There is a palpable void in Charlotte, NC since the physical loss of our dear friend, Mythic Astrologer and guest blogger Steve Nelson.That being said… there is also an energetic fire created by Steve’s transition to the spiritual realm. Those of us close to Steve have sensed his presence in a more intense way in meditations of late. He was a bright Light in our community. a celebrationist extraordinaire with an uncanny ability to weave myths and spirituality together from all cultures – and he continues to leave a trail of Light for others to follow if you take a moment to go within and listen closely.
We are gathering together much of Steve Nelson’s wisdom, teachings and stories that we have so that we can find a way to share it to those who loved his gifts to us all as well as for those who had not been acquainted with his unique abilities to weave wisdom from various cultures. If you have some of Steve’s teaching, wisdom or information that you believe should be included in this collection, please let us know – you may forward it to us at info@shiftyourlife.com. Steve created a large community in our area as well as online with his posts, celebrations and teachings. He would want us to keep that community strong! We had our last planning meeting with him 10 days prior to his sudden health decline to embark on a new collaborative venture together to share ancient wisdom in a new way – while that project is thus far incomplete, we believe we can honor his intentions by assisting with spreading his information in the world as much as possible.
To that end, at this time of year he would share his wisdom regarding the Winter Solstice – in his own words:
Light returns on Winter Solstice for a New Year on planet Earth. At Winter Solstice the Druids celebrated their “Festival of Liberation,” a time when the soul is set free to dream a new world. This “day out of time” belongs to none of the 13 Druid tree months but stands apart as the Day of Mistletoe. The “golden bough” or Mistletoe is gathered on this day. Mistletoe symbolizes the Sun for the Druids and it is sacred to the Norse Sun god Baldur. By tradition mistletoe prefers to grow on lightning struck oaks and in places of natural power. The gathering of mistletoe on this day may be seen as a clever way to have people be in places of power at this special time. Gathering mistletoe on its day (Sunday December 21st this year) brings us to be in a location where soul liberation can more readily occur and the path before us can be made clear.
Winter Solstice is considered especially auspicious because whatever is seeded this day determines the nature of the year. The Druid calendar year is 13 months of 28 days, a total of 364 days. Winter Solstice, the “day out of time“, is the “day” of the magical “year and a day.” This 13-month calendar appears symbolically as 13 stars with 28 rays over the eagle on the U.S. dollar bill. Much of America’s symbolism comes from Masonic tradition and a good part of this in turn derives from the Druids. Such is the ancient gnosis coded into our western world. In truth the Druid wisdom was not vanquished but was internalized in our culture and the internal is closer to the eternal than are external forms.
Solstice means “still standing Sun.” Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere sets the course of the New Year on Earth. Winter Solstice is a moment in time (6:03 pm EST, 11:03 pm GMT Sunday Dec 21) and it is a 7-day period (Dec 18-24) when the Sun appears to rise and set at approximately the same points on the horizon. During this time the limb of the Sun touches the Tropic of Capricorn the lowest point in the annual cycle. Winter Solstice is to the year as the New Moon is to the lunar cycle. These cycles have similar phases so just as a new lunar cycle becomes conscious and viable when the crescent appears on the evening after New Moon so the New Year spirit or zeitgeist becomes conscious on Epiphany Jan 6.
Sunrise and Sunset are important times during the days of Solstice and megalithic structures throughout the world align with these times. Only during Winter Solstice does the rising Sun strike the deep interior wall of New Grange, a great megalithic chamber north of Dublin. Only on Winter Solstice does the rising Sun fully light the interior of Calendar One, a megalithic stone chamber in southern Vermont. In Washington DC the Winter Solstice Sun rises along Pennsylvania Avenue to illuminate the Capitol Dome. These alignments were created more for their energetic effects than astronomical symbolism.
Mithras, the Persian god of Light and guardian against evil, was born in a rocky cave at Winter Solstice. King Arthur was born in a great stone castle high on a bluff on this darkest of nights. Arthur’s Round Table of 12 Knights has become a template for the [Read more…] about Tribute to Steve Nelson’s Moon Magic, Wisdom and Celebration at Winter Solstice
