Tribute to Steve Nelson’s Moon Magic, Wisdom and Celebration at Winter Solstice

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 evolution of egalitarian societies, and national aggregates (e.g. the original 12 nations / stars of the European Union, 12 nations of the Russian Federation and the 12 Nations of the new South American union). King Arthur’s Round Table is the prototype of a global Round Table of Nations to be formed in the new Aquarian Age. This cosmic Round Table turns on the pivot of the north pole of the heavens and this polar center is directly connected with the Winter Solstice.

The Yuletide season is our time to dream and shape the future year. The year is seeded during the Capricorn solstice (Dec 18-24) so events of this time hold special import. The new year unfolds its theme and story through the Twelve Days of Yule/Christmas (Dec 25-Jan 6) and the reflection wave that follows (Jan 7 – 18). Dreams of this time provide guidance for the coming year.

The New Year is born in the heart of Gaia when the northern (yang) pole of the Earth is in deepest darkness, the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere. The Yule celebration season begins with (northern) Winter Solstice and culminates on Epiphany, the 12th Day of Christmas/Yule, January 6th. These aren’t arbitrary times set by historical precedent or convention. These dates derive from the cosmic order of time and space. At each Winter Solstice a new solar cycle begins as a pulse of solar prana streams down through the magnetic field lines converging at the North Pole to unite with the heart of the Earth. The spirit of the New Year or zeitgeist is here conceived and grows through the four days of Solstice until on Christmas Day this New Light is born in the heart of Gaia. From this New Light born on Christmas Day, the Twelve Days of Yule roll out (yule means “wheel“) the New Year to Be. The 12 days of Christmas or Yuletide Dec 25 – Jan 6 represent the zodiacal year to be, this is the New Year in embryo, it is our time to dream and shape what is coming to be.

The 12 Days of Christmas / Yuletide Dec 25 – Jan 6

Yule means “wheel.” The Season of Yule is the time from Winter Solstice until Epiphany January 6th. Yuletide is more specifically the 12-day period beginning at Sunset on Christmas Day and ending at Sunset Jan 6. These 12 Days are like spokes on the wheel of the year to be. The 12 Days of Yule or Christmas are the New Year in microcosm with each day representing a zodiacal month, Aries to Pisces, in the year to come. The 12 Days of Christmas song is an astrological key: The “partridge in a pear tree” of the 1st day of Christmas is the renaissance Phoenix in the World Tree at the start of each new cycle. This day is Aries Dec 26. The two turtle doves of the 2nd day are birds of Venus, the ruler of Taurus Dec 27. Three French hens day 3 is Gemini (tarot card the Lovers). Calling Birds day 4 is Cancer, a sign of reflection. Gold rings day 5 is Sun (gold) ruled Leo, etc.

Christ, the solar logos, is born/reborn on Christmas, the Romans’ Dies Invictis Solis, “the Day of the unconquerable Sun.” Jesus, the initiate prepared to incarnate the Christ, was born on Epiphany Jan 6, according to America’s psychic Edgar Cayce. This date is recognized and celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox religion. Epiphany is the 12th Day of Christmas, the 3 Kings Day when the Magi come bearing gifts for the new born child. This is a day to exchange gifts. Epiphany means “manifestation of divinity” and it celebrates 3 magical manifestations: the birth of Jesus, the baptism in the river Jordan and changing water to wine at the wedding feast of Cana.

In ancient Egypt, January 6th, was celebrated as the Korion. It is the day each year when Kore (Persephone) gives birth to the Aeon, the sacred child of the new cycle. Interesting details of this celebration are described by Carl Jung in his book Aion, p 103-5. The wooden figure of a boy with crosses on hands and feet is brought up from a dark crypt and bathed in the Nile in the early morning of January 6, our Epiphany. (This wooden figure was very old by the time Jesus was born.) Immersion in the River Nile was customary this day when all the waters of the world were believed to be imbued with healing power.

Epiphany, the Feast of Fools, became so effective for lampooning and disempowering the established order of church and state that it was banned in Medieval Europe. The Twelve Days of Christmas observances were outlawed because this time was being effectively used to recreate the order of things in ways undesirable to the established rulers. Neglect of the 12 Days of Yule / Christmas resulted in entirely too much material emphasis being placed on Christmas Day.

The ideal time for physical gift giving is the 12th Day of Christmas, the Festival of the Three Kings. Epiphany means Manifestation of Divinity. Waters of the world are blessed and objects are imbued with mystical powers on this day. “Gifts presented at this time fix a magic power sublime.”

