Turning the Wheel of the Year

     Winter Solstice, Dec. 21, 2010 offers a celestial sky show with a full moon and a full lunar eclipse at 29 degrees in the constellation Gemini, discernable in the Americas if the sky is clear. The eclipse will be visible after midnight PST, reaching it's maximum at 11:15 p.m. The last winter solstice eclipse was in 1638, and this one will be followed by the Ursid meteor shower.
     For those of us up reveling around bonfires and keeping  company with the longest night, a lunar eclipse is a very special event. To us the moon is the embodiment of the Goddess: Maiden, Mother, Crone. As one who celebrates holidays other than those found on the standard calendar, I wish everyone a Merry Solstice as the Goddess gives birth to the sun/son and we turn the wheel of the year once more towards the light.

Buffalo at Yellowstone © natgeographic

     This year I pay my respect to Pasowee--Buffalo Woman from the Kiowa tradition. She is a medicine woman, herbalist, and great healer. She received the sacred healing knowledge of Buffalo medicine for her tribe. Its hallmark is endurance. The crone's teepee is a place where light flourishes in the darkness, new life is protected, and inner growth and healing take place. Her time is winter when seeds lie dormant in the ground and there is opportunity for solitude and reflection.
     Tomorrow night my own tribe will gather and raise a cone of power. We will dance the spiral dance and look into one another's faces; we will turn the wheel of the year and rejoice: Light is returning even though this is the darkest hour. I will jump the bonfire for good health, love, and prosperity, and offer thanksgiving for the gift of friendship and laughter. These are the seeds I will sow this coming year. Happy Yule and Blessed Be.