Solstice 54
Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. We are having a party . . . starting out at the barn with a fire in my little propane fire-pit, finger foods, sparklers, and spirits. It's really a celebration following the ancient human tradition of honoring the seasonal shift from the longest night in December to the longest day in June at the Summer Solstice. On December 21st the daily march toward the Summer Solstice begins, consistently gaining a few minutes of sunlight every 24 hours.
My fascination with the Solstice's has puzzled me at times. I experience the coming of these cosmic events like a sacred ritual, not one that I was taught, but one that appears to be embedded in my soul. I 'feel' their approach. My breath catches in my throat at the constancy of the annual shifting from light to dark, and dark of night to light of day.
This year I came across a website that explains this cosmic phenomenon clearly and simply. Now, more than ever, I understand the mechanics of Earth's tilt creating seasonal changes as we orbit our sun. What's not so clear is what's behind the catch of my breath, the quickening of my pulse when these celestial events are close at hand. Up to now I've believed that the potent pull I feel must be due to my birth at the Summer Solstice. Now, I'm not so sure . . .
" For all of Earth’s creatures, nothing is so fundamental as the length of daylight.
After all, the sun is the ultimate source of all light and warmth on Earth."
earthsky.org
This thought has been lying in my mind for days, tickling my curiosity . . . "all of Earth's creatures," not just those born on the Solstice--all creatures. If this is true, why don't we honor the Solstice's as well as their astral cousins, the Vernal and Autumnal Equinox when day and night are in perfect balance? Humankind used to be in touch with this basic thread running through all life on Earth . . . the sun is our source . . .
The sun IS our life on Earth.
Over ten years ago I painted two pieces relating to cosmic movements . . . "Solstice 54," and "Orbital Dance." It's odd to me that only now am I gaining a deeper understanding of these paintings. For both pieces I harnessed the growing energy that had been gestating in me, and delivered that energy faithfully without full comprehension of the connecting threads between me, the cosmos, and the deep relationship of all humankind with earth & sky. We, all of us earthly creatures, are part of the cosmic dance whether we acknowledge it or not, by virtue of our material existence . . . and, we, all of us earthly creatures, participate in a lesser orbiting as we cycle around the stuff of our lives, those elegant and not so elegant dramas created by our choices.
I recently spent a significant amount of time and energy pouring over piles of paper housing things I've written over the years in an attempt to grasp the essential meaning of life on Earth. Over decades I've collected quotes, and meaningful poems, images and artifacts from respected artists and philosophers stuffed into overfull notebooks, envelopes and boxes. I've searched and listened for truth with the ears of my heart straining to hear, and the eyes of my mind endeavoring to peer into my blind spots to see what I might be missing. Periodically I wrote up manifestos, feverishly attempting to get to the heart of our existence.
As I read through copious pages I began to sort them into like principles. What resulted was a list of, what I consider to be, the most important 12 values of life. When Dan challenged me to order the list in terms of what value was senior to the others it became clear to me that before I could be, generous or honest, for example, I had to be present. Before personal sovereignty, creativity, and care, came presence. I came to see that presence precedes all. As a light bulb brightens the room, this notion of presence illuminated my question . . . One has to be present to the natural world in order to truly honor the shifting patterns of our daily experience as occurs at the Solstice.
I come from a long line of Eastern European farming people landing in urban America less than 100 years ago. My ancestors worked the land. The call to the land is deep in my heritage and deep in my blood. I am at home on our little 5 acre hobby farm as I have never been anywhere else in my life. A natural part of having a large garden, and chickens, dogs, a horse, cat, duck and bunny flourish is simply that you have to be in touch with the movements of the natural world around you. You have to be present . . . to be attentive to weather patterns to know, for example, when to get the hay in . . . when to plant, when to water . . . when to feed the chickens their scratch before roosting to keep their energy up throughout the long cold winter nights . . . when to get tank heaters in outdoor troughs . . . and on and on. Maybe a burden to some, to me, paradise. I fall into farming as easily as falling asleep when I'm tired.
Not everyone can, or would want to have this kind of rural life. I'm someone who has dreamed about this ever since childhood growing in metropolitan Chicago. I found the natural world I craved by being present to birdsong, tufts of grass growing up through cracks in the concrete, and fireflies that flitted through the thick humidity of those sticky summer nights. Being present to the natural world is who I am.
Clearly, I can only speak to my own experience. I don't expect, or imagine anyone else would want to be like me, and yet I wonder . . . can presence be taught? What of those born differently, those thrown to the world of human action . . . the shakers and movers of our time . . . What is their relationship to presence? To the natural world?
I can say with great certainty that we all have a part in the orbital dance . . . That we are all 'tilted' in our own personal orbits, at times in balance and at extremes in others. My personal inquiry this December 21st at 3:03 pm PST is this . . . At this, the time of greatest darkness without, where lies my greatest darkness within? How, and what steps can I take every day, a little at a time, to increase the fullness of my radiance emanating from my center, my personal sun . . .
That's what this artist is thinking about today . . .
Orbital Dance