It’s high noon on New Year’s eve, which here in Oregon means the sun is almost due south, half-way up the curve of the sky above the horizon. I’m sitting on one of my favorite pieces of furniture, next to a south-facing window, absorbing as much of those warm rays as possible. 
There are a few holiday decorations scattered around the room – some of my “Father Christmas” figures, a small crystal Nativity, some greens and candles, and a small snowy village of 2-4” ceramic buildings with ½” high doorways that I’ve enjoyed collecting over the years.
They’ll stay up until Epiphany, January 6, following a tradition from my mother’s family of honoring the 12 Days of Christmas.  

 I woke up this morning as the first golden rays peeked through the branches of the old Douglas Fir tree outside my east-facing window - a wonderful sight after over a month of cloudy skies, torrential rains, and hurricane winds. A few days ago, at the solstice, it was too far south (and hidden by clouds) to see through my window.
Today, my first full day in my home for almost 2 weeks, has been quietly unfolding in small tasks, many of them outdoors in the glorious sunshine: sealing a leaky window, gathering some greens from the garden, filling the hummingbird feeder (after watching the hummingbird unsuccessfully test all its outlets), gathering the fallen branches off the front lawn, cleaning off some burned-on goop in the oven, putting together a few things to share as gifts while I’m gone, and, thankfully, a wonderfully cleansing shower-and-shampoo.
Breakfast was pancakes made with eggnog, a traditional holiday favorite in our family, ever since I invented them on a wintry coastal retreat where there wasn’t much else to eat. The other day I found some organic eggnog with no artificial flavoring and when I saw it in the fridge this morning I knew it was precisely the thing. I mixed it into a little gluten-free whole-grain pancake mix, with the added treat today of a handful of pecans. A little butter melted on the old cast iron griddle cooked them perfectly. With sliced oranges and a big mug of decaf coffee – who could ask for anything more delightful?
There’s a ham bone from my daughter Dawn’s Christmas dinner (which her husband cooked and I greatly enjoyed!) in the freezer and I have a few black-eyed peas stashed away – traditional New Year’s Eve fare in my mother’s family – maybe I’ll cook those up with some of the greens from the garden for this evening’s supper, and to share with folks wandering in.

Aren’t traditions wonderful? They remind us who we are and where we came from, and give us an opportunity to choose anew who we will be.  

Like most folks, I’ve picked and chosen which of the traditions I grew up with I would offer my children, or now, continue for myself. And like some, I’ve invented a few – like eggnog pancakes. Friends of mine tell of having made a pot of chili to celebrate their first Christmas together and continuing to do so for the over 40 years of their marriage, a tradition which their daughter shared with them via cellphone picture-sharing this Christmas day. Others tell of letting go of traditions that have, in the past, put so much pressure on them that the winter holidays were a time of dread, rather than peace and beauty. Good for them!

Tomorrow is January 1. Janus, the two-faced god, looks at the past and the future at the same time. This is his month. This is when we realize that much of what has happened in the past year no longer serves us and is no longer necessary, so we release it. This is also when we look forward to the year ahead, seeing with our inner eye what is possible and choosing which of those possibilities we will keep that inner eye focused on. 
For what we focus on is what we will experience. That’s psycho-cybernetics. It’s also applied metaphysics, or what Emma Hopkins called “the Spiritual Science.” It’s what’s referred to by “where your heart is, there your treasure is also,” and “keep your eye single.” Our attention, focused with feeling (good or bad), is what frames our experience. 
So, today, I’m basking in the warmth of the sun, appreciating the rain that filled my rain gauge several times over this past month, trusting that minimal damage was done to people, homes, and ecosystems in the process, feeling warm and content in my home, aware that I’ll soon be on the road working with others once again, and choosing to focus on a balanced Life of Love and Light for the year ahead.

A Blessed New Year be yours!

R

    Happy Holidays! Season’s Greetings!

May the Light that is born now expand in our hearts and lives through the years to come!

It’s Christmas Day and, like so many people in our northern latitudes, I am spending a few days with family. As in most households, the little ones are delighted with the many treats and gifts, while the adults, having barely slept last night, are doing today’s various tasks with moderation.

This being a Christian holy day and this part of my family being practicing Catholics, an overflowing church service was attended, where the appropriate carols were sung and the traditional story was told. This being a media-oriented culture and household, traditional films (like Polar Express) and music (via Pandora) have played in the background through the week. All my family being of a geekish nature, several of the gifts exchanged had references to star wars and dr. who, and books were the most common form of gift – several of which have already been read

My own spiritual path being interfaith, I’ve also helped lead several solstice-focused services and events over the past week, having honored Hanukah with my Jewish family and friends the week before. Tomorrow Kwanzaa begins among my African-American friends, and Sunday I’ll lead a service explaining it and the Greco-Roman origins of the “12 days of Christmas.”

I’ve always loved this time of year, but this year these holy days have taken on a special meaning for me. Ever since I became aware that we were in a transition from our old way of being (known variously as “the 4th world,” “the Piscean age,” “the empire” and more) to a new one (called, among other things, “the 5th world,” “the age of Aquarius,” and “the emerging culture”) I’ve seen our traditions in a new way. 

