In ancient times and on up to the present, spiritual celebrations – many of them tied to celestial events - took place in power places. And on those sites, the container for the energy was often a configuration of stones. Whether a medicine wheel or the great stone circles of the Celtic world like Avebury, New Grange, St. Michaels Tor, Stonehenge, the pyramids of Egypt or South America, stones, often with special properties of conductivity or crystalline structure helped to create a high vibrational container to hold and amplify the energy.
Many of these sites were oriented to receive the first light of a Solstice or Equinox, since the turning points of the year are times of energetic intensity – times, they say, when the veil is thinnest. In other words, times when we are most in communion with the cosmic and planetary energies made available by the patterns of the planets, stars and galaxies.
We are in such a time now. The winter solstice takes place in the Earth sign of Capricorn which incidentally rules rock and stone. 0 degrees of Capricorn – the degree of the Winter solstice - is one of four points on a cross formed by 0 degrees of each of the cardinal signs: 0 degrees Aries is the spring Equinox, 0 degrees Cancer is the summer Solstice and 0 degrees of Libra is the Fall Equinox. These points make what is called a cardinal cross on the wheel of the Zodiac and this cross is one of the most basic and powerful symbols of planet Earth. Cardinal signs represent leadership as each of the Cardinal signs leads a season – Capricorn leads out the season of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere and Summer in the Southern.
The theme of leadership is important here as we delve into the significance of this particular Solstice.
As you may know the planet Pluto has been moving through the sign of Capricorn since 2008 and Pluto holds the power of evolutionary level transformation. In the last 15 years and especially in the last three years we have seen the dark side of our institutional authority structures exposed – our political systems, corporate systems, social welfare systems and medical systems have been shown to be hollow shells, inadequate and serving the needs of politicians and administrators more than the people.
And just like in our personal growth, we must look at and heal the shadow material in order to prepare for new foundations, new structures to hold new energy. At the time of this Solstice with Sun at the 0 degree point of Capricorn, Pluto approaches its final degrees in that sign. New beginnings follow upon endings. What about this new beginning? Pluto will leave Capricorn in March of 2023 to enter the progressive, visionary and consciousness based sign of Aquarius…and so it is consciousness itself that will be transformed from what it is today over the 15 or 16 years of Pluto’s transit through Aquarius.
And just as we must have high vibrational structures to contain and shape and express high vibrational energy, our social structures are being renovated and healed in order to receive the new Consciousness dawning on this planet. There is a Bible story that tells us that we cannot pour new wine into old bottles…and we are both the New wine and the New bottles.
Structure and form are Capricorn words. And the structure of our own lives has been irretrievably transformed since Pluto went into Capricorn in 2008. Most of us here have spent the last 15 years or longer shedding the past, sometimes painfully letting go of karma, generational trauma, deeply embedded cultural and ancestral conditioning – so that we can literally become lighter!
We needed to shed what has been weighing us down for many generations so that we can hold a much higher frequency of consciousness. This Solstice at 0 degrees Capricorn is at an exact 90 degree angle to our largest and most expansive and most inspirational planet – Jupiter. Jupiter is itself at 0 degrees of the Cardinal sign Aries. This is called the Aries point – the most potent degree in the Zodiac. Aries represents new dawn, new beginnings, the birth canal for new initiatives, new identities and ways of embodying our most authentic self.
At the same time this new birth is not necessarily an easy delivery. 90 degrees in Astrology is called a square and while it is highly creative, it does not come without challenge.
The question here is how can we use the structure of Capricorn, newly purged and upgraded by Pluto, as a container for this new energy, this new more authentic and autonomous, and courageous I AM within us that is birthing itself from formlessness into form? And how will this new I AM move through the world in transition from old Patriarchal rigidity into the coming Aquarian age of higher consciousness and vision?
And most importantly, what is our role? How do we take on the mantle of eldership – whatever our age – and carry on the constructive attitudes and traditions of our ancestors while burning old tribal hatreds, traumas and violence on the funeral pyre of transformation? What does it mean for us to take on the role of the New Elders? Eldership is about taking responsibility, providing leadership and authority. It means that we step fully into our own authenticity and whether we express that in our own lives or in our communities, with our own unique skills and creativity that we recognize that we are needed, we have signed up for this and that we truly the ones we have been waiting for.
We are in a time of turning points – of creating new structures to contain new energy, of stepping up into our roles as elders, responsible ones, mentors, helpers, healers and helpers, all in our own way and with our own unique talents. Tonight we celebrate one of the most important of these portals of new energy – the winter solstice. The time where the Sun – Sol, stands still – Stice. These are the ancient traditions that have held up under the test of time and these are the ceremonies we will carry with us into the future.
