Winter Solstice December 21 2024

 

Picture of Glenmore Lake Taken December 2024 by Judy Hirst

On this winter solstice, we celebrate that we are still alive and well given the terrible conflicts going on in parts of the world.

We celebrate that we are a place that people run towards, and not away from.

We celebrate our families, our friends, and our communities, for these are the anchors that hold all of us to the fabric of loving kindness and compassion.

We celebrate with food and conversation and song and quiet meditation.

Blessed be.

Blessings,

Judy

Winter Solstice - The Longest Night is December 21 2024

 The shortest day and the longest night – the time that our Ancestors called “mid-winter” is that time that tells us that Nature is still working.  If the day remained short, and the night was long, then the rotation of the planet changed.

Our Ancestors had elaborate rituals to ensure that the planet kept turning, or, as they thought, that the Sun kept revolving around the Earth.

The diagram below shows the angle of the Sun in the north.  Now, with all of the availability of science, we no longer look to the sky to see what will happen.  We have dropped doing the rituals and doing the work to keep the Sun going.  

Winter Solstice

Sat, Dec 21, 2024, 2:19 a.m.

Mountain Time

This post should give you several days to prepare for Solstice and to invite friends over for a meal, if that appeals to you.

Enjoy the Solstice.

Blessings, 

Judy

Fox Haven

The Fox was looking around the area as I finished my meditation.  He stood still, and then spoke.  His comments are appropriate for all of us.

• When the weather changes, or when danger seems to come out of no where, it is good to have a haven to retreat to.  Foxes create a “fox haven” that other foxes can access if they are in danger.  We telegraph the site to those foxes in the area.
• A haven should have a good supply of food.  We foxes look for havens in valleys that are not easily accessible by man.  Here, the small animals, our food, are abundant and understand the cycle of life.  They are in service to those higher in the food chain.
• Water is going to be in short supply.  We foxes can tell because the streams that were forever are drying up.  We say that the haven must have a spring fed water source that cannot be stopped by someone (beaver) damming the stream up water.
• Bring forth only one or two young when you are in the haven.  If you bring in a litter, then the abundance will dry up.  It is written thusly.

Blessings,

Judy