Winter Solstice

It's the longest night of the year, a time of cold and darkness filled with memories of starlight gleaming on snow.

For many pagans, Samhain (see my post of 11/1/08) is the ending and beginning of the year. For many reasons, I prefer the Yule, the Solstice as my year end.

And with this, I end my discussion of SECS, and CDIP, and SLoBiND/SLoDBN, and all discussion (for now) of theory, mine and others.

Over the years, I have come to a rather idiosyncratic understanding of the holidays. While I end the year on the solstice, much of the world (especially the society around me) doesn't begin the year for another 11 days--so I have come to regard the time between the solstice and 'New Year's Day' (Jan 1st) as a time out of time, a magical little season for stepping back and taking stock of what happened in the old year and what might happen in the new.

So, before I launch into my next segment of things that might be helpful to Bodhisattva Revolutionaries and Social Alchemists (preview of coming attractions--I plan to focus on American history), I intend to use this time to review a few books, related to ideas I talked about in my first segment, that I only found or got to while I was working on my own theories in the second segment.

This might also be a time to reveal a little bit about the 'man behind the curtain'. I intended this blog to be a social change, not about me, but, as it often happens, bits of me have leaked out--and where they haven't, assumptions have been made.

First of all, there is a man behind the curtain. For those who have assumed I was female, my apologies. I didn't deliberately intend to mislead (or at least not wholeheartedly), but at least a couple of people thought I was a woman--which, while it gratifies me in some ways, it isn't fair to lead anyone on. The internet seems to offer the promise of being able to float, genderless, above it all, but I am gendered. Not only that, but I also have kept my age somewhat hidden--although anyone who paid close attention might figure that I'm not young. The truth is that I am in my late fifties--for anyone who thought that MoonRaven was a young woman, sorry. There's an aging man here.

Much of my life situation has also changed since I started this blog. I began it when I was working part-time on a job that allowed me to work on the computer when it wasn't busy. Now I have a busy, full-time job and little time to keep this going. So I am discontinuing the 'Word (or phrase) of the day' and my 'Hero(es) of the day'. It was fun when it started, they have become a lot of work, and I don't know how many people have found them particularly useful. (I do intend to keep the 'Quote of the day', however.) I am also decreasing my posting from every other day to once every three days, with the warning that I may decrease it more.

Finally, one sad change in my life. My mother, who taught me so much about love and caring for others, died recently. I want make her my final Hero of the day and dedicate this post to her. One of my siblings mentioned how much they learned from her and I said that I am still learning from her. (For your love and compassion and cheerful nature, as well as teaching me to do what I believe is right, thank you Mom. You were a wonderful mother.)


Quote of the day: "Light is returning, Even though this is the darkest hour, No one can hold back, The dawn. Let's keep it burning, Let's keep the light of hope alive, Make safe our journey, Through the storm..." - Charlie Murphy