Hey everyone,
We love getting to spend a little bit of time with you.
This is my friend Barry.
My name is Stacey and Barry and I were talking about things that happen in the winter which surprisingly brought up a conversation about light.
What do you think about when I say light Barry?
I think light in the winter is especially about lighting inside and flashlights,
Candles sometimes,
Just bonfires sometimes throw off light so there's kind of ancient types of light and then there's our modern light which is the light bulbs and the light that we have inside.
That's true.
Do you ever use your phone as a flashlight Barry?
I do,
I do at the big concerts I do that yeah.
Yeah so there is a reason that in the month of December in the Northern Hemisphere people talk about light during the month of December and it's because something very real happens called the winter solstice.
So to talk about the winter solstice what you need to picture is something to do with what?
Well the Sun it's an astronomical event that has to do with the Sun and the Earth and the Earth's relationship to the Sun.
That's right so I have a big ball this blue one and that is going to represent the Sun and then I have a smaller ball and picture that as the Earth.
So the Earth goes around the Sun right and the Earth also turns as it's going around the Sun and it tilts a little bit as it's going around the Sun so there are times during the year when depending where you live on the Earth you're gonna have a lot more daylight or you might have a lot less light and the winter solstice is that important day when it has been the darkest that it will be and all of a sudden it starts to get brighter and you may have noticed this because maybe when you get up in the morning it's a little darker or when you go to bed it's already darker there's a lot more darkness going on.
Well this is an ancient thing because people are going through the winter time in this time of darkness and they're wondering when is it going to be bright enough that we can start planning our crops and that we're gonna have more Sun and so they observed when was that time when things started to get lighter and that's what the winter solstice is is that that moment that that sunrise on that day when things are going to start getting lighter from then on that's what it's about.
It's pretty cool to think how ancient this is like for how many thousands of years people have actually been paying attention to this particular day the winter solstice.
Yeah.
Imagine what it would be like if you were living a long time ago and you had the days getting darker it might be really cold and snowy as well and you would have had to prepare for that all of that cold and snow and darkness and then all of a sudden those days started to get a little longer.
Yeah.
I think you would feel that in your body and your heart not just in observing the light outside.
Yeah there's well there's a real spiritual component to it of that that that time of darkness is kind of when we go inside and ignite that light within us that spiritual light within us and I think that's why we feel that the time in in the winter when it's great to light a candle to really recognize the spiritual light that's in our homes and in our hearts during during the darkness of winter and just knowing that the lights coming I think that's a great thing.
That's true.
So the winter solstice that is we talked about ancient been around for a long time and there that is one of the reasons that so many different cultures and religions have stories and celebrations and holidays that really honor this particular time this winter solstice time it's something that really no matter where you are you can relate to.
Yeah yeah.
All right so there's actual light we're talking about actual light actual daylight but there's also the spiritual light that goes with this right that place that you can feel it might be in your heart we call it jumping the center that center where spirit lives and that you can really feel that renewal at the solstice as well.
Yeah absolutely absolutely and I think that's why that's one of the reasons that we love candles and there's so many candles around Christmas time in all the different spiritual traditions people like candles because they've they've been in the darkness and they're moving towards the light and I think it's it's an ancient thing but we can still feel it in our world today we can feel it when the place when things around us are getting darker and we can feel when that light starts to come on too.
That's true.
All right Barry we have an affirmation that goes with the solstice.
I am always in the light.
I am always in the light.
I am always in the light.
I am always in the light.
And remember that's true for you you are always in the light.
All right friends talk to you again soon.
Bye bye.
