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Solstice Week Blogs

With apologies to the entire southern hemisphere, there is no mistaking the longest, darkest nights in my community and myself. The mood seems quiet and still; there is a beckoning to confront our inner reality, sometimes accompanied by melancholia or a hint of depression, if we stop long enough to notice.

Along with the seasonal promise of the returning of the light, this year we are also adjusting after the profound re-orientation made possible by the total lunar eclipse and Uranus station last week.

The eclipse was magnificent here in Oregon. The skies were clear and the eclipse was accompanied by startling meteors from the Geminids shower. It was a perfect cold early morning for the awesome presence of a total lunar eclipse. May all the prayers and intentions set then be carried far and wide!

I’ve assembled a full list of blogs here, starting with astrological writers, then some songs and other pages to celebrate the Winter Solstice.

Many blessings of the season to one and all. May we find nourishment and grace in the still moment of the Sun’s journey.

Divine Harmony has a nice look at the week in tis the season to be growing. Along with holiday wishes, she concludes: “this is it!   tis the season to be GROWING!  it’s time to wake up and get on board the Self-mastery train.  2012-2015 are going to be intense- and you want to be centered in yourSelf and on the right path so you can be the change you wish to see in the world :)”

Genevieve Vierling at Blue Light Lady delineates the Winter Solstice 2011 chart set for Washington. “This Winter Solstice gives us an amazing pattern to work with.  Its basic statement is about integrating energies that can further transformation (Sun conjoining Pluto).  The message of Capricorn is always about holding light during the darkest of times.  So I’m encouraging all of you to gather together and bring in the light!”

Jude Cowell’s astrologically sophisticated Stars Over Washington offers a thorough look at the solstice chart is set for Washington. Among her many observations: “The presence of America’s natal Saturn 14Lib48 and Neptune 22Vir25 (conjunct President Obama’s natal Mars) snugged around the Solstice 2011 ASC gives a midpoint picture of some concern: Sat/Nep = ASC: limitation of freedom; oppressive circumstances; depression.”

David Crook at Stellar Insights informs us about a new e-book, Unraveling the Christmas Star Mystery, by Irene Worthington Barton. The author, a retired high school astronomy teacher, “claims that her findings reveal there were 10 major celestial events announcing the birth of Jesus Christ, the last being the position marker over Bethlehem.”

Michael O’Reilly at Neptune Cafe has an article explaining how the “Maya came up with 2012 as the zero point of their Long Count calendar system.” Referring to the work of John Jenkins, O’Reilly ends the article: “Jenkins doesn’t dabble in predictions, although he makes one notable exception when he notes that May 20, 2012 is not only when the Sun aligns with the Pleiades, but is also a Solar Eclipse. ‘If we were pressed to make a prediction based on all these scientific facts and archeological clues, we could suggest that Mexico City will be destroyed by a violent earthquake.’ ”
(A longer version of this article appears in Dell Horoscope’s 2012 Yearbook.

Alex Miller considers the asteroid Rudolf in his newest blog Rudolf, the Red-Nosed Rock Chunk. “From the creator of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to the writers, singers, composers and actors who made the character famous and disseminated it to the world, asteroid Rudolf weaves its magic holiday spell, making its ruddy-beaked namesake truly ‘the most famous reindeer of all.'”

At the same site  — Maya del Mar’s Daykeeper’s Journal — read Jessica Murray’s Ninety-Nine Percent. “OWS is not really a political movement at all. It’s something much bigger, which is why the unions have been unable to co-opt it, the corporate publicists have failed to discredit it, and the media doesn’t know what to do with it.”

Kathy Biehl writes with subtle insights in her blog on the December 24 New Moon (at 2º34’ Capricorn), Astro-Insight 2011 Capricorn New Moon. “The Sun and the Moon are meeting in the sign that naturally encourages an eye to the future, long-term planning, and determined, unemotional effort. This year, their conference has the destabilizing participation of the two cosmic change agents, Pluto and Uranus.”

Robert Wilkinson’s Astrology in December 2011 – The Hard Edge of the Irrational Now reminds us of the “very strange and unpredictable” nature of these times.

Lynn Hayes at Astrodynamics posted a lovely poem for the solstice that captures the quiet of these days.

Linda Schurman’s The Soothesayer Internet Newspaper covers a range of political, economic, global and environmental matters every month. She concludes her December letter: “This season reminds us of the great sacrifices love demands; a divine love that gives birth to a new form of life, embodying a new consciousness that will reach upward toward the constellations that have made us a grand promise of insights yet to come.”

Don’t forget the amazing 3-D Solar System Scope. This year they’ve added a Neverending Book where you can add Christmas and New Year’s wishes, and read greetings from 82 countries. A very cheerful offering and a happy display of worldwide community spirit.

I posted this last year and got some appreciative response, so here it is again: Yoga for Capricorn and Winter Solstice.

Here’s a nice all around site for understanding the astronomy of the December Solstice. (There’s also a link to a page that explains – from the astronomical point view  – that the December 21, 2012 solstice will not be “the end of the world.”

For those unable to get out into a snowy landscape and who are open to a digital meditative experience, try Winter Solstice

Or, Relaxation in Snow

And, if traditional Christmas music is not too corny for you, here’s

Charlotte Church singing O Holy Night. The singer who was famous when very young has a stellium of Sun, Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus in Pisces.

Birth data: February 20, 1986; Cardiff, Wales

Jackie Evancho, an 11-year-old singer, has Mercury in Pisces and the Sun at 19º Aries, its degree of exaltation. Her first release, ” ‘O Holy Night,’ entered the Billboard 200 at #2, making Evancho the top-selling debut artist for 2010 and the youngest solo artist ever to debut in the top 10.” Here’s her version of  Silent Night.

(For another glimpse of an exalted Sun, here’s a short clip of her singing Puccini’s O Mio Babbino Caro, when she was ten.)

Birth data: April 9, 2000; Pittsburg, PA

Here are some songs by Enya:

A Winter Solstice

The Spirit of Christmas

Silent Night

Newgrange in eastern Ireland was built around 3200 BC, 500 years before the Great Pyramids and more than 1,000 years before Stonehenge. It is aligned with the rising Sun on the winter solstice, which pours into the stone room. “The intent of its builders was undoubtedly to mark the beginning of the new year. In addition, it may have served as a powerful symbol of the victory of life over death……Unfortunately, as with many Irish events that depend upon sunshine, if the skies are overcast, there is not much to be seen. Yet all agree that it is an extraordinary feeling to wait in the darkness, as people did so long ago, for the longest night of the year to end.”

The winter solstice at Newgrange will be streamed live here

Happy Solstice everyone.

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