“It is just before sunrise on a cold December day some three thousand years before the coming of Christ. For those crouched at the heart of the mound it must seem as though light has been banished forever. Then, suddenly, a tiny sliver of sunlight strikes the stone slab at the back of the chamber. Slowly it widens, climbs upward, illuminating a number of of mysterious carvings-circles and spirals, zigzag patterns. For the people crouched in the center of the great mound of Brug na Boine ( also known as New Grange) every symbol has meaning. But by far the greatest significance is the return of the sun itself. The light that enters the dark womb of the earth brings with it the promise of warmth and life to come.”
~ John Matthews

If you are reading this you know that, indeed, the world did not come to an end as was predicted by the Mayan calendar. I had resisted listening or reading too much about this expected event. While it may have meant something to those who had originally done the math of the world’s demise, I come from a tradition that has texts we name as sacred that seem to predict a similar experience. It seems to be that humans are predisposed to imagining that the world will end. It also seems that we are equally ego-centered enough to believe that we will be the ones who will witness its ending.

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. To the ancients who did not know what we now do about how the Universe is ordered, these dark, winter days also seemed like world ending opportunities. I dare say that some future generations will look at our worldview and think us as simplistic as we might judge those that have gone before. It is probably inevitable.

Recently I had the immense blessing of standing in the chambers John Matthews describes in the words above from his book called The Winter Solstice. Climbing into the stone pathway that led to what felt like the center of the earth, I walked with others who wanted to connect with these ancient ones who waited for the return of the light. How they knew the perfect alignment of stone, earth, horizon and sun, baffles me. And yet they did. These ancient wise ones had found a way to honor the darkness that had held them, without the benefit of electricity, without an understanding of the cosmos. And yet they created a way to wait in the deep dark for the coming of the light.

Those of us who know something of how the world rotates stood in total darkness in this chamber etched with spirals, circles and designs that prepared the way for what we now call Celtic symbols. Silence shrouded our bodies as we stood, shoulder to shoulder, strangers in search of an ancient ritual. The benefit of re-enactment allowed us to experience what those who huddled before us knew in their bones as deep holiness. We became one body breathing in expectation. Slowly, slowly one tiny shaft of light moved down the pathway we had just traveled to get to this womb of stone. Its soft brilliance traveled until it hit the stone at the end of the walkway. Our faces became bathed in a beauty of golden light. We seemed to breath in the silence, the light, the wisdom of those who knew something we moderns only struggle to understand, something held in safety in this stone home.

The sun will begin to return its light to us again as we move into the next days. Those of us in the Christian household will prepare our homes for the celebration of the Christ Child, the one we call the Light of the World. Some of us will indeed have what seems like world-ending experiences. We know of those who are already holding the depth of this at the center of who they are. We reach out trying to wrap them in the light.

Whatever our journey brings us, may we somehow know in the place where real wisdom lives that the Light will return. No matter how deep the darkness. No matter how cold the cave, how thick the stone. The Light will at some point slowly move to illumine our way.

A blessed Solstice to you all!