Happy Solstice

As this day literally flashes by us,

like the strobe of a lighthouse briefly hitting our sails as we try to make an unmarked harbor in the middle of the night 

and the long dark night sits heavy upon our homes, chilling the air, freezing the ponds 

we can have hope for the return of the sunny warm days that may yet come, 

as they have each year, for millions of years before.

Will mariner's taking noon sights

be repeating altitudes of the sun that they just took days and weeks before?

For them it is obvious that the sun is once again climbing in the sky

Happy Winter!

As another year ends, that point in the circle of days and weeks and months is arrived at again.

As shortest days push against the longest nights, we can now look forward to the return of the light. 

The coldest days are ahead still, but we can find hope and strength in the lengthening of the days and all that they might bring.

In our world, that is especially now so wrapped up in things virtual, things imagined, things conjured, and ideologies clung to, here is something that is obvious, something observable by all, something that has formed us and the lives we have lived since before time was recorded.

Something that connects us to all other things.

Here is a day that we can all be glad for.

As with each morning when we wake, the Northern hemisphere can celebrate

the new light, the new year.

No need for myth or magic, reality is a great thing to celebrate

The observable has it's own magical quality

We may choose to give little recognition, or importance to it, but what does our opinion of it do to change it, nothing at all.  

But it is an opportunity to celebrate something that is undeniable, not just to humans but to all beings, to all of the planet that is our home.

As this year past has been so very challenging for so many of us this is especially a moment that can inspire hope for what may yet come, and what we might be able to do with the days ahead.

It might also be a chance to reflect on our humble part in the larger cycle of things and to find peace with that understanding.

With that peace we might also find compassion for all the other beings whose parts are just as worthy, but also just as modest.

Hurray for the return of the light!

Happy Winter Solstice