Winter Solstice Blessings to You

                                                                 

Winter Solstice

                                                                                

The Winter Solstice always seems to me like the real beginning of a new year. The sunrise, hidden amidst the trees on the ridge to the right, has gone as far south as it can. Tomorrow will begin the long trek north. Spring Equinox will find sunrise due east, in the center of my horizon, and it will continue moving to the left till it's behind another clump of trees.

But for now, I'm celebrating the Return of the Light. Amidst all the chaos and clamor of our world, the Winter Solstice seems like an eternal verity.

Welcome Solstice!

                                                                                                                                                               

THE SHORTEST DAY BY SUSAN COOPER 

So the shortest day came, and the year died,

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world

Came people singing, dancing,

To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;

They hung their homes with evergreen;

They burned beseeching fires all night long

To keep the year alive,

And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake

They shouted, reveling.

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them

Echoing behind us—Listen!!

All the long echoes sing the same delight,

This shortest day,

As promise wakens in the sleeping land:

They carol, feast, give thanks,

And dearly love their friends,

And hope for peace.

And so do we, here, now,

This year and every year.

Welcome Yule!