Winter Solstice 2023

[Gilly Goodness]

Shortest day of the year. Chilly 17°C forecast.
Shall salute the sun in the East with an interpretive dance routine to Luminosity. Slow and hymnal, sublime and ecstatic. To the ancient rythms of the earth. To stir the voices of future Earth. To heal. Tikkun Olam. Spiritus Mundi!!! We are luminous!!!


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GONE THE DARK AND SELFISH WAY

[pjt]

I almost asked why you posted this today of all days, then slapped my forehead and said, d'oh.

[Gilly Goodness]

I almost asked why you posted this today of all days, then slapped my forehead and said, d'oh.

Different strokes. Enjoy your hours of extra sunshine.

Play MttS very loudly. As our druid ancestors intended. Ooops. Have I said too much?


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UPON US EQUAL SHINES THE SUN

[Drone Decipher]

Shortest day of the year. Chilly 17°C forecast.
Shall salute the sun in the East with an interpretive dance routine to Luminosity. Slow and hymnal, sublime and ecstatic. To the ancient rythms of the earth. To stir the voices of future Earth. To heal. Tikkun Olam. Spiritus Mundi!!! We are luminous!!!


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GONE THE DARK AND SELFISH WAY

Warmer in your winter solstice than it is in my summer one.

[Grey Wolf]

Summer solstice here. I was actually up for the sunrise, an unusual occurrence for me these days. I decided to skip the naked dance in the fields because they just sprayed for insects.

[Gilly Goodness]

CANBERRA SOLSTICE CELEBRATION




My two sisters may or may not have been involved. Chilly dip!!!


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GONE THE DARK AND SELFISH WAY

[downbyariver]

Shortest day of the year. Chilly 17°C forecast.

Approximately 62.6°F is chilly down there for winter time? I guess it really is mostly desert!

A lot of "polar bear plunge" events in the United States are held in northern cities in the winter time where the air temperatures can get significantly below 32°F/0°C and water temperatures even lower, with the gulf stream long gone or a long way away from arriving, depending on how you look at it.

Of course, there's no real religious significance to a polar bear plunge. It's just the most similar American thing I could think of. We don't really have many druids jumping into the water on solstices. I mean, there are probably some. I just haven't heard of the type of observances that seems to be going on in Australia.

Druidism seems to be big in the UK, too. I remember the stir when former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams was made an honorary white druid. He said in his native Wales, it was not a religious thing, but a secular honor like a knighthood. Of course, isn't being knighted the equivalent of being knighted in Wales? It seemed to give conservative Anglicans something to be mad about until we American Episcopalians consecrated an openly gay bishop and they turned their focus to us for the next 20 years or so. I wonder if it'd have helped if we had pointed out that he wasn't a druid.

[Gilly Goodness]

Once did a polar bear plunge one winter's night at a pool party. Amazin' feelin'. Knocks the air right out of your lungs. You get a rush of adrenaline. You feel alive. And then as you warm up the adrenaline drains away and you feel drowsy. Yes. I'd had a few by then.

Since Covid, there has been a surge in wild swimmin'. In rivers. Lakes. The ocean. We have a coastal swimmy culture down here. You learn to swim very young. There is a famous beach club at Bondi called The Icebergs and durin' winter the members have to swim with chunks of ice in the lap pool. Hardy old buggers. Brown and wrinkly from the sun. Bit mad.

Now. Also read today people went to celebrate at Admiralty house as that was built aligned with the solstice. Back in Colonial times. Interestin' that even architects were determined to align with these events. Not just bronze age Britons, but Georgian architects. Perhaps they still do now. I wonder?. .

Now. The days start to get longer and the sun moves a bit closer everyday. Stonehenge and New Grange were built by neolithic farmers before the Celts ever arrived. Farflung communities who would come south
and help build them with locals. Drag great stones on sleds. Float them down the river. How they got the lintels up I'll never know.

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UPON US EQUAL SHINES THE SUN

[JMKUSA]

Gilly, the winter solstice makes me think of the “across the polar night” lyric from Circles of Time. Chilly! I wasn’t as keen on that song but listened to it again today and enjoyed it. Nice touches of steel from Steve!