Gazing in the Mirror

December 18 - A Significant Solstice ?

It appears to me 2012 isn't
a spiritual awakening, but
instead, a human one. It is
the disillusionment from the
nonsense being sold to us from
gurus for centuries and the
empowerment of our true selves.
~ Steve Maraboli

The universal Mind contains all
knowledge. It is the potential
ultimate of all things. To it,
all things are possible.
~ Ernest Holmes

It is quite likely that the December Solstice of 2012 (which is the southern solstice and the extreme of whichever season one is experiencing) will be remembered historically by humanity as the most significant solstice of all human history – or so I personally believed when I first wrote this essay in 2012. There was at that time the convergence of prophecy and coincidental aspects and galactic alignments and we who were aware of such things at that time were some part of those events and I believe blessed to have consciously experienced what was believed by some people to be some kind of transition. With any solstice one half of the globe experiences increasing light and the other half of the globe experiences increasing darkness. The cycles maintain that eternal Taoistic balance found with any planetary body that circles a light source similar to our Sun.

Being an annual seasonal event – the solstice has been acknowledged since ancient times. The meaning of the word solstice recognizes the sun standing still – at least it does appear to do that momentarily – as it reaches its highest or lowest relative aspect. Then the sun appears from the Earth to reverse direction. Pliny the Elder (23 AD to 79 AD) uses the term in his Natural History. Solstices include holiday celebrations in proximity to the date in many cultures. Examples include Christmas, Yalda, Saturnalia, Karachun, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Yule. For those celebrating a Winter Solstice at this time it was been regarded as the birth of the Sun in ancient times. It was also the time for the birth of the god/goddess, within Christianity the approximate date became the birth of God's Son, Jesus. As many cultures have had almost the same interpretation of this astronomical event, one can understand that for humanity the rebirth of light was an important event, if for no other reason than it marks the approach of the season for planting and growing food and an end to the fasts or starvation caused by resource (food) depletion.

For those who are celebrating a Summer Solstice at this time, a tipping point is reached and the days will grow increasingly shorter and harvest time approaches. On the longest day, the triumph of light is celebrated by some people. Many of my acquaintances do typically honor the solstice and equinoxes as a method of aligning one's self with the cycles of nature and thereby allowing one's self to truly feel those changes as the natural process they are. It is the turning of the wheel of the year that is eternally part of physically incarnated life – birth, growth, death and renewal – played out in human lives year after year. Whatever our celebrations, they clearly are a means of building community in shared experiences. We are reminded of our interconnectedness to a larger whole which includes the past, present and the future as well as the certainty that these passing seasons will continue throughout planetary time. This is the power of participating in the turning of the wheel of the year by acknowledging the solstice and equinox times.

In 2012 both the Hopi and Mayan people saw some kind of an end to a particular World age – not the end of the world (our Earth) itself. This was seen as a time of significant transition by some people, and it certainly is a yearly seasonal transition whether you, dear reader, cared about or believed in any of the related prophecies associated with the year 2012, or not. Annually, many people participate in a yearly reassessment. New Year's Day is often used for that purpose by a lot of people. For many spiritually focused people aware of 2012 and beliefs regarding its significance, that reassessment occurred for many of those people in conjunction with the Solstice of December 21. The best hopes of many people ongoing, and especially at this particular time of year, are for an increasing peace and more tranquility among all peoples. Certainly in that year of 2012 there were a proliferation and a great variety of related "channelings" (often claimed to even have an extraterrestrial source). At times it felt as though "the entire cosmos" was talking to us humans that year.

One does not need to look very far to find evidence that society may be collapsing. There have been pandemics, food and water shortages that cause suffering. Many governments were overthrown beginning in 2012 and that has continued ever since. Climate change continues to bring worrying extremes of weather – flood and drought, heat and cold. Some people predict we may eventually experience a magnetic pole shift and no one now living knows what the outcome of an event such as that might prove to be. Back in 2012, the Mayan calendar indicated we had moved into the 6th age. Any great crisis represents the challenge of great opportunity according to Eastern wisdom. It seemed to some people then that we might be living in a time of purification. Many people wanted to reconsider our circumstances (which really have not changed all that much in the last 7 years as I edit this essay). Thoughtful people considered qualities that we wished to move forward into our collective future. Time will prove whether humanity will yet experience the collapse of national and cultural barriers. Will the global population truly learn to live as one species existing beyond the limits and conflicts of nationalism ?

Some of us believe that we are yet participating in the birth of a global consciousness. Some of us do believe humanity is evolving in a good direction, even if progress seems frustrating and intolerably slow at times. Will humanity experience some quantum leap of morphic resonance ? Will that leap bring with it a mass awakening of our inherent energy ? That which is referred to as Kundalini in some cultural teachings (including the Mayan and Vedic traditions). Kundalini can be defined as life force energy. This is a special kind of powerful energy that many spiritual practices are meant to reconnect us to, even while we continue living an average human life. The goddess Gaia is considered by some people as symbolic of our true planetary Mother. No one would argue that the Earth is not what sustains, nurtures and provides us with the very matter of our existence during physical incarnation. However you may have personally celebrated that Solstice in 2012, if you believed that year was uniquely special, may it prove to have been a very good beginning for the best that's yet to come. That was the hope then; and even now, it continues to be the hope of this annual season.

~ perspective

I celebrate the seasons of the
natural world and the seasons of
my incarnated life – birth, growth,
death and renewal – infant, child,
adult and elder – as I pass through
the cycles of life's natural progressions.
I interpret any prophecy rightly as
guidance and insight but also as an
uncertainty that I may apprehend and
apply towards the improving of life
upon this Earth.
I personally do believe that this has
not been my only incarnation on Earth
and I believe there will yet be more
but I do believe my being present
here on Earth for 2012 was a
conscious, intentional choice.
I look forward to the future and
celebrate how far we have come
from the days of old, even though
I live always in the present moment
which is an eternal moment of
timeless NOW.
It is my conscious choice in every
moment of NOW to express myself in
the best manner that I know how.

#balance #birth #climate #darkness #hope #light #peace #resources #sun #transition