Celebrating Light

I'm a spiritual vagabond. Yes. I admit it out loud and in public. My defection from traditional religion, started early. At ten I could recite mass by heart while the priest read it out of a book. I found little or no sacredness in the rituals but, as a saving grace, loved the music and sang in the choir for many years. Today, my belief structure is a cosmic soup of shamanic-wiccan-pagan Buddhism and ideas that freely roam beyond any tradition. However, this medley becomes extremely awkward when trying to find meaning in those compulsory, statutory holidays that, I find, are founded on old paradigms and outdated symbology. When it comes to holidays, I prefer to celebrate the natural rhythms and magic of Mother Earth over Santa any day.

For spiritual nomads like me, it is consistently difficult to enter and enjoy the most celebrated holiday in our modern culture: Christmas. Despite the fact that a large segment of the population does not observe this Christian celebration, there is an arrogant assumption among the celebrants that everyone is supposed to be automatically happy. Individuals who have their own reasons for not acknowledging Christmas are constantly being told to "have a merry one." This attitude presents an unrealistic expectation that everyone should indulge in merriment, regardless of faith or secular persuasion. It is a strong argument that this pressure to experience joy on demand is a major factor in the crescendo of depressions and suicides every December.

Regardless of religious affection, all spiritual paths are paths to enlightenment. In this regard, drawing on the wisdom of traditional spiritual practices as well as personal experiences, we would do well to celebrate the one thing that human beings have in common..OUR LIGHT. After all, it's important to focus on the love that draws people together rather than on an ideology that pulls people apart.

If we want to honour our Light, a good starting point might be one of the oldest seasonal festivals: Winter Solstice. For about six days in late December the Sun appears to rise and set at almost exactly the same places, it appears to be 'standing still'. The word Solstice means 'standing still sun'. The northern hemisphere is leaning furthest away from the sun making our daylight shorter and putting the sun in it's lowest arch in the sky, giving us shorter days and longer, darker nights.
Solstice itself, transcends religious ideology, it is a simple astronomical fact and it was celebrated by ancient people everywhere in the world for some 1,600 years before the birth of Christ. Christians were quick to appropriate the ancient festivals into their own calendar of holy days. Christmas was deliberately timed to coincide with Winter Solstice because they are both times to celebrate the birth of light and to affirm our hope for renewal of the world. Many of the familiar Christmas traditions have more to do with Winter Solstice than with Christian doctrine. Mixing the two served to popularize the Christian festival as well as preserve some of the ancient Solstice traditions.

Festivals are times of singing, dancing and laughter. They are times when the child inside each of us is allowed to come out and play. They are times when old and young find a bond. They are times when we return to the simple truths at the heart of life.

I envision a seven day festival starting on Winter Solstice. Why a seven day festival? Well, I believe there are seven qualities to our inner shining. Seven is a number that, throughout the world, is associated with spirit, wisdom, sacredness and wholeness. It is the most frequently mentioned number in all our planet's spiritual as well as historical documents. Seven levels are universal. For instance, there are seven waves of light (gamma, xray, ultraviolet, visible, infrared, micro and radio), seven chakras with seven circles of sound, seven colours in the rainbow, seven notes in a scale, seven endocrine glands in the body, seven holes in the human head. There are many more examples that would surely fit an entire page.
Relative to our inner light, we might say there are seven specific qualities. Giving a name to each essence is a delicate exercise. Many of us search for words and labels for experiences as if, by giving them a name, we make them more real. Sometimes, by the very act naming, we rob some of its authentic essence and render it meaningless. All words have an energy. So often we use words callously, tossing them out into the world and creating a clutter of verbiage which, in the end, does not serve us but leaves us frustrated. However, if we pay attention to the energy of our words, they become a powerful means to express a particular essence. Love, is a word tossed about quite regularly. Close your eyes and feel the word love. Say it out loud. Feel it inside of you....it’s there. That’s what we yearn for and when you can find that in yourself, you can find it in anyone or anything.

It could be said that Inner Light is characterized by Love, Bliss, Wisdom, Peace, Freedom, Creativity and Unity. During the seven day festival, there could be wondrous things to celebrate, including Christmas for those who chose to. However a person chooses to honour this cycle, the most important thing would be to remember the seven qualities of Inner Light and to emulate them in whatever way is comfortable. One possible ritual, if you wish to celebrate your inner light amongst friends and family, is to write the seven qualities of Light on pieces of paper. Place them in a container and pass it around, each person taking one. Going around the circle, have each person express the quality they have chosen.

Another idea, if you choose to do this ritual on your own, is to take one day for one quality throughout the seven days. Spend some contemplative time each day on that quality. You can mark the occasion by lighting a candle and reciting something like: "I honour my inner light by bringing 'wisdom' into my life in the present moment." Write down your thoughts on each quality and save it. The next year, repeat the ritual and, on the last day of the festival, go back to your thoughts of the previous year and note how your perspective has changed and grown in that year.

Another possible Solstice celebration is to honour the birth a different spiritual master or the emergence of a personal miracle for each day. Use your creative imagination and have fun. Ritual is the act of consciously opening ourselves to the presence of Spirit and puts our lives in perspective. Ceremony is our opportunity to personalize that connection. We can each approach it in different ways, using different tools and settings, borrowing from diverse traditions and creating a little of our own imagination cooking up a ceremonial concoction that fits our unique being.

However you choose to celebrate your light this holiday season, I wish you much love and light. May you glow brilliantly. Blissings.

© 2002 Anny Fyreagle