“Inner Christmas” 12 Holy Nights Dec 25 – Jan 6

Inner Christmas, a practice of inner renewal and development, begins on December 25 and unfolds nightly through January 6, the day of Epiphany. These are the 12 Holy Nights, a yearly time when our souls experience a unique connection with spiritual forces, the veils between heaven and earth lift and powerful inner insight and growth are possible.”  ~ Lynn Jericho Inner Christmas

The Truth About Santa Claus

“Yggdrasill, the great Ash tree, the World Tree, omphalos or navel of the world, is ‘Yggr’s steed’. Yggr is Odin; his steed, an eight-legged horse (Sleipnir) that he rides to the underworld. The eight limbs of Sleipnir are the eight spokes of the Wheel. As Plato suggests, the 8 spheres of heaven are fastened to a spindle that ‘turns on the knees of Necessity”, all things birthed by Nature revolving about the World Tree..”  – Fruits of the Moon Tree, p 77 by Alan Bleakley.

Santa Claus is a Mercurial figure much like the Norse wizard Odin who travels between worlds on his 8 legged horse Sleppnir. Santa brings gifts from the North Pole, Odin hangs suspended from the World Tree (at the north pole) to bring the magical gift of the runes.

Odin or Woden is equivalent to our Mercury. Mercurious is described as inhabiting the northern pole in Jung’s great classic Aeon. Odin’s horse and Santa’s 8 fleet footed deer represent the 8 turning points of the year marked by solstices, equinoxes and the cross quarter days. These 8 radiants or spokes of the zodiacal wheel converge at the North Pole.

Santa Claus is real and he lives at the North Pole. St Nicholas travels throughout the world on Christmas Eve to bring gifts to children. Santa enters homes through chimneys, through fire places and through the human heart.

Santa is an anagram for “Sanat.” Sanat Kumara is the presiding spirit of the Earth residing at the North Pole in an etheric city called Shamballa. This is the City of Revelation (Rev.21) on its “sea of glass” surrounded by the rainbow of northern lights (Rev.4). Humans in the Lord of the Rings call their sacred capital the White City, another name for Shamballa. The twelve stones in the foundation of this City represent the twelve signs of the Zodiac as these are oriented over the Earth. The zodiacal lines and other degrees of longitude converge at the northern and southern poles. The North Pole, the spiritual center of the world, is called the Irminsul Pillar by the Norse. This primeval Pillar or World Tree is our Christmas Tree with its bright star of promise. It is also the Tree of Life that bears “twelve  kinds of fruit, yielding one each month” (Rev.22).  Winter Solstice is the gate to the garden of the sacred city where this Tree grows.

As each soul is anchored through the light above the crown of the head (the soul star), so the soul of the world (the “anima mundi”) appears as a spiritual light above the North Pole of the world. The North Pole is the pivot around which turns the mandala of creation. Dancing or whirling clockwise (Sunwise) helps align and synchronize with the world soul.

Arrayed around the North Pole are the “seven spirits before the throne” spoken of in Revelation. These are the 7 Kumaras of Hindu tradition, the 7 Planetary Logoi of esoteric teaching and the Christmas Elves of our Santa mythology. Sanat or Santa, their leader, is the biblical Ancient of Days. Love enters our world through an alignment between Sanat Kumara and the Christ. (Initiation Human and Solar p. 44, AA Bailey). Love is the Lord of this creation and the Spring of love is refreshed in the Season of Yule. This revitalizing spirit travels from its polar source and – like an etheric electric charge – seeks out the high places on Earth finding connection with mountain tops, holy sites, standing stones, and yes, chimneys!

Christmas or Yule Trees also attract and anchor the incoming spirit of Solstice as each tree resonates holographically with the world tree of the polar axis wherein flows solar prana. The new spirit of love moves from these anchoring points, channeling through fire elementals and through human hearts to spread its magic throughout the world. Hearts opening and responding one with the other will always have a Merry Yule.

During Winter Solstice the light of the Sun is reborn in the heart of the Earth and in the heart of everyone. “Christ in us, the hope of glory” is the Christian invocation. The Druid way is to open all secret chambers to the light of the Sun at this special time. Most importantly, the rays of the spiritual Sun are allowed to penetrate our innermost hearts at this most dark and sacred time of year.

The Soul/Sol of the world is born anew at midnight on Christmas Eve.  The center candle of the advent wreath is lit, Moravians send the midnight new fire home with worshipers. Christ/Sol light is born anew in the heart of the world and of every one open to receive.

