Over eons of time, humans have had a variety of rituals and festivals to celebrate Earth’s relationship with our mother star. Many of these were based in an intuitive wisdom that in our times science has demonstrated to be true.
In his book Hidden Heart of the Cosmos, mathematical cosmologist Brian Swimme reflects:
In the case of the Sun, we have a new understanding of the cosmological meaning of sacrifice. The Sun is, with each second, giving itself over to become energy that we, with every meal, partake of. We so rarely reflect on this basic truth from biology, and yet its spiritual significance is supreme.
The Sun converts itself into a flow of energy that photosynthesis changes into plants that are consumed by animals. So for four million years, humans have been feasting on the Sun’s energy stored in the form of wheat or sheep as each day the Sun dies as Sun and is reborn as the vitality of Earth. And those solar flares are in fact the very power of the vast human enterprise. And every child of ours needs to learn the simple truth: she is the energy of the Sun. And we adults should organize things so her face shines with the same radiant joy .( p 40,41)
So as we celebrate the solstice in either light or dark this year, let us take a moment to express some gratitude for this great energiser of life.