Happy Winter Solstice! Nature celebrated this difficult year for many by arranging a Lunar Eclipse as the Earth began it's turn toward light. Regardless of how dark or cold (or, in Dallas, how hot) these bleak days are, all we have to do is keep waking up to new days that will be a tad brighter. No night will be as long as last night.
This has been a particularly difficult year for many people who have crossed my path. In the last months, many close to me have lost loved ones, weathered anniversaries of other losses and made transitions that were very hard. As hard as I try, I still tend to ask, "How much more can they endure?" A quiet voice inside me responds, "Only as much as they have strength to stand."
For many, this year has been like a cold, hard, emotional winter that doesn't seem to end. I have no doubt that, in those darkest, most frigid nights, the sense that it will never end cannot be ignored. When these moments come for me, I am usually reminded of the amazing winter of the tulip. Buried in the soil, beneath the snow and in the dry, hard ground, the bulb lies dormant. I would imagine that, if it could think it like we do, it would probably ruminate as it faded into dormancy, something like, "I'm never going to survive this! It's too cold." Yet, it is that very dormancy that prepares the bulb to explode into flower when spring and the equinox approach. Without the dormancy, it would be a lovely blade, if it grew at all.
Today is the instant in which all that begins to shift. At an imperceptible creep, the days will gradually become longer and the nights shorter. Though we have many days of snow and freezing weather ahead, Nature has begun its journey to Spring. Today, somewhere in the Energy of Nature, a celebration has begun. I have a friend in the Northeast who has horses. This has been a torturous year for her. She shared with many of us recently that, in the grind of routine horse care, she was brushing the day's layers of dirt from the horses, when she noticed that she was coming up with hair that was shedding. This was not alarming, though. It is time. One of her horses always begins shedding on or about the Solstice. Even before the deepest of winter and the heaviest of snows, they begin preparing to shed their coat and run free in the spring grass and warmth. In a moment of heartache and loss, she stumbled onto nature's "postcard" to remind her that the world is turning towards hope.
I know it doesn't make the cold any less chilling and the short days ahead feel any longer. Yet, being reminded that the Universe is moving forward into Spring is a thought that brings something comfortable and warm to mind. It is, in a way, a reminder that we can get lost in the chill and pain of our Emotional Winter. In a subtle way, the Lunar Eclipse adds the message that the darkness of night is temporary. Just as the changes on the moon are not the result of the moon becoming dark or red, but because the Earth gets in the way of the Sun. Likewise, we often cannot see that our natural, normal emotional "orbit" is the very thing that takes away the light and blocks the reflection of hope in our lives.
Combining this image with the message of the Solstice, we can't help be reminded that we can't change these facts. Our "orbit" is carefully designed and perfectly in place, whether we feel it or not. (Remember, a shift of just about 6 degrees, yes, a mere six degree shift in the axis of the Earth's rotation would freeze or fry the earth and wipe us all out!) If we will just feel the pull of Hope keeping us in that balance, the cold may just be a bit easier to tolerate.
So, grab a cup of something warm and find a fire or a comforter or someone you love and feel the warmth that comes from within each. Be reminded that the path toward Spring just started unfolding before you. If it is still well hidden in the "snow" of emotions and darkness, be patient and gentle. Even if it means a bit of emotional dormancy and stillness. Nature has shifted and done so with a display of grandeur.
It's old (though some may have not heard it!) and maybe a bit tired, but take a moment and think of the words Amanda McBroom, sung by Bette Midler and find some peace:
This has been a particularly difficult year for many people who have crossed my path. In the last months, many close to me have lost loved ones, weathered anniversaries of other losses and made transitions that were very hard. As hard as I try, I still tend to ask, "How much more can they endure?" A quiet voice inside me responds, "Only as much as they have strength to stand."
For many, this year has been like a cold, hard, emotional winter that doesn't seem to end. I have no doubt that, in those darkest, most frigid nights, the sense that it will never end cannot be ignored. When these moments come for me, I am usually reminded of the amazing winter of the tulip. Buried in the soil, beneath the snow and in the dry, hard ground, the bulb lies dormant. I would imagine that, if it could think it like we do, it would probably ruminate as it faded into dormancy, something like, "I'm never going to survive this! It's too cold." Yet, it is that very dormancy that prepares the bulb to explode into flower when spring and the equinox approach. Without the dormancy, it would be a lovely blade, if it grew at all.
Today is the instant in which all that begins to shift. At an imperceptible creep, the days will gradually become longer and the nights shorter. Though we have many days of snow and freezing weather ahead, Nature has begun its journey to Spring. Today, somewhere in the Energy of Nature, a celebration has begun. I have a friend in the Northeast who has horses. This has been a torturous year for her. She shared with many of us recently that, in the grind of routine horse care, she was brushing the day's layers of dirt from the horses, when she noticed that she was coming up with hair that was shedding. This was not alarming, though. It is time. One of her horses always begins shedding on or about the Solstice. Even before the deepest of winter and the heaviest of snows, they begin preparing to shed their coat and run free in the spring grass and warmth. In a moment of heartache and loss, she stumbled onto nature's "postcard" to remind her that the world is turning towards hope.
I know it doesn't make the cold any less chilling and the short days ahead feel any longer. Yet, being reminded that the Universe is moving forward into Spring is a thought that brings something comfortable and warm to mind. It is, in a way, a reminder that we can get lost in the chill and pain of our Emotional Winter. In a subtle way, the Lunar Eclipse adds the message that the darkness of night is temporary. Just as the changes on the moon are not the result of the moon becoming dark or red, but because the Earth gets in the way of the Sun. Likewise, we often cannot see that our natural, normal emotional "orbit" is the very thing that takes away the light and blocks the reflection of hope in our lives.
Combining this image with the message of the Solstice, we can't help be reminded that we can't change these facts. Our "orbit" is carefully designed and perfectly in place, whether we feel it or not. (Remember, a shift of just about 6 degrees, yes, a mere six degree shift in the axis of the Earth's rotation would freeze or fry the earth and wipe us all out!) If we will just feel the pull of Hope keeping us in that balance, the cold may just be a bit easier to tolerate.
So, grab a cup of something warm and find a fire or a comforter or someone you love and feel the warmth that comes from within each. Be reminded that the path toward Spring just started unfolding before you. If it is still well hidden in the "snow" of emotions and darkness, be patient and gentle. Even if it means a bit of emotional dormancy and stillness. Nature has shifted and done so with a display of grandeur.
It's old (though some may have not heard it!) and maybe a bit tired, but take a moment and think of the words Amanda McBroom, sung by Bette Midler and find some peace:
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow
Lies the seed
That with the sun's love, in the spring
Becomes the rose.
Happy Holidays, including the Winter Solstice!
(BTW, check out the story behind "The Rose." http://theroselyrics.com/ )
(BTW, check out the story behind "The Rose." http://theroselyrics.com/ )
