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TWV Presents... Popular Pagan Holidays [Show all] Views: 5,250,216 Holiday: ... Autumn: The Croning Time The Hidden God: an Observance of Samhain Samhain: A Time for Introspection---and Activism It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chri... Yuletide! Samhain Cleaning: Remembering But Letting Go The Holly King Presents Christmas's Pagan Origins The Dark Half of the Year La Befana The Path to Avalon: An Inner Journey for Samhain The Halloween Witch: Sense of Humor or Sense of Ire The Holiday Season, The Constitution and What's REALLY Important What Is A Real Witch's Sabbat? A Beltane Celebration The Beltaine Storm Spiritual Aspects of Yule Alicia Meets Grandmother Autumn: A Children’s Story Supermoms’ and Superdads’ Defense Against “Holiday Kryptonite” Lughnasadh, The Ritual Winter Solstice By Any Other Name Mabon: Preparing the Celebration For A Religion So Opposed to Paganism, You Sure Stole a Lot of Our Stuff! Mabon and the Coming of Autumn A Story For Autumn The Ostara Transformation Key Points of the Pagan Wheel of the Year A Meditation on Samhain: How Lucky You Are. The Babylonian Ghost Festival Let Slip The Past, Free The Now: The Alchemy of Samhaine The Theme of Mabon Samhain: The Ritual Samhain: Learning to Release Samhain November Days The Celtic Origins of Samhain Ostara: Enter the Light! Mabon Equinox. Circa September 21st August: Celebrating The Harvest Virginia, Get a Life. Honor The Father, Honor the Sun: A Summer Solstice Tribute Those Magickal, Mellow Days of Summer Musings On October Solstice Swim at Beach 69, Puako, Hawaii The Best Thing About Death Samhain is Ablaze with Reflections of My Father Connection To The Dead: The Meaning Of The Fall Season First Thanksgiving... in China Holiday: All ... A New Pattern Glimpsed in the Holidays We Want them Back! (A Pagan View of the Holidays) A Beginner's Guide To The 8 Sabbats How to Get the Most Out of Your Year The Wheel of the Year: Round and Round She Goes and Where She Stops! Turning The Wheel By Choice Holiday: beltaine ... INDEX: Beltane Beltane -- Holiday Details and History You Call it May Day, We Call it Beltane In Praise of Pagan Men Beltane -- Enlightening Links Beltane Essay (4) Beltaine - Our May Morn Beltane: Return To Feeling Mother Earth and Sister Moon: A Beltaine Story of Creation Holiday: imbolc ... INDEX: Imbolc You Call It Groundhog Day, We Call It Imbolc Imbolc Regained: The Tale of Valentine's Day Holiday: lughnasadh ... INDEX: Lughnasadh Lughnasadh - Overview by Christina Holiday: mabon ... INDEX: Mabon/Autumn Equinox Mabon - Overview by Christina Mabon and the Harvest in Modern Times You Call it the Autumnal Equinox, We Call it Mabon You Call it the Autumn Equinox, We Call it Mabon The Return of Harvest Home Holiday: midsummer ... INDEX: Midsummer/Summer Solstice Midsummer/Summer Solstice Solstice... Season of light and dark A Pagan Pilgrimage: The Destination in the Journey Holiday: ostara ... You Call It Easter, We Call It Ostara INDEX: Ostara Ostara - Overview by Christina Ostara - Powerful Links by Christina NOTE: For a complete list of articles related to this chapter... Visit the Main Index FOR this section.

Solstice... Season of light and dark Author: Christina Aubin [a WitchVox Sponsor] Posted: December 22nd. 2001 Times Viewed: 19,244 Solstice is the time when the sun appears to stand still in His yearly migration across the heavens. Be it in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere, the journey of the sun pauses, deliberately and when his journey resumes the tide of the year has once again begun to ebb and flow. Together we journey into separate halves of the year, very much two sides to the same coin, each coupled to the other, as Light is coupled to Dark, without Light there would be no Dark as without Dark there would be no Light -- much like we find without a path there would be no journey. Solstice is as much about the light as it is about the dark. Irregardless of where we stand, Solstice marks the time of great change, as we in the Northern Hemisphere begin our yearly accent into the light half of the year, our counterparts in the Southern Hemisphere begin their decent into the dark half of the year. Be it accent or decent, the holiday is about hope, which remains the constant from wherever we journey the Wheel and our lives, independent yet connected with hope being the beacon for all. As we begin our journey into the promise of Summer, we know that there are winter storms and gales that lie ahead, but the promise of summer lends its warmth through the coldest of days and the stormiest of nights. It is that promise, that certainty, that even in the darkest of nights, there is the promise of dawn. That in the frozen earth, there is the warmth of life. That even in the dimmest of times there is the glimmer of hope. It is that which we celebrate. The joy of hope eternal which wells from deep within the Earth Herself and Heavens above -- we are forever cradled in the endless promise of hope. The South begins Her decent into the dark, with the sweetness of summer still dancing about, we know the tide of the year has changed. Summer will fade into fall, and fall into winter. We know the dark times are coming and change abounds, the Earth will slow her rhythm and beat, and seeming stillness will set. Even in the assurance of the decent, is the promise of the accent, from light to dark to light again. Assent and descent, light and dark, ebb and flow - are imperative in the journey of life, two sides to the same coin, like North and South, East and West, light and dark, summer and winter. Times, they change and then change again, in the promise of change, is the hope of change and in the hope of change is the joy of change. The Sun makes His deliberate pause in the year, urging us to pause as well in our lives, to mark the season of change... again. Change is the constant, constant is the change, from light to dark and dark to light -- the hope is not stopping in the events from which we draw joy -- but hope is in the promise of change -- and in the ever changing change we discover the joy of life and ourselves. It is in this circular symmetry that surrounds all that is, we turn the Wheel once again -- North and South; Light and Dark; Summer and Winter, Male and Female. The seasons change and so do we. May the Blessings of the Solstice be yours, in times of light, times of dark, and all those changing times between. For wherever you pause, may you always remember that you carry with you the seeds of hope, the seeds of joy, the seeds of change to plant in the changing light of the year. Blessed Be to you and yours! We judge of man's wisdom by his hope -- Ralph Waldo Emerson Blessed Solstice! Christina Aubin 12/22/2001 Email: Christina Article Specs Article ID: 3767 VoxAcct: 5 Section: holidays Age Group: Adult Days Up: 2,894 Times Read: 19,244 ABOUT... Christina Aubin Location: North Shore, Massachusetts Other Articles: Christina Aubin has posted 26 additional articles- View them? Other Listings: To view ALL of my listings: Click HERE Email Christina Aubin... (No, I have NOT opted to receive Pagan Invites! Please do NOT send me anonymous invites to groups, sales and events.) To send a private message to Christina Aubin ... 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