Blog changes

In an effort to get this blog back on track I have simplified it, deleted some of the attached one-topic blogs
and focused on Sabbats and Esbats, which was the original intent.
Other writings will be in 'stumbling upon the path of the goddess'
and the Borrowed Book of Charms is still active.
Links in the right hand column.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Solstice


The seasons of the year are caused by the 23.5° tilt of the earth's axis. Because the earth is rotating like a top or gyroscope, the North Pole points in a fixed direction continuously -- towards a point in space near the North Star. But the earth is also revolving around the sun. During half of the year, the southern hemisphere is more exposed to the sun than is the northern hemisphere. During the rest of the year, the reverse is true. At noontime in the Northern Hemisphere the sun appears high in the sky during summertime, and low during winter. The time of the year when the sun reaches its maximum elevation occurs on the summer solstice -- the day with the greatest number of daylight hours. It typically occurs on, or within a day or two of, JUN-21 -- the first day of summer. The lowest elevation occurs about DEC-21 and is the winter solstice -- the first day of winter, when the night time hours reach their maximum.

this info found here

I would think that the solstice is one of the very oldest recurring celebrations in the history of mankind. The coming and going of the sun is life itself. Reason to celebrate, time to mark the day. If we let ourselves let go of the trappings of modern culture, our core being responds to the seasons, the movement of the planets, the changing of the seasons.
Religions and dogma come and go, but our connection to this planet, to this universe, to the energy of the divine never changes.

Online reports say that record crowds celebrated the solstice at Stonehenge this year.
Scholars have theories, lots of them are interesting, but the truth is that we still don't know exactly who built Stonehenge, or exactly when. But we do know why....it is a source of energy, it draws people to celebrate the solstices, it connects us to this planet and its energy.

Mystical and wonderful as it is you don't need Stonehenge to feel the solstice. Go outside, feel the earth with your bare feet, take a deep breath and offer a greeting to Goddess. Celebrate.

2 comments:

  1. Great post. I live in Australia so am celebrating the Winter Solstice. I liked your last paragraph about not needing Stonehenge to feel the solstice. It's like here we don't need Christmas decorations in all of the stores to celebrate Yule. The wheel of the year is present everywhere we look and to enjoy it fully all we need to is get out amongst nature and connect with mother earth.

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  2. Thank you for this post. As a new pagan, I'm learning so much about this path as the year unfolds. I appreciate what you are sharing here on this blog. I have not decided definitely how I will celebrate this year's solstice, but I'm inspired by this post not to get too caught up in the literature and worry about the "right" or "best" way to celebrate and experience the winter solstice. I do know that I will enjoy however I choose to experience the night and I will contemplate what the solstice means to me this year.

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