insights and highlighting some of the implications, Meenakshi and Mila, and for your encouragement, Dana!!!!!
I deleted the previous version of this blog entry without checking to see whether there were any comments posted to it. I apologize to anyone whose comment might have accidentally gotten deleted. I will nose around my Notifications and see what I can find; please feel free to repost here!!
Winter Solster tellme it is the beggining of the light of day returning, So it will not get any darker and I so miss the long sunny days. Love Mila response as well as Minakshi.
Yes, not only is the solstice 'U' shaped, but the days of the earliest sunset and latest sunrise are offset by about one month. At my location the earliest sunset (17:17) is on December 7th but the latest sunrise (07:39) isn't until January 6th. You can see the exact times for your location (latitude) here. It also beautifully illustrates the gradual nature of the transition between seasons.
So not only is the shape a 'U,' but the bottom isn't symmetric - which I suppose is why 'night' people are attuned to the solstice before 'morning' people are - they 'see' it first.
Period of Return, Persephone, Mandala Cycle, Elipse, Fruition, HIbernation, Procreation, Reawakening,…
Interesting comment about the solstice affecting the day and night people. I am reminded of what we all know of the pineal gland or third-eye, which releases melatonin in darkness, but does not in presence of light, affecting a large range of biorhythmic function, including subtle sleep patterns and their cycles, sexual development, hibernation in animals, metabolism, and seasonal breeding. Fruiting-blossoming plants do not pay attention to season, per se, but to the amount of quality UV light within a certain full-day cycle.
Also, there are many synchronious ramifications beyond what we scientifically observe - the metaphysical side. Tis a powerful moment to observe in silent reverence with you!
Wow, Albert, I had no idea of the factoid you describe. It's mindblowing. I cannot wrap my brain around it. I would love someday to see a physical model of the earth and sun and the positions and revolutions, so I could grasp the whole seasonal thing and phenomena like the 3 days, and what you describe.
Bryan, thanks for bringing in all those references. The melatonin thing is a FABULOUS additional metaphor: Melatonin is released ONLY in darkness. Growth begins in darkness. It has to BEGIN in darkness. Darkness is a necessary ground or precondition of development. Wonderful understanding; thanks for that one!!!!
O.M. Bastet
OM - I looked for a graphic to directly illustrate this but can't find one. Years ago I took the sunrise/sunset data for where I was living and plotted it using Lotus 123. The result shows this phenomenon exactly. When I get some spare time I'll do it again and post the result in my blogs. In the meantime, think of this - the Earth's tilt is more than just away from the plane of the solar system, it is also away from a line drawn from the center of the Earth to the center of the Sun. Also, if you look at (a very accurate) day/night graphic clock you will see that the distance from the wave amplitudes to the equator, and the distance on the equator to the 'center' of each amplitude is not the same. It's off by a tiny amount, but it's off! Here are some other resources:
daylight clock
time resources
USNO
Also, click on the “Earth's tilt” graphic on this page and move through the seasons.
Bryan - I had forgotten about the day/night impact on melatonin release. Thanks for reminding me. I recall learning that this phenomenon is also responsible for the tendency for late teens and young adults to live as night people - because that's when they get away from the tribe, select mates, and begin to make families. There is a biological reason for the 20 year old who sleeps all day and carouses all night!
Albert, my thoughts are in continuum with yours? What an honor!
Interesting perspectives shared here. The Winter Solstice is a magical time. On my daily walks in nature I especially feel the vibration in everything when there are not as many distractions as in the other seasons.
You say: “We would do well to allow our true nature, our Source, to be the ultimate source of our nourishment, our fuel to keep living and to grow.”
The leafless trees communicate this especially, encouraging to go within to connect with Source energy.
The fragrant evergreens communicate this “to allow BOTH inside and outside sources of nourishment in life”. (your words)
It is wonderful to encounter someone who verbalizes these wisdoms so well.
Hereby a link to a description of a profound solstice celebration I attended recently. http://pods.zaadz.com/great_news_show/discussions/view/221344
thanks You Brian, Great insight to Melatonin production, I must adjust the doses for my elderly clients, appreciate.
Thank You Nell for being such a nature goddess among other angelic spirited insights,
Kcidybom, Is the slight diference your stating here might be the same as the slight difference between Map North and airodimatic North?
OM Bastet, Theremy sentiments exactly, I saw a good demonstration in the movie Zeitgeist.. worth looking at the first part.
