Solstice - Equinox - DNA - Shaktipat

[Guest guest]

Some reasons why the Shaktipat is now only offerred on the Soltice

and the Equinox. The bathing and the bonfires and the honoring of the

Divine Female and the Divine Male would be most appropriate during

the seven days of the Shaktipat if you canfind a clean river or lake

or creek

or the Ocean or your swimming pool. Anyway you can work it out for

your experience. This

isnt required just helpful. The Shaktipat is as a merging of many

opposites including the past and present by awakening the Kundalini

flow in a person. By doing these ancient rituals we are joining past

and present. Honoring those that sleep in our DNA. - blessings -

chrism

 

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Solstice & Equinox

 

Connection to the earths early cycles are subjects that have not

been satisfactorily researched.

Here are some astronomical events that have been

used to mark holy days in many different religions for thousands

of years. Celebrating these events recognizes both the

continuity of humanity over thousands of years and how humans

have progressed from the simple agrarians who depended

upon astronomical sightings for their survival.

Winter Solstice

 

The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, with

the sun at its lowest and weakest. In the Northern Hemisphere

it usually occurs around December 21st. In pagan Scandinavia

the winter festival was the Yule, celebrated by burning

the hearth fires of the magically significant Yule log. In the

Celtic Druid culture the Winter Solstice was celebrated by

hanging sacred mistletoe over a doorway or in a room to offer

goodwill to visitors.

 

 

Germanic tribes decorated a pine or fir tree with candles

and tokens. The Inca held midwinter ceremonies at

temples that served as astronomical observatories like Machu

Pichu. Romans celebrated this event with Saturnalia, a festival

of merrymaking, and decorating their homes and temples with

holly and evergreens. Also popular was the exchange of small

gifts thought to bring luck on the recipient.

In the fourth century AD, Christian authorities in Rome

attempted to eliminate the pagan festivities by adopting December

25th as Christ's birthday.

 

Celebrate the Winter Solstice with

these ancient customs, recognizing our links to the rest of

humanity, past and present.

 

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Spring or Vernal Equinox.

 

In the Northern Hemisphere the Autumnal Equinox,

occurs around September 23rd or 24th. It is also known as

Michaelmas, Mabon, and Harvest Home.

Traditionally the Japanese marked the spring and fall

Equinox with higan, a seven day period in which they remember

their ancestors by visiting the family grave, cleaning the

tombstone, offering flowers and food, burning incense sticks,

and praying.

 

The Polish Feast of Greenery involves bringing

bouquets and foods for blessing by a priest, then using them

for medicine or keeping them until the following years harvest.

The Roman celebration of the Fall Equinox was dedicated

to Pomona, goddess of fruits and growing things.

 

A

feast was celebrated with a traditional well-fattened goose,

which had fed well on the stubble of the fields after the harvest.

Another tradition of the Autumnal Equinox is the use of ginger.

All manner of foods seasoned with ginger are part of the day's

menu from gingerbread to ginger beer.

 

In England, the last sheaf of corn harvested represented

the `spirit of the field' and was made into a doll. Corn

dolls were drenched with water representing rain or burned to

represent the death of the grain spirit.

 

 

Large wickerwork figures were also constructed to

represent a vegetation spirit and burnt in mock sacrifice.

Farmers and merchants gathered at fairs. Often a large glove

was suspended above the fair, symbolizing the handshake of

promises and openhandedness and generosity.

The tradition of celebrating the end of summer with a

'burning man' has been enthusiastically revived in the US as a

festival of performance art and creativity. Participating in your

own burning man celebration is a powerful way to connect with

humanity, past and present.

 

 

Easter, and St. Patrick's Day, occurs in the middle of March in

the Northern Hemisphere. It marks the beginning of Spring

and the time when days and nights are of equal length.

Megalithic people on Europe's Atlantic fringe calculated the

date of the Spring Equinox using circular monuments constructed

of huge stones. Germanic tribes associated it with the

fertility goddess Ostara.

 

 

The Mayans of Central America still gather at the

pyramid at Chichen Itza, which was designed to produce a

shadow on the Spring Equinox. The Ancient Saxons held a

feast day for their version of the fertility goddess, Eostre, on

the full moon following the Vernal Equinox. Eostre is associated

with the symbols of decorated eggs and hares.

Ancient influences from the worship of the goddess

Ostara or Eostre have persisted in the form of fertility symbols

of Easter eggs and the hare or rabbit. By the use of these

symbols of spring, rebirth, and fertility we reinforce our connection

to humanity's past.

 

 

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Summer Solstice, sometimes known as Midsummer,

Litha, or St. John's Day, occurs around June 21st in the

Northern Hemisphere. It is a celebration of the longest day of

the year and the beginning of Summer. The first (or only) full

moon in June is called the Honey Moon. Tradition holds that

this is the best time to harvest honey from the hives and was a

popular time to get married because of the events association

with fertility gods and godesses. Harvests of St. Johns Wort

were used in potions and woven into garlands to decorate and

protect houses and domestic animals.

 

 

Slav and Celt tribes celebrated Summer Solstice with

huge bonfires and people would jump over the embers for

luck. In Scandinavia women and girls ceremonially bathed in

rivers. In Portugal, people say that St. John's Eve water possesses

great healing power. Before dawn both cattle and

young children are bathed in rivers or dew, to ensure health

and strength. In Russia, the Summer Solstice celebration is

called Kupalo. Kupalo comes from the verb kupati, to bathe.