* Solstice Stream *
"For the observers of the Future, the greatest event will be the sudden appearance of a collective humane conscience and a human work to make." - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, 1931
I saw this Tik Tok in June that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. The Tik Tokker tells us that the Gregorian calendar, adjusting for time lost, technically has us in the year 2012 right now. The video references a now deleted tweet by scientist Paolo Tagaloguin, who claimed he was joking and the loss was only 11 days. In the time between this faux fact and the real truth, content flooded the digital sphere to create a new myth about a second 2012.
Back in the Gregorian 2012, 8 years ago, a Mayan prophecy surfaced to mass conversation about the end of the world on the Winter Solstice that year. Many interpreted this as a doomsday warning, with 1 in 10 people globally saying they experienced fear or anxiety about the world ending in 2012 according to a Reuters poll. But archaeologists in early 2012 found Mayan paintings that revealed something else entirely. The calendars on the walls had projected 7,000 years into the future. William Saturno, expedition leader of the crew that found these glyphs, told National Geographic, "We keep looking for endings. The Maya were looking for a guarantee that nothing would change. It's an entirely different mindset."
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On this Wikipedia list of apocalyptic films, there are 333 feature-length titles that have premiered since 1916 depicting end-of-world fantasies. Remember Y2K? Our obsession with endings is neverending.
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In the winter of 2012, I met my first soulmate and was relieved to know the planet wouldn’t die before we got to know each other.
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We collectively survived the first 2012, but through box office hits easing our apocalypse anxiety, NASA quelling our fears and the arrival of 2013, our cultural imagination killed the prophecy.
Yet here we are again!
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December 21st is an auspicious day. It is the shortest day of the year and celebrated by many as a returning of the light as the days start to grow longer again. Shab-e-Yalda is a Persian tradition that celebrates the birth of Mitra, the Zoroastrian angelic divinity of light. She is also the protector of truth. My family prepares platters of fresh and dried fruit and we recite Hafiz to each other on this night.
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Astrologically, the planets Saturn and Jupiter create a conjunction in the sky in what is known as the Great Conjunction. The energies of two of the biggest planets in the solar system together urge us to expand pragmatically. This has happened in earth signs in the past, with a focus on the physical realm and material accumulation. Now moving into the sign of Aquarius, these two planets enter the age of information and humanity.
“..these are the two social planets, their conjunction cycle tends to indicate the beginning of a new era in society, pointing to shifts in power and ideology. It’s a very significant and predictable cycle that astrologers have observed for millennia. Throughout history, the reigns of monarchs and the emergence of new political dynasties and even new religions have been linked with this cycle.” -Astrolab21
As mere mortals, cycles help us understand how the universe operates around us. Through pattern recognition, we can understand how things evolve socially and what lessons we still haven’t learned from. The patterns in this case intersect across multiple points of observation, so it becomes clear that the West’s interpretation of “endings” may actually be a signal for something new. Who this new era belongs to is still a question. There are whole industries who already have the next 1-2 years in production — have they acquired enough knowledge to evolve us away from the same tough lessons, or are they simply making the rules for evolution into the same k-hole?
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Many think pieces will tell us what the significance of this year is, how it will impact our behaviors, what new anxieties with fancy new names might emerge and what products we need to ease those manufactured anxieties.
The think-for-me pieces will tell us what outfits scream Age of Aquarius, the best recipes for hosting a dinner salon and how to make resolutions that help us mask the pain of the past year. Of the how-to guides, we might even see something that helps us give new life to our isolation sweat-suits by re-purposing them in a more stylistic way.
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While this era calls us to work toward collective good, there will also be polarizing forces at work. We can anticipate information overload, casual expertise, destructive (vs. constructive) criticism, columbusing of ideas and the productization of knowledge. Depending on who you are, that’s either exciting or frightening. A profiteer or a precious resource respectively.
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In December 2019 I had a few friends and my sister over to celebrate the Winter Solstice. We started our evening discussing 2010, what we remembered from each year thereafter — pop culture, politics, and then what was happening for us personally. It felt like we were in a spaceship and the stories we told were the fuel that kept us traversing the cosmos. I learned each person in that room, watched them evolve, and I felt a closeness to my sister in a way that only that day that year could allow. I pulled this excerpt from my intentions last year a couple days ago:
“This next year is of legends. Personally, I want to love myself so deeply that I plummet into myself to find exactly what I’m looking for. All these ‘answers’ I keep saying I want. I know they reside inside me and the key to unlocking them is unconditional love, inwardly directed. The same magnitude I find within will be reflected to me outwardly. I will meet someone worthy of dreaming with. Of mutual inspiration, giving and receiving. I want accelerants next year in all their forms. I will attract the access my friend Z speaks of to unlock new levels of being, loving, moving gracefully, diving sensually. I find myself in London again. I’m building all the best connections in the best way to guide me most optimally toward my destiny. I will benefit intellectually and spiritually from education opportunities. I will find assistance to resolve all the little impossible tasks that paralyze me. The interpersonal dramas dissipate and make space for deepening into what serves me in terms of family and friendships. And it’s all love. It’s ALL love! I will have more love in my heart to spare for the world. Creatively I make space for myself to develop and discover my personal practice, and naturally fall into collaboration with others. Writing, drawing, collaging, making gifts for others. Writing becomes a regular practice, and I will cultivate the foundation for a book or outward expression of my musings to blossom and resonate with people across the world. The mentors I seek will reveal themselves. Everything in moderation — I will not grasp or reach for what isn’t mine, and I will let what is mine trickle in slowly. I will not beat myself up for not getting all my solstice intentions down. I put Solstice in my pocket and take this manifesting energy everywhere.”
By reflecting on manageable shifts or intentions that create fertile soil for exceptional dreams to take root, I’ve found that my Solstice (Winter and Summer) wishes always seem to come to life. While I couldn’t have anticipated the events of this year, I am grateful for answers (in all their forms) to some of my biggest queries over this last year. Burning questions are a great place to start when working with high potency universal energy.
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The Elders of Uluru, aboriginal peoples of central Australia, have a prophecy about a “magic box” that will activate this Solstice. Uluru is a sacred site where the Originals entrusted with a special ceremony will activate a device that has the power to set humanity on an ascended path by channeling the energy of 200,000 pure hearts across other sacred sites and ley lines. These words come from the Lore Keepers, “The byproduct of a successful Ceremony will be the new era of consciousness for Mother Earth and her Children. Us. We need to ensure our focus and love is on her, Mother Earth, and on this specific intention. With a cleansed body, heart, mind, and soul the intention is: A pure love for Mother in our heart as we ask to energise the heart of Mother Earth with our love and energy.”
A collective humane conscience would be so nice to wake up to on the 22nd wouldn’t it? While forever hopeful, transitions like this take time and lots of strenuous labor. Maybe this “human work to make” de Chardin speaks of begins with the fissures in the structures, the theories, our own mental projections of the “old way.” Perhaps we aren’t dealing with an “end of times” but rather an end of time itself. So while we have 24 hours of Solstice, remember you can put Solstice in your pocket and take this manifesting energy everywhere.
~Hawa