Monday, December 21, 2009

Winter Solstice on Music Monday



SOLSTICE GREETINGS!







An extract from School of the Seasons
Celebrating Yule
You should enjoy yourself as much as possible on the Winter Solstice because this will bring back light (and lightness) into the world. Different traditions mention feasting, gambling, playing pranks, giving gifts, visiting, drinking, dressing up, fornicating, putting on plays and staying up all night. During the dark of winter, invoke all the forces of pleasure and love which make life worth living.

Decorating for this festival is easy since you can use all your Christmas decorations. Evergreens and wreaths represent rebirth and the circle of life. Fill your home with candles and Christmas lights. Place them on mirrors, hang up lots of sparkly ornaments and prisms and tinsel so you can create as much light as possible.

Well now - there are activities there to satisfy all tastes. We should get to it then!
"So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - Listen!!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, fest, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!!"

(Susan Cooper, The Shortest Day).


It's also Music Monday, so: Jethro Tull backing this rare animated video: "Solstice Bells". Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull's leading light, is well qualified to sing about the Solstice. In his natal chart Sun plus 3 planets are all in Leo, ruled by the Sun!




7 comments:

libramoon said...

'tis the season

As we strive through painful cold, treacherous dark,
dodging danger, palpitating heart,
anxiety our stark true friend
Dream of this season's end in joyful meeting,
reunion, reward.
Dream loving happy family, aglow
in warming fire, festive lighted tree.
Pocket snapshot from a gentler age,
we ache to reclaim.
Raise high the revelry of feast
and frolic, space for sacred play,
miraculous day to carry like inspiring song,
a beacon through the storms
yet to rage.
Live this vision
embracing grace.




Essence

Essence, scent memory
cinnamon, pine, family
wafting incense
fragrant air
redolent of antiquity's winds.

Trailing magick's mountain meadow
Hard, sharp, cragged, creviced
Exquisitely strong, enduring, scarred,
mending, calloused, engaging
Fingertips, skin, caress manifest existence.

Rippling bells, liquid voices drip
replenishing wine. Listen.
Reverberate back to the tribal pool.
Dancing drum beats, symphonic raining rivers.
Rise and quaff the choir's song.

In ritual visualize the distant dawn.
Hearths to unseen worlds fade before Sol's majesty.
Incandescent homunculus eyes opening to flame,
krinkling sparks, glowing.
Powerful torches burn through dark imagery.

Revel in flavor, mythic piquancy.
Peppery heat, sour sorrows, exotic ebullient stew.
Wisps of buttery dreams, savory bliss,
divine delicacies,
bittersweet ecstasy.


peace, love, fulfillment


December 2009

Twilight said...

Beautiful, libramoon! Thank you for adding your lovely poetry here, it lights up the blog. :-)
I hope your own Solstice season is just as beautiful.

Wisewebwoman said...

Backatcha, T, with lights and bells and fire and joy!
XO
WWW

R J Adams said...

At the risk of appearing slightly less poetic than your previous commentators, I can nevertheless say with all honesty I shall certainly strive to feast, gamble, drink, fornicate, and stay up all night, solely to uphold these marvelous ancient traditions.

anthonynorth said...

Ah, Jethro Tull, a beautiful blast from the past. And a Merry Solstice, Yule, Saturnalia, Christmas, etc, to you.

anyjazz said...

Ian Anderson is another rock musician who didn't let the stardom success take over his life. He has several day-jobs and continues to manage his own life. Thanks for mentioning him.

Twilight said...

WWW ~~~ Thank you kindly! Likewise to you and yours. :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RJ Adams ~~~~ Yes - I thought you might, RJ!! :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

anthonynorth ~~~Thank you, AN, and the same to you and yours. :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

anyjazz ~~~ I'd almost forgotten him myself. I shall look for more of him on YouTube. I'll probably appreciate him more now than I did way back when. :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~