I approach this winter solstice in a kind of blindness. Some say that huge celestial alignments will birth an age of partnership. I'm all for it, and many people plan to celebrate.
The work of this moment is in darkness, and the preparation is about letting go. For us to step into newness means stepping out of old paradigms. Continuing to tweak the old will not crack open new possibilities. Being at a turning point does not mean the new path is clear, nor the destination. And we don't always perceive turning points, especially when they are on a huge scale.
I'll continue the work of personally downsizing and of pursuing spiritual growth, but I am open to new perspectives to hasten and guide me. Letting go does not mean dropping or throwing away. (We all know there is no "away.") It means opening my hands, accepting that I cannot possibly be in control of the outcomes. Tightening up and clenching is counterproductive, no matter how strongly I desire a particular outcome or for how many years I've held a habit or conviction.
Deena Metzger writes profoundly on this 2012 winter solstice event:
Our very sun, around which we circle, will be, with other planets, in a direct alignment with this dark hole, this place of birth and death, the heart of the universe, at 3:12 am on December 21st. The light of the sun aligned with the dark at the center.
Or so it is said.
How will we meet the demand? How will we meet the Heart of the Universe? How will we step out of our involvement and enchantment with the details of our own little lives, the bloody sacrificial altar to which we have been relentlessly bringing the earth, so as to meet this sacred challenge, the great possibility of our collective and community lives?
Everyone who is reading this is has been met by spirit and called to some awakening.
How will we treat and take care of each other, human and non-human, and the earth in the 5th world?
She acknowledges the death and violence that are so prevalent, which are all the more reason to be open to this time of change. Can we fully awaken to the depth of violence and corruption in contemporary consumer culture? Can we get more honest about the disconnections, isolation and pain of American culture that are devastating to people and to the planet? No one is safe; no one is truly free in a society that translates everything into money and power.
At the recent World Congress of Religions 2012, the audience was reminded of the need for spiritual perspective and balance. We each individually need to shift our thinking away from greed, ego, and self-centeredness towards a more compassionate understanding of how we are all interconnected with all of life. There are many spiritual tools for this.
Interconnected thinking is not new; what if it got magnified intensely now? Can we popularize the work of designers such as William McDonough who advocates the idea of "cradle to cradle" planning to "remake the way we make things"? Check out his TED talk.
It is essential to respond to painful realities with creative action. For one inspiring example, check out Trebbe Johnson's project Radical Joy for Hard Times that finds and makes beauty in wounded places.
What if the universe is conspiring towards a great turning? What if we decide to act as if that's true? There is reason to hope, to awaken, and to be open to a new alignment. Blessed be.