When I learned that the transition would last from late October 2011 to late October 2015, with the winter solstice of 2012 being the most highly publicized stage in the process, I began to pay careful attention to all of these traditional activities – and the threads of common meaning among them.

Fundamentally, across the many holy days, this is the season of the return of the Light, of contrast between apparent darkness and the reality of continuing (even when barely visible) light. 

This is, for all of us, a time to slow down and pay attention to the world around us – the wild storms and quiet beauty, the appearance of destruction and the renewal that follows, the long hours of dark and somber skies with the occasional break thru of brilliant light from the sun, moon, or stars.

This time of year is also, for many traditions, the end of one cycle and the beginning of a new one, a time when we acknowledge that new beginnings are possible – essential even. While calendars based on the moon begin at other times of year, calendars based on the sun begin when dawn and sunset once more begin their northward journey along the horizon, as the earth’s angle of rotation and revolution bring the far northern latitudes out of the shadow once more. Old ways are released so new ones may take their place – in our thoughts and actions, as well as our calendars, and the new way of being has long been represented as a newborn child – Chronos, the son of the Sun, the Christ – reminding us of love and light.

According to the ancient teachings, 2000 years ago the age of Pisces, the fish, replaced the age of Aries, the ram. At that time Julius Caesar’s protégé declared himself Augustus, Emperor of Rome, and established the Pax Romana – ending war and piracy around the Mediterranean. A new religion emerged then, based on the fulfillment of prophecies in the Hebrew scriptures, the first writings to tell us of a future different from the past. New technologies made travel easy and new ideas spread quickly – it took about 75 years for the new ways to be established, and Europe and the Americas are still living in the remnants of the Roman empire.

50 years ago a new generation, born out of the ravages of a worldwide war, reached maturity. They saw the devastation of that war and called upon the world to “make love, not war”. They saw the devastation being wreaked upon the water, air, and soil and called the world to celebrate our natural resources rather than exploit them for profit. They saw the heartbreak of social norms that forbade authentic wisdom and emotion and called for all to question authority. They saw a political process that was driven by money rather than the ability to lead and called for a true democracy. They saw, and participated in, the breakdown of racial barriers in institutions across the continent. It was the “dawning of the age of Aquarius” and both prophecy and forecast tell us that what they stood for then will become the norm by 2040, 25 years from now, and, like the innovations of Emperor Augustus and the Christians, will probably affect life on earth until about the year 4000.

In the past year we’ve seen the beginnings of the shift. They’ve showed up as, most visibly, great climatic changes. These changes alone will drive us to live and think in different ways. The people who live from their hearts and use their hands and heads wisely will thrive, while those who depend on authority to take care of them may lose much, as lands are flooded.

We’ve also seen a widening gap between those who choose to live for money or power and those who live in alignment with their heart’s knowing. Right now it looks like an income gap, a great divide between the “haves” and the “have nots,” but that is an illusion – what the “haves” have is numbers in a computer and pieces of printed paper with nothing to back them, but which give them access to some resources. What the “have nots” have is skills and loving relationships that will keep them going, regardless of what happens to those numbers or pieces of paper. This is the wisdom of the “red neck” who builds a home and family in a community with skills learned from previous generations; it’s the organic farmer, the eco-forester, and the “hippy gardener” who are learning these things for the first time.

We’ve seen the breakdown of “modernization” in many lands, especially among the Muslims who feel attacked by westerners who have come into their lands with bomb-dropping drones and feminism and demands that they create a “modern” government that will work with western governments. We’ve seen aboriginal, indigenous peoples take a stand against the environmental degradation and imposition of economic and social restrictions by the “modern” western governments who took over their lands. We’ve seen people seek popular support for the most powerful leadership position in the world who have no training, experience, or education for the job, but speak clearly and harshly about what’s wrong and what should be done and so win the minds of fear-filled people.

But when the darkness seems to surround us, we need to remember: the seeds of a brighter way have been planted. The apparent dark of winter has been covering them, but a new light has been born: the daughter/son of the Sun, the Christ-consciousness, the One Mind of humanity, the Light of Love. And this new light is calling us into the next stage in humanity’s development.

A few years ago, as I came to understand all of this, I was compelled to write a book, which I called Make the World Go Away. In it I laid out the process that I and my students have used to help us leave behind ways of thinking and acting that no longer work for our well-being and that of the world, to replace them with new thoughts, new patterns of action that lead us to light- and love-filled lives. It was my way of helping the seeds of the new way of being to germinate.

So today, as the changes we’ve anticipated for years begin to be felt, I sit here on this dark night of December, aware that behind those clouds a full moon is rising and that many people I care about have felt the unexpected warmth of sunshine this afternoon. I understand what’s happening in the world around me and I know what I need to do…

… focus on the Light of Love in, through, and as all that is, always.

Anything less will bring forth more appearance of darkness. Anything more is impossible.

May you know, always, the Light of Love that is your life, your peace, and our shared inheritance.

Blessings always,
   R