Wish/intentions for the New Year are powered through Yuletide celebration. This is a time to gather with family and friends to enjoy yuletide traditions. Celebration, simple folk customs and practices help open our hearts to the purity, love and beauty of the season.

Here are a few simple practices to help bring back the holiday magic:

* Deck the halls with boughs of holly to clear homes of astral shades. Many present day holiday customs are inherited from the Druids, the pre-eminent nature technologists of the ancient world. At the end of every cycle non-assimilable psychic energies (astral shadows) come up to be transformed, recycled or dispelled. These may appear to the psychic eye as overstuffed astral uglies which, strangely, have an inexorable urge to cast themselves onto any sharp points, e.g. holly. Folkways encode more esoteric wisdom than our books can hold. Many of these customs are easier to do than explain but in our day we often have to know why in order to do.

* Gathering around fire. Celebrate with friends and family around a fireplace, bonfire or candlelit table. Whether for “bringing back the Sun” or warming bodies and hearts, gathering around fire is a universal tradition of the season. Solar fire stored in wood through photosynthesis released now powers seed intentions for the new cycle. Christmas trees are traditionally burned on Epiphany Jan 6 to conclude the celebration.

* Singing together. Noel means “mind of God.” The root word ‘noos‘ means mind and ‘el‘ is god. French philosopher Pierre de Chardin coined the term “noosphere” for the planetary mind.  This re-inspiriting consciousness readily comes through groups singing in circle. To sing together is to breathe and inspire together. The group angel or deva formed above the center of the group in song connects each one with their higher good. So there’s reason for singing together besides the shear joy of it. Any song with which all are familiar or can be easily learned will work for group inspiration. Of course the first thing to come out when we sing together is the discord, it is really good to carry on and get the discord out, then comes the cosmic harmony.

* Dancing in circle. Carol means “circle dance song.” Yule carols were originally sung by people dancing in Sunwise circle to invoke the return of the Sun. Dancing clockwise or Sunwise causes the auric field to turn round forming a vortex of energy spinning around an axis that connects energetically with the Earth’s northern pole and the magic of Yule. As each soul is anchored through the light above the crown of the head (the soul star), so the soul of the world (the “anima mundi”) appears as a spiritual light above the North Pole of the world. The North Pole is the pivot around which turns the mandala of creation. Dancing or whirling clockwise (Sunwise) helps synchronize with the soul of the world.

* Connecting with the spirit of the north. The spring of love is refreshed during Yule each year. This revitalizing spirit travels from its polar source and – like an etheric electric charge – seeks out high places on Earth. Yule Trees attract and anchor this incoming spiritual influence as each tree resonates holographically with the world tree of the polar axis. Meditation and prayer facing north or lying head north aids alignment with the spiritual world. This practice helps to realize soul purpose for this new cycle of creation.

* Ringing bells to break shadow spells, release old stuck patterns and open to the new spirit. Jingle those bells!

This Yuletide season 21 December 2014 – 6 January 2015 is our time to dream and shape the future year. Of course what will be is shaped as much by what we do as it is by cosmic cycles. All the signs point toward 2011 being an extremely good, creative, productive and abundant year.  Just how good and how soon this all unfolds depends on what we do with the opportunities that come our way – and in how we celebrate Solstice, Yule and Epiphany. Celebration is key!

Bright Blessings to you in this joyous season!

Steve Nelson (Mythic Astrologer) with “The Shift Doctors” (Tracy Latz, M.D. & Marion Ross, Ph.D.)

-For more about Steve Nelson you may visit his webpage at www.GaiaAstrology.com. His Mythic Times wisdom is dedicated to more conscious living through the understanding of astrological cycles, global mythologies, and cross cultural celebration.

– Dr.’s Latz & Ross both have their doctorates in holistic healing, metaphysics, complementary and alternative medicine. Dr. Latz is a cell biologist and board-certified psychiatrist. Dr. Ross is a Rohun doctorate and a transpersonal psychologist. Together they have written 3 books (one a #1 bestseller on Amazon), taught at national and international professional conferences, produced >70 YouTube instructional videos, meditation CD’s and instructional DVD’s. They are both certified in intuitive development, hypnotherapy, medical qigong, crystal healing, mind-body medicine, homeopathy and energy medicine from accredited programs. Visit or opt into their website at ShiftYourLife.com to read free articles, listen to free meditations and to receive updates on their classes or events. Contact “The Shift Doctors” at info@shiftyourlife.com to have them teach or present to your conference, private gathering or group.