The Winter Solstice

    

   The Solstice and Equinox dates mark the four major seasonal points of the year. These Cardinal points (cardinal means to bring into form) create four 90 degree angles to one another, forming a cross, the cross of matter upon which our earthly world is founded. It represents the Law of Love, the vertical part of the cross intersecting with our use of the Word, the horizontal part, to create in the world of form.

     The Winter Solstice occurs when the Sun enters the astrological sign of Capricorn, which will occur on December 21, 10:30 PM MST. Capricorn represents the door to spiritual birth and initiation, the release from the attachments to the material realm. These are the things that burden or limit us and keep us bound to who we are not. Letting go of them allows us to expand into who we really are.  Capricorn is significant of the ego persona beginning to fade, utilizing God’s wisdom to benefit the greater good. 

     At this time of year, the physical Sun is at its lowest point of manifestation, lowest in the sky at its Southern most declination, so we have the shortest amount of daylight, the longest amount of darkness of the whole year.  This represents the personality receding, so that the Spiritual Sun, the Christ in us, may be born.  In fact, although the Northern Hemisphere is tipped away from the Sun on its axis at this time of year, giving us the minimum amount of light all year, the Earth is actually closest to the Sun in its orbital path around the Sun.  What we experience with our physical eyes in the material world is that the light is dim, that it is the shortest amount of daylight all year.  Yet, in reality, we are closest to the Light.  This signifies that it is in the unseen Spiritual realm that the birth of the Light is taking place, no matter how things may appear. 
     And perhaps, some of us have had a challenging year, maybe even dealing with some of our deepest fears, grief, and confusion, experiencing a time of perceived darkness.  However, it is at this time of greatest darkness, that the Light is nearest and there is an opportunity to clean out the old conditioning and patterns to make room for the birth of the Christ Light within. This is especially true this year with the transforming energy of the planet Pluto within a few degrees of the Solstice Sun. It may be helpful to remember, “The darker and deeper the depths, the higher and brighter the Mountain.” While Mars in Virgo at the Ascendant in Denver provides much needed energy for healing purification and service, the Sun square Uranus in Aries offers the initiative needed for new beginnings and for aligning with the Higher Mind of the Christ. Just as all of nature is in a dormant state at this time of year, with seeds buried deep in the fertile stillness of the earth for the winter, so also must we go into the stillness within us to experience the return of the Light, and the birth of the Christ Light within us after the shortest day of the year. The sign of Capricorn rules the knees and it is on bended knee, in all humility and devotion, that we bow to the Christ at this time. 

     Capricorn is also an Earth sign and it is at this time of year that the Christ infuses us to a greater degree with His Light and Love, permeating every atom of the Earth with this energy.  The power of this illumination grows and increases up to the high point of Christmas Eve.  From Winter Solstice through Christmas, there is an opportunity, more than at any other time of year to open our hearts wide to the Light and Love of the Christ, and for participating in the great work of Christ Jesus in spiritualizing the entire planet to a greater degree.  In addition, the ecliptic, which is the apparent path of the Sun around the Earth, that belt of the sky containing the constellations, crosses over the Milky Way in the sky at an angle and forms a cross, the Cosmic Cross, the celestial Sacred Tree.  For the first time in 25,800 years, in these years close to 2012, the Winter Solstice Sun is at the center of the cross (at 27°Sagittarius), close to Capricorn.  So, there is an actual pathway open to the Heart of the Galaxy as the Sun in Capricorn calls us into the deep stillness that is so profound at this time of year.