Tonight is the Third Night of Our Global Solstice Sun-Wreath Circle

We begin to know the immensity of our heart-mind, and how it helps us to move beyond fear. What had isolated us in private anguish now opens outward and delivers us into wider reaches of our world as lover, world as self.
~ Joanna Macy, The Work that Reconnects

Tonight, Dec. 11, is the third night of our Solstice Sun-Wheel Prayer Circle.

This working is intended for all spiritual paths.  The Christian church calls it the Advent wreath, which was simply handed down from much older Pagan Advent celebrations.

Each candle can be symbolic of principles important to Christianity: The first candle is traditionally the candle of Expectation or Hope (or in some traditions, Prophecy).  The second is frequently the one that represents the Bible and the wisdom handed down across the centuries. The third (usually a pink candle), represents the Joy of the impending birth.

If you are neither Pagan nor Christian, I urge you to participate anyway!  Simply assign each candle a meaning that is important to your faith or world view (you need not even be religious!).

This is the prelude to a moment that has been celebrated since prehistoric times, by people of every culture. The dawning of the Winter Solstice and the re-birth of the Light is coming to all beings across the Northern Hemisphere, no matter what they believe about it!

If you have chosen to use the Elements as your template for the work, here are some suggestions for tonight’s ceremony.

Tonight, gather with your loved ones, or alone, ideally around sunset. Ground and center yourself, or create sacred space in whatever way is right for your practice. Turn out the lights where you are, and have your wreath, candles and lighter ready.

In the twilight, consider again (as you did on Nov. 27) the fears that might be associated with the Element of Air: knowledge, information, understanding, communication. Light the candle for East and see, know and forgive the ways those types of fear exist.

Then, move to the next candle that you lit last week – the candle that represents the Element of Fire, the direction of South, or for our Christian friends, this candle often represents the Bible, the principle of knowledge, or the manger in Bethlehem.

In what ways do the matters associated with this candle, when out of balance, create fear in our world? And in what ways do you send your prayers for them to be healed? As you send out your hope for blessings, light this candle.

Tonight’s Candle

This brings us now to the third candle, which we are lighting tonight for the first time. This candle is for West, the Element of Water.

Pagans know that Water is the Guardian of our emotions, intuition, empathy, compassion and is sacred to Autumn and the setting Sun.

As we contemplate our unlit candle, we might consider the fears, distortions, and untruths that flow through our hearts and our world. How do our emotions, and especially the manipulation of our feelings, create suffering for our human family? How does the elusive nature of Joy or the emphasis on the pursuit of happiness create trouble when out of balance?

And of course, there is the matter of the waters of our world.

This year, many of us have endured another bout of frightening, devastating drought. The rains that usually cleanse our cities and lands, that feed our crops, that strengthen our forests, that provide home to countless habitats failed this year.  Parched, cracked Earth cried out; wildfires where there once were fields obliterated homes and farms.

For others, the rains were too much.  Torrential and destructive, they dumped terrifying, unprecedented floods that swept away property and lives.

And we will never forget the ghastly images of the tsunami wiping out tens of thousands in northern Japan.

Meantime, thanks to global climate change and explosive population growth, access to safe drinking water is an endangered resource.

Did you know that only one percent of all the water on our planet is drinkable?  The World Health Organization reports that about 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. That means – no access. Contaminated water is one of the biggest killers in the world, with young children most at risk.

Add to that the fact that, at more than $1 trillion each year, the U.N. and World Health Organization estimate water is the world’s third largest industry (just behind electricity and oil), and is the most-traded commodity on Earth.

The rampant greed that is at the heart of so much suffering is very much focused on the commoditizing of water. In developing countries around the world, giant corporations like Bechtel and Halliburton are buying up the local water sources and then selling it back to the impoverished residents who live there!

As you consider these truths, honor the many feelings that flow through you. If this brings you sorrow, give thanks, for you are alive and you care!  If you do not feel despair at times, you are not paying attention, and dangerously out of touch.

Owning our pain for the world is absolutely necessary.  It is our sorrow, the feelings of our heartbreak, that provide the fertile ground for healing and hope. Without them, no change is likely.

So when you are ready, with clarity and compassion, light your candle.  Let this light chase away the shadows that darken your heart.

Notice and give thanks for all the ups and downs of our emotions. They can be tumultuous at times and strangely prescient. They open our hearts and sometimes break them, bringing cleansing tears and joyful laughter. What a sacred gift it is to feel our feelings, even when it hurts!

As you gaze upon this wondrous addition of light to the wreath before you, consider the life-giving blessings of Water.

See in your mind’s eye the beautiful rains when they come gently, in balanced abundance.  Give thanks for the incredible gift of turning on a tap at your home, and having clean, pure, hot and cold water pour forth. Such luxury was beyond the imagination of gilded pharaohs and emperors of old!

Remember Mama Ocean in your thanksgiving – the Mother of us all, the ever-restless, changing, flowing source of all life on our blue planet.

Know that the river of tears and joy is a deep, ancient one that defines our humanity.  It gives us the motivation and possibility of the true, deep, lasting transformation we so desperately need.  May its light heal the fear, the hurt, and all of our troubled waters.

Gaze now at your three dancing flames and call upon the powers of these Elements or Gifts of Spirit, to heal and bless. Tonight, it becomes truly clear that the birth of the shining Child of Promise, and the renewal of Life, is on the way!

When you are at peace, and the time feels right, going backwards from Water, to Fire, to Air, gently extinguish your candle.

Blessed be!