Skip to content

Happy Winter Solstice

The Sun enters Capricorn on December 21 at 12:47 p.m. EST (9:47 a.m. PST), as we honor the longest night of the year. If your skies are clear tonight, look up to appreciate Jupiter, just left of the Moon. Venus is close to the Sun and invisible now, but she’s in the sky too, offering a gracious sextile to the exact Jupiter-Neptune conjunction perfecting right before the solstice.

The Winter Solstice

True to the season, I’ve been feeling a bit quiet and contemplative, so for this week’s blog I’ve found some of the many fine links about the season to share with you all.

Before we move on, let me say that all of us at TMA send very warmest wishes to each of you for a blessed and happy Solstice time.

Ancient Origins has a site that’s both easy to navigate and nice to look at. A good starting point for all solstice matters, including an explanation of the science of the solstice, solstice architectures, and its celebration in many cultures.

Go here for a straightforward description of the astronomy of the solstice. If you have trouble visualizing the big picture of the change of the seasons, there’s a good graphic and links to other pertinent pages, including Solstice Traditions and Customs.

Nick Owens, part of the very creative team at the C.I.A. (Cosmic Intelligence Agency), has an article on the Solstice chart.

The chart shown above is set for the U.S. capital. The Capricorn Ingress for Ottawa, Ontario describes the chart for the country that is hosting the 21st Winter Olympic games, beginning on February 12, 2010.

In her long article at AstroFlash!, Barbara Hand Clow writes: “The Winter Solstice is the time to be brutally honest and evaluate whether our ideas enhance others or whether they may actually be detrimental.” Although this article covers the past year’s cycle, it’s pertinent now as well. To read more specifically on the solstice, scroll down to the Sagittarius New Moon section (December 16, 2009).

Refresh your impressions of Capricorn with Dane Rudhyar’s article reprinted from his 1943 book, The Pulse of Life. Khaldea is Michael Meyer’s host site for The Rudhyar Archival Project.

Read a lovely poemTowards the Winter Solstice, by Timothy Steele. The last verse reads:

Some wonder if the star of Bethlehem
Occurred when Jupiter and Saturn crossed;
It’s comforting to look up from this roof
And feel that, while all changes, nothing’s lost,
To recollect that in antiquity
The winter solstice fell in Capricorn
And that, in the Orion Nebula,
From swirling gas, new stars are being born.

“Toward the Winter Solstice” from Toward the Winter Solstice (Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 2006.)
The poets.org site has links to many other Christmas and winter poems.

All you yogins and yoginis out there, here’s a simple yoga series: A Body Posture to Celebrate and Tune into Winter Solstice and Capricorn Energies. (They advise printing it out first so you can follow easily.)

Here’s a nice description of the solstice based on the Theosophical Society. (The page is busy, but the ideas are clear.) “The solstices and equinoxes mark the four corners of the esoteric year, each associated with particular psychospiritual events in the initiation cycle. The winter solstice is associated with the birth of the inner Christ or Buddha; the summer solstice with the great renunciation of personal progress made by those of the hierarchy of compassion.”

The Christmas Spirit is a page of illustrations; the Winter Solstice Gods and Santa Claus are all remembered. It’s fun (and quick to see it all).

Jayj Jacobs classic article, The Horoscope of Jesus. The first line: “Jesus was not born on Christmas Day, and no Biblical scholar or historian will contend that he was.”

You may be drawn to a Profound Winter Solstice Rebirth Ceremony, which ends thusly: “Continue on your quest for unconditional love; it’s what you’re here for and it’s within your reach.”

Here’s a nicely-expressed astrological (and Buddhist) view of the times written by Laura Boomer-Trent at her blog, Zodiac Heaven – Dharma Stars.

On another subject, Kaye Shinker writes on Economic Forecasting for the quarter, based on the Solstice chart .

Robert Wilkinson’s Aquarius Papers – Global Astrology is always good. Here’s his take on the Solstice chart.

Jude Cowell, an astrologer who watches politics and includes fixed stars in her work, has a blog on the Solstice chart.

And, to celebrate the YouTube way, enjoy the bagpipes and a bonfire at a Solstice party in Britain.

Or, join a quiet three-minute pagan ceremony for the Solstice from Australia.

Watch a Winter Solstice slideshow with music by Windham Hill artist Tim Story.

And, in closing for now, here is a cheerful tribute to the day. (The music is Carol of the Bells.) Happy Winter Solstice.

3 Comments

  1. Mary, thank you kindly for the link and…

    Wishing you and yours a Happy Solstice and very Merry Holidays!

    Jude

  2. Hi Mary – Many thanks for the link(s). And much gratitude to you and TMA for keeping the dialogue on a high level assisting students of the craft and helping to maintain clarity in the collective consciousness during these very strange and irrational times. Happy Solstice and all other Holydays to you and all your readers as we begin a new year!

  3. Hi Mary thanks for mentioning the article at the CIA site. Here’s hoping for an energetic and vital 2010 worldwide!


Comments are closed for this article!

STUDENT SECTION