WInter Solstice - Welcoming the Light - Approaching 2014

 In ancient times, human beings had no artificial light sources and were more attuned to the cycles of nature signified by the Sun and Moon.  Massive prehistoric stone monuments such as Stonehenge in Britain are aligned to capture the light at the moment of the winter solstice sunrise. Throughout history, people have celebrated the winter solstice, often in anticipation toward the return of summer sunlight

During the warmer half of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the North Pole is tilted toward the sun. The northern winter solstice occurs when the "top" half of Earth is tilted away from the sun at its most extreme angle of the year.

"Solstice" means  "sun stands still." That's because—after months of growing shorter and lower since the summer solstice—the sun's arc through the sky appears to stabilize, with the sun seeming to rise and set in the same two places for several days. Then, on Dec 25^th,  the arc begins growing longer and higher in the sky, reaching its peak at the summer solstice.”

Today is a time to pause and stand still with the Sun as it sits at the cusp of Capricorn. Time to turn inward and connect to the earth and to the heavens and celebrate our position between the two.

There has been a lot of  rather squirrely energy about these days… partially caused by  Uranus (the awakener) turning direct a half an hour after the Gemini Full Moon on Tuesday.

Uranus is lightning bolt, sudden awakening, visionary change type of energy. It's electric and sparkly and has re-activated its forward motion  in Aries… the sign of the innovator, warrior, beginner of all things. Time for something completely different,

Added to that, right now now Mars (action, aggression) sits exactly opposite Uranus and is also square Pluto (the destroyer) and Jupiter (the expander),  setting off the Cardinal Grand Cross. Squares are tense angles that impel us to action. When there are four squares lined up in a grand cross formation, we experience amplified tension as a powerful transformative force is created through intense energetic pressure. If this formation is aspecting your own chart personally, there will be profound changes happening in your life. If the change is resisted, it will occur anyway, as so called  'fate'!  Better to work with these powerful energies. Get to know them so you can use them to your advantage. 

Added to the above, today Venus (planet  love and relating)  begins a backwards journey for six weeks in the more serious sign of Capricorn, turning our outward focus more inward.  Venus is about relationships and  energy exchange, and therefore also rules money. As it goes retrograde, our relationships may take a more serious turn, and our urge to shop, may drop, so in its place a more intimate level of exchange can occur.

That's not such a bad thing. I think there is enough 'stuff' on the planet!

So, from the Full Moon on Tuesday to the WInter Solstice today...  we have moved from an excited and rather high strung  energy field to a more intense, pressured inward focus. This grand cross pressure and tension will dominate the next few weeks, and as always,  it is important to ground our energy so we will not be knocked off balance.

That combines with the Solstice message to : Stand still. Ground. Breathe!!

Focus on welcoming the light. 

Meanwhile,  as the Suns energy has gradually decreased, our energy levels may have gone down with it. It is a natural instinct at this time of year to slow down, retreat, turn inward.  Let go. Yet  just before Christmas we are all often scrambling around  like mad, making travel plans, going to parties, buying gifts, consuming etc. The Venus retrograde will help slow all that down.

Time to take a chill pill.  

Some of the rituals around the solstice can help ground our energies and connect us to the earth and sky and to our hearts. At this time of shorter days, we can light a candle and write down everything we want to release and burn it. Then write down what you want to manifest in the coming year.

I went to a sacred circle last night and after we burned our list of things to release we wrote down our intentions for 2014 on cards and put them in envelopes addressed to ourselves.  It's all about releasing the old to make way for the new.

This is a time of inhalation, before the coming out-breath at Christmas a few days. Breath in as you connect to the past year and go over lessons learned and progress made. Then  breath out and release the past as you welcome the coming light.

Over the last few days,  the Sun and earth also lined up with the galactic core, around which the Sun travels ... and we around it! (that cycle is the source of the Mayan calendar). Remember last year and all the hype about the end of the world? Well it did not end in an obvious way, but a major earth cycle did finish and a new one began. We are now moving into a new paradigm and a new era, and the  current, rather intense astrology of shake up and wake up (Uranus/Pluto Square)  is there to facilitate our awakening.

The coming age promises to be most different from the one preceding, as we sit at the very beginning of a profound shift in consciousness.  The age of Aquarius is about equality and fairness and the true human family finally coming together as one. 

And to do that we must first know who we are.  The Galactic Core in Sagittarius represents a deep sense of knowing and purpose. It sends out a homing beacon that permeates our universe,  and at this time of year, as our planet moves into alignment with it in Sagittarius, we can feel the message very strongly. It is saying:

‘Know your purpose. Know your source. Know who you are.’

Some say that in essence who we are is pure light.

So, as we celebrate the return of the light, we can also celebrate the return of our own light. 

Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.