Winter Solstice
Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.
— Robin Wall Kimmerer
This will be my final post for 2020. It’s the day before the Solstice, the longest night of the year. This year two planets, Jupiter and Saturn converge on December 21st—appearing closer together in the night sky than they have in 400 years. If the sky is clear, we will see them come together as one bright star on the horizon. There is mystery for me on the Solstice. Our ancestors felt this too. I have visited sites around the world where ancient cultures built extraordinary structures so precisely aligned with planetary positions that light beams from the rising sun line up perfectly only on the Solstice—Chinchen Itza (Mexico), Manchu Pichu (Peru), New Grange (Ireland), Stone Henge (England), Chaco Canyon (USA). The ancient ones knew the Solstice marked a change and they celebrated the return of the light—from this point on the days grow longer. We need to know the darkness in order to witness this shift—this ray of hope.
I love the story that says the Winter Solstice marks the days the seeds turn around in the ground and point their tips upwards. No one sees this in the bareness of winter—it happens in the dark, underground. The seeds know, they prepare. After a year of a pandemic that touched everyone around the world, I take heart in this pattern embedded even in tiny seeds; I hope you do too. We need to prepare for new life, for healing, renewal, within ourselves and in the world at large.
I wish each of you light and love this season. I hope my stories and images are a reminder that there is much compassion and love in the world. Together we can ease each other’s burdens and the burdens the world carries because of our destructive actions. Any act of kindness, awareness, compassion can make a difference—we all matter. However you celebrate this season of the coming of the light, I wish you joy and peace.
During the pandemic I met many extraordinary people online who share a vision of collaborating for a better world—conservationists, artists, writers, activists, photographers. Let me close with a beautiful message from Irish poet Grace Wells: For So Long They Were Our Ark.
Please enjoy my photo of Sunrise over the Mara, and download this higher-resolution version as a wallpaper or add it to your screensaver.
