And the Planets Danced for Winter Solstice

Solstice Full Moon Rosy Cross

Our cosmos danced for us as the Winter Solsice arrived, giving us on the west coast of the United States a full lunar eclipse just around midnight. My camera captured some of what I saw and felt, and also caught some extra magic that my eyes didn’t see. These photos, gained at great personal cost of frozen toes, yes, even here in California, are treasures of synchronicity and luminosity as seen through a lens darkly, or in some cases, blazing brightly. At first, the full moon seems to be surrounded by a rosy cross, accentuated in a glorious blaze in the photo below. Clicking on any these will shows you a nine-photo show, or you can read along with my reflections, so to speak.

Solstice Full Moon Rosy Bloom

It seemed the Blue Orb drew near . . .

Solstice Full Moon Earth Orb

. . . and suddenly the moon was surrounded by a sky-blue aura, just as suddenly gone . . .

Solstice Full Moon Blue Aura

. . . the Earth’s shadow became clearer . . .

Solstice Full Moon Earth Mandorla Shadow

. . . until the promised red sphere appeared . . .

Solstice Ful Moon Red

and the light became so extinguished that even a long exposure was not catching the moon, but doubling it . . .

Solstice Full Moon Doubled

. . . until it split and following separate trails made a strange image in my camera. Some celestial magic going on here?

Solstice Full Moons & Trails

This marvelous event has left me uncharacteristically speechless. I leave you with a part of the solstice greeting that earth activist Starhawk sent out today:

“This year, Solstice coincides with a total lunar eclipse. The last time this happened was in 1544. The earth aligns directly with the sun and the moon, casting a shadow on the moon’s face. The moon is a Super Moon, at its closest to the earth. And, so my astrologer friends tell me, we are also directly aligned with our Milky Way’s Galactic Center, where the galaxy gives birth to stars. We are in a great birth canal, on the night when mythically Mother Night gives birth to the Sun Child of the New Year.

What does this all mean? For those of you who like to align your meditations and your magic with the movements of the stars, we stand tonight between the past and the future. For the first hour and a quarter of the eclipse, (starting at 10:30 pm Pacific Standard Time), it’s as if we step out of time. We are free of the past, and we can consciously create the future, for ourselves, for our communities, for the earth.”

May you and yours have a blessed Yule!

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{ 6 comments… add one }
  • Joanna 12/21/2010, 3:35 pm

    Wow Cari – so amazing!!! I loved watching it from here, but our skies were a bit hazy so it was like watching it through mist or fine netting . . . thanks so much for these lovely photos!

  • Jennifer K Gonnella 12/21/2010, 7:08 pm

    I was so very tired last night and fell asleep…missing the event. Thanks so much for “capturing” it for those of us who slumbered. Amazing.

  • Sherrie Lovler 12/22/2010, 9:33 am

    Thank you for sharing your images and for writing so beautifully. I was able to see the moon almost halfway in shadow, but then the clouds took over. May you continue dancing into the New Year, and beyond. xx

  • Patty 12/22/2010, 3:57 pm

    Cari! How fabulous! Thank you so much!

  • suzi smith 12/28/2010, 11:55 am

    wow… the ‘extra’ lights that appeared are amazing… i watched too… definitely something special. Blessings to you for the coming year cari x

  • Montag 01/07/2011, 5:38 am

    Your words and your photos alone, not relying on any further esoterica, create a day book of Creation in my mind; an almost mythic place.
    Thank you.

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