In the midst of our days, the stars are watching, the day-blind and the night stars, and to the extent that we are willing to consider the Earth in its true nature, as a living being with something akin to a heartbeat and a rhythmic breath, then we can enter into its rhythms and strive toward a greater harmony than what we find when we merely consider the human being as a random occurrence on an insignificant speck of dust orbiting an average star.
This is not a call to return to ancient ages or seemingly more glorious days gone by when life was simpler and the connection to environment was less impeded by human technologies, but to lift ourselves up out of the potential strife with love: love toward one another, love toward the Earth, even love toward all that rages against the noble majesty of being fully human.
This week the Sun will reach its highest hour, called its ‘solstice,’ when it will pause as though taking in the full view. At such a moment, which actually lasts about three days, it’s as though the Earth has breathed out all of its forces in a mighty blossoming exhalation toward the most high, an offering to the cosmos that says: here’s what I’ve got to give.
This happens every year, this rhythmic exchange between Earth and cosmos, while we unfold our lives in the very midst of it.
This year, there’s an interesting celestial picture surrounding the solstice. Solstice itself begins Friday evening, June 20 at 10:42 pm ET. Two days later, on Sunday, the Moon will sweep past Venus in the morning sky, then it will step into its ‘dark phase’ and come closest to Earth. On Tuesday next week, the Sun, still in its solstice pause, will meet Jupiter, and then, the Moon will come New.
So just as the Sun pauses to receive the Earth’s offering at Solstice, the Moon readies for its dark phase, when it’s time to review everything that happened in its last cycle. But it’s solstice, so we can imagine that this moment of review is not just about the last month, but includes the whole year so far, and everything that has occurred since the mighty inbreath at Winter Solstice, six months ago. The send-off into the review of where we’ve been is love, because the Moon meets Venus before it goes dark. Then, the Moon leans in close (called its perigee) while the Sun is highest up and on pause, resting in the lap of Jupiter, the planet long associated with thoughtful intelligence.
We must hold this as a possibility, that we are part of this incredible planetary system, which is a living breathing harmonious social organism, and we are asked to take a noble place within it.
So take stock. Review where you’ve been, and what blossoms you now have to offer. The dates to consider are as follows:
Solstice begins June 20 at 10:42 pm
Moon meets Venus June 22
Moon goes dark and comes closest to the Earth June 23rd
Jupiter meets the Sun in conjunction June 24th
New Moon June 25th
I offer these words of Rudolf Steiner in closing: Not by strife we overcome strife, not by hatred we overcome hatred, but strife and hatred can in reality be overcome by love alone.
