Solstice Blessings
Winter or summer, depending on your hemisphere!
fog-muffled dawn solstice lights glow, watery the world renewed
Happy Solstice! For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, tonight is the longest night of the year; our hemisphere is about to turn toward light and spring, albeit very slowly. For those in the Southern Hemisphere, today is the turning point from summer into fall.
A turning point that asks us to slow down and pay attention to the passing of time and the changing of the seasons, to the larger cycles of life.
This moment marks that quarterly reminder to step back and see ourselves as part of something that exists on much much much grander scale than whatever happens to be going on in our lives right now. —Bryna Campbell of Slow Outdoors, in a guest post on Agents of Change
Wherever you are, I hope you will take a few moments in stillness to celebrate this hinge-pin of the solar year, a time to pause and appreciate life and our part in the grand interweaving of matter and spirit. And to ask ourselves what we hope for in the coming seasons.
I find music helps me pause and reflect. So I want to share with you this beautiful rendition of sacred music, a piece so ethereal that it transcends religion and reminds us of the sacred in the everyday. Thank you to Kings Return for your glorious voices and musicianship. And for demonstrating the presence of the sacred in the everyday by recording in an ordinary stairwell!
May the light renew you! Blessings, Susan
Happy Solstice, Susan! Ah, such fond memories of luminarias! The year we moved to Santa Fe, it was mid-December, a dusting of snow on the ground, and the night lit up with candles. Utterly magical. I loved the holiday season there. But what I really came here to say was thank you for the link to the King’s Return offering of “Ave Maria.” Stunning. Just stunning. I come, as you know, from a strong a capella singing tradition (Mennonite), and these men sound like heaven to me. I sat there not breathing until the end. At least I think that’s why I suddenly found myself gasping and heaving for air. I’ve not experienced literal “take your breath away” very often. But today I did. Thank you.
Oh my goodness, that Ava Maria was something else. Thank you, Susan. Solstice blessings to you ❤️