LISTEN TO THE SILENCE

foxinsnow

WINTER 2012 -

Here in Scandinavia it is the darkest time of the year, the days when the Sun begins travelling North again – Midwinter, a time of celebration! Asking my Teachers how to celebrate this Solstice, they answered not only my question but also deepened my understanding of how to live. They told me that this is the time to remember those who have gone on before me, not only my blood-line ancestors, but all those who have made my life possible today, from the smallest organism to the greatest ecosystem. They told me to remember them, for they are also my Ancestors, and to give them thanks for being here now.

This is the time to be quiet and listen to the silence and to remember all of those who have reached out to offer help. This is the time to stop and see how to receive that help and how to carry it further. This is the time to ask the Power of the Solstice to help and to heal those in illness and pain. This is the time to ask the Spirits to help us and to ask how we can help them. This is the time to rededicate myself to what I know my life is for and to always remember the fullness of Life.

Contemplating what they said, I am touched by what an all-encompassing gift we receive when we are born into this Life. It is our responsibility to live it fully and to share it with all those who dance with us, with all of creation, starting right here where we stand.

Listening to Mayan elders talk about the end of their Long Count Calendar – and the beginning of the next Sun - it feels to me like the beginning of a New Time. This is a time for changing into balance. We are not here to individually survive into new times. We are here to carry these new times to where they can be shared by all. Whether we give or receive, we can - and must - let the power flow through us, for none of us are in this alone and the power belongs to no one alone, but to us all.

So thank you all for the times we have shared, all the help you have given, all the help we have received. And thank you all for the times to come. What do you want for this new world, and how do you want to be? These are magical times, the days to live the dreaming. Together with the Spirits, we will find our way.

~ Jonathan ~