Winter Solstice
We are celebrating the winter solstice today.
Follow my thoughts about this (it is long causal chain)…
The solstice made me think of the Ancient of Days (below).
William Blake has been on my mind the last two days via Allen Ginsberg.
I read a wonderful Ginsberg quote from Andrew Sullivan yesterday that I think is apt for the winter solstice:
GINSBERG: Well, I had a sort of visionary experience in which I heard William Blake’s voice. It was probably an auditory hallucination, but it was a very rich experience.
LOFTON: This happened while you were masturbating, right?
GINSBERG: Yes, but after.
I also watched The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg last night which reminded me of Kaddish:
Dreaming back thru life, Your time–and mine accelerating toward Apocalypse,
the final moment–the flower burning in the Day–and what comes after
All of which brings me back to winter solstice as death leads to rebirth.
Take a look at Newgrange (5,000 year old passage tomb) in Ireland.
From http://www.newgrange.com/index.htm:
“Newgrange is best known for the illumination of its passage and chamber by the winter solstice sun. Above the entrance to the passage at Newgrange there is a opening called a roof-box. This baffling orifice held a great surprise for those who unearthed it. Its purpose is to allow sunlight to penetrate the chamber on the shortest days of the year, around December 21, the winter solstice.
At dawn, from December 19th to 23rd, a narrow beam of light penetrates the roof-box and reaches the floor of the chamber, gradually extending to the rear of the passage. As the sun rises higher, the beam widens within the chamber so that the whole room becomes dramatically illuminated. This event lasts for 17 minutes, beginning around 9am.”
Newgrange recorded the 2007 event: http://www.newgrange.com/webcast.htm
Brian Boyle
22 Dec 08 at 09:44