It is always a real joy to be at WinSol3 on Dec 22nd and watch the first single ray of sunlight (hopefully it’s clear skies!) reach through the forest from the SE and shine onto the entire southern window span of WinSol3. It is no accident that this first ray of sunlight falls into the bedroom and kitchen/sitting area first.
This morning I absorbed this ritual of the ancients. At exactly 7:43am the sun’s first rays graced WinSol3’s southern window expanse, announcing that the earth was shifting on its axis. As I stood out on the deck observing the sun’s rays changingly distributing its bounty throughout the forest, I felt a spiritual rush of the connection with our giver of life. Realizing that this event was observed for thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of years by most of humanity – until recently - I wondered if perhaps that internal rush was a connection with the ancients. After all we are all from the same stardust, and we all breathe the same air and all our exhalations.
Then my brain really kicks in with something like this (from Wikipedia):
The winter solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's polar hemisphere is farthest away from the star that it orbits. Earth's maximum axial tilt to our star, the Sun, during a solstice is 23° 26'. More evident from high latitudes, a hemisphere's winter solstice occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the sun's daily maximum elevation in the sky is the lowest.[2] Since the winter solstice lasts only a moment in time, other terms are often used for the day on which it occurs, such as midwinter, the longest night or the first day of winter.
I wonder how the ancients figured out the longest and shortest days of the year – were they able to tell time somehow? They most definitely knew about solar angles and horizons. We'll never know. Why have we lost all records and insight into this ancient wisdom?
In Thom Hartman’s book ‘Last hours of Ancient Sunlight’ he states: ‘We once knew more than we know now’ Over the years I’ve found this statement to be so true. Our left-brained, highly technological and scientific world has given us many wonders and lifted many people out of poverty – but at what cost? Are we happier, more content? Are our technologically driven communities and children better off? Yes and no. Mr. Hartman now blogs about the 'Last hours of Ancient Sunlight' ,his latest about how trees are the 'canary in the coal mine' that we are ignoring.
and now... back to WinSol3 solstice ...
My usual routine is to light a big bonfire outside and then around 7:30am sit at the indoor granite fireplace bench looking at the ‘X’ mark on the French door glass that says 7:43am. At 7:40am I am skeptical, there’s no sun to be seen and I wonder if by some strange reasoning I marked it wrong, if the house shifted, or heavens forbid our planet is out of alignment! Every Dec 22nd I go through this same ‘Doubting Thomas’ routine. Then, as I go out onto the deck, sure enough, right on schedule, there is the first sunlight. And all is well with the universe.
The joy within my heart is immense at this moment. I feel a connection with the ancients, with a power indescribable, far greater than anything I usually have felt all year (although this year, the feelings I had at the temple ceremony in Indonesia ranks right up there). Each year, I allow my heart and spirit to linger a bit longer, before my brain kicks in. It’s getting easier each year to delay my brain kickstart. But sure enough, after a couple minutes, my left brain hints at the history of this moment going back over the eons – of the Stonehenge + Pyramid architects, of designers and computer software packages that can predict this event within a microsecond at any location behind any shading tree in the world.
Then slowly my mind and heart sift together in unison to realize that our home is right now shifting on its axis ever so slowly. Usually by the time I awaken from this trance, the entire inside of WinSol2 is flooded in sunlight and the sun has shifted a few degrees from the far SE horizon.
Then slowly I realize the ‘event’ is over and tasks beckon. I wonder how many urban people even know about this event? I know the farmers and many gardeners know - their livelihood depends on the sun.
For some reason, I am not that enamored with the counter solstice to this on June 21 each year, when the earth shifts back from the opposite axis shift.
