Finding Light in a Season of Darkness
By C. Austin
On a recent evening I watched the moon. It was beautiful- clear and
full and fast against the mountainous clouds of night. It was younger
than me then, but the cycle of time will see its brightness wane. So
too our star, the sun, has waned from our northerly view in the past
six months and that loss of light has cooled and darkened our
landscape.
The winter solstice can be observed this year at 10:09 PM, PST on
December 21. The winter solstice occurs at the moment that the sun
reaches the southernmost observable limit of its journey across the
earth's sky.
The commemoration of the winter solstice stretches long into human
prehistory. As befits a moment that gave birth to several of the
world's religions, the solstice carries great truth. In an instant,
darkness finds its fullest memory while simultaneously light, weak but
present, returns to the world. It is the journey - both end and
beginning - that is held in that eternal moment, duality is vanquished
as two become one.
The mythologic expression of the solstice is found in the symbolic
conflict of the Holly and the Oak King and the quest for the Holy
Grail. Both of these traditions call for the recognition of darkness
before light can once again find its place. Indeed, at winter
solstice the sun, consciousness itself, turns back to rediscover its
path, made new again by a light unique only to this cycle.
For us too, there comes a time when a limit is reached and to go
forward, we must turn back to retrieve vital fragments, pieces that
were dropped long ago. Like the newly reborn sun, we return to the
dark paths of our lifetimes. Only this time, we can use the strength
of new consciousness to perceive the distant figures that formed our
past and to illume the dim figures that present our future. It is a
queer light to be sure - but it is in that strange, growing light that
pieces are found, perception is altered and life is genuinely created
anew come spring.
And as that perception unfolds, we come upon the insight that it isn't
just the sun - solar consciousness - that has made the great journey.
It is us - we of earth and matter. It is the earth too that has
reached a turning point in its annual trip around the sun - we who
have walked patiently into darkness to find the light. We so often
see daily life, with its drama or sunny props, as something that
happens to us. When in truth, all of life is our own inner script cast
upon nature, so that we may encounter it physically in a world outside
of ourselves.
This is a time of light in the darkness. May you find peace and may
its vision hold you throughout the year. Blessings of the solstice to
all.
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