It is getting lighter here in MN folks…
Change comes too slowly for me not to get aggravated with…
NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! NOW! I say… ok… I'm OK HEYOK…
Watching, waiting, and ready to act for a change to come, meanwhile day to day takes up the time and energy.
Keep focusing on the big perspective, which is all around me with examples… the garden looks dead AND will return in just a few months with green growth and flowers.
Blogs like these help to remind me where to focus… thanks for that!
Blessings, David
We are watching in the moment of now with you=o)!
Posted with permission:
Some quotesWendy Wolfcollected recently, regarding light and dark. She said:
A gift, in honor of solstice (I restrained myself to only 13 ; )Blessed Be! wrw
Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, “You owe me.” Look what happens with a love like that, It lights the whole sky. ~ Hafiz, Sufi poet
Ring the bells that still can ring,Forget your perfect offering.There’s a hole in everything,That’s how the light comes thru.~ Leonard Cohen (“Ring the Bells That Still Can Ring”)
The world would have you agree with its dismal dream of limitation.But the light would have you soar like the eagle of your sacred visions.~ Alan Cohen
In the beginning there was nothing. God said, ‘Let there be light!’And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it awhole lot better.~ Ellen DeGeneres
To him that waitsall things reveal themselves,provided that he has the couragenot to deny, in the darkness,what he has seen in the light.~ Coventry Patmore
People are like stained glass windows, they sparkle and shine when thesun is out, but when darkness sets in their true beauty is revealedonly if there is a light from within.~ Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, psychiatrist Author, On Death and Dying.
You can not cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stompon it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional orphysical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, youmust shine light upon it. ~ Shakti Gawain
When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take the stepinto the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of twothings will happen. There will be something solid for us to stand onor we will be taught to fly.~ Patrick Overton
When we dig deeply enough into our real nature, we do not finddarkness. We find endless light. That is what the ego doesn’t want usto see; that our safety actually lies in letting down our mask. But wecannot do this when we’re constantly afraid of being judged.~ From A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course inMiracles by Marianne Williamson
We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things inthe soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter’sevening. Some of us let these dreams die, but others nourish andprotect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to thesunshine and light which comes always to those who hope that theirdreams will come true.~ Woodrow Wilson, 1856-1924
The chief matter…is not whether Jesus was God, or from whomdescended the Holy Ghost, or when and by whom was a certain Gospelwritten, or if it may not be attributed to Christ; but the lightitself is of importance to me, that it still shines upon me aftereighteen hundred years with undimmed brightness; but how to call it,or of what it consists, who gave it existence, is immaterial to me.~ Leo Tolstoy
We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure ofour diseases.We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us theirlight when the sun was gone.We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with abeneficent eye.Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in Whom is embodied allgoodness, and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.~ Iroquois Prayer
WE HAVE COME.
We have come to be dancedNot the pretty danceNot the pretty pretty, pick me, pick me danceBut the claw our way back into the bellyOf the sacred, sensual animal danceThe unhinged, unplugged, cat is out of its box danceThe holding the precious moment in the palmsOf our hands and feet dance.
We have come to be dancedNot the jiffy booby, shake your booty for him danceBut the wring the sadness from our skin danceThe blow the chip off our shoulder dance.The slap the apology from our posture dance.
We have come to be dancedNot the monkey see, monkey do danceOne two dance like youOne two three, dance like me dancebut the grave robber, tomb stalkerTearing scabs and scars open danceThe rub the rhythm raw against our soul dance.
We have come to be dancedNot the nice, invisible, self-conscious shuffleBut the matted hair flying, voodoo mamaShaman shakin’ ancient bones danceThe strip us from our casings, return our wingsSharpen our claws and tongues danceThe shed dead cells and slip intoThe luminous skin of love dance.
We have come to be dancedNot the hold our breath and wallow in the shallow end of the floor danceBut the meeting of the trinity, the body breath and beat danceThe shout hallelujah from the top of our thighs danceThe mother may I?Yes you may take 10 giant leaps danceThe olly olly oxen free free free danceThe everyone can come to our heaven dance.
We have come to be dancedWhere the kingdoms collideIn the cathedral of fleshTo burn back into the lightTo unravel, to play, to fly, to prayTo root in skin sanctuary
We have come to be danced
~ Jewel Mathieson
Quotes collected by http://wendyrwolf.com/