The Sun, The Soul, and the Solstice

A consideration of the Solstice points in one’s life

The Kailo Interfaith Community The Rev. Peter Edward Lanzillotta, Ph.D.

Today’s theme is a mythopoetic one- it’s about symbols and syncronicites and the archetypal connections between the yearly cycle of the Sun, the solstice, and the changes in one’s life; the revolutions of the heart, the seasons of the soul.

The inescapable importance of the warmth and light of the Sun on earthly life cannot be disputed. We know that the Sun and sunshine affects all life cycles and the patterns of growth in all living things. I propose, through the connections and corrolations of myth and metaphor, that the Sun has other influences on us- on our psyches, our attitudes, our sense of self and our understanding of soul in the context of wholeness and life.

The light, heat, vitality and energy we unselfishly and indifferently receive from the Sun have been known to affect people’s moods and temperaments. We have all heard of situations and conditions wherein the amount of sunshine a person receives can change or alter their mood and attitude towards daily life. In warm climates or with prolonged humidity, the extra intensity of the summer Sun can make some of us testy, aggressive, and “hot under the collar”.

Where I came from in New England it was the opposite. The lack of sun was always blamed, along with the local weatherman predictions, for people being grumpy, pessimistic, depressed and often impatient for the spring thaw and the brief summer warmth.

In psychological theory and literature, there seems to be a strong connection between people’s moods and the amount of sunshine they receive- there is even a recognized mental or emotional illness called SAD (Seasonal Adjusted Disorder) where a person has to have artificial sunlight installed in their home to ward off certain forms of depression. That certainly gives validity to the claim that the Sun certainly affect us on many levels! (When I lived in MN, I needed a sun lamp to adjust my time and mood)

We are now coming to the Summer Solstice- which is the day in astronomy or in scientific measure, when the Sun shines for the longest time, creating the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The opposite occurs on or about December 21, some six months away. That is the time of the Winter Solstice, when we experience the least amount of sunshine, or what we call the shortest day of the year.

From a mythical viewpoint, one that can connect a deep sense of light to the energy within us, the experience of the light and warmth of the Sun gives our souls a clue for their best expression. The length of daylight corresponds to the time we are urged or encouraged to go or be outdoors in the light, and the sun also signals when it is best for our psyches or souls to seek the darkness for contemplation and rest.

The longest time period for light and outward energies occurs during June-July and the Shortest time occurs between December and January. In the time of increasing light, the soil and the soul warms to invite growth, expansion, and the planting of seeds. Fertile possibilities now can take root, and grow in the earth and in our minds and hearts. In this time of the expansion of light and heat, plants grow to the peak of their height and their ripeness, and the creative energies of nature dominate landscape and life.

As this time period applies to humans, what seems to happen more in June or July than any other time of the year? Hmm… let’s see… traditionally there are more weddings during this time period than any other… more children are conceived …. more people graduate, ripen, mature or move out and away, further up and farther out into the world…. are there any others you can name or add?

Conversely, what could be said about the shortest days? They correspond to an ingathering, a more restful, contemplative and focused energy- a time for reading, introspection, meditation, evaluation and for welcoming more warmth or quiet into our lives.

I suspect that is one of the many psychic reasons that the crass, commercial crunch of Christmas is so hard to endure… It goes against the natural rhythms of sun, soul, and life! But since it is an artificial holiday anyway, I am all for simplification. Christmas is more accurately and originally celebrated in the early church on January 6th or if celebrating Jesus specifically, it is more likely that he was born in early February or March- but that’s another sermon!

The reason for bringing your attention to these cycles and seasons of the Sun, and their potential effects on us, is my concern for the health and well being of each of you as a spiritual and soulful person.

In the fields of transpersonal psychology and spirit centered theology where I make my academic home, it is affirmed and supported that when a person, or a culture, or a nation loses its sense of natural rhythms, cycles and seasons, it endangers their soul; it puts at risk our needed attunement to nature as sacred, which results in a loss of regard for our needs to nurture and reflect, express and create along with these natural cycles.

As geologian Thomas Berry put it:

“The human community and the natural world

will go forward as a single, sacred community or we will both perish.”

In astrological and mythological symbolism, the Sun has come to represent the core, true individuality of a person, as opposed to the learned personality traits or how one learns to respond to cultural ideas and attitudes that comprise social conduct, behaviors, perceptions, and outlooks.

The Sun is the signature self; how we most naturally relate to what is sacred and holy in ourselves, in others, and in nature; The Sun reveals how we best express the gifts and graces, talents, desires, and skills of this life. When a person or a culture forgets about the Sun and the seasons, they can lose contact with the essentials of our interpersonal and interdependent life- the more heart-centered empathetic, and nurturing ways that make relationships more enjoyable and for having a gratitude for life and love more sustainable.

(What I worry about concerning electronic addiction or an exclusively social life based on emails and web sites… Obesity and the general lack of communication skills and social graces… The creation of fantasy worlds vs. The courage to live in the real one!)

A couple of provocative, maybe loaded questions: Do you feel that our society has lost touch with these seasons and reasons? How can we best recover our souls?

Maybe it is that need to recognize and affirm natural ways and cycles of revealed truth that is the yearning that is behind our interest in recapturing many of the Native American celebrations, or the Wiccan and Celtic wisdom traditions, that clearly celebrate the seasons with reverence and delight???

Going a little deeper, we can see in the mythical literature a need to look to the Sun to define our inner being. In The Upanishads, the ancient sacred texts of Hinduism, we are given a reply to the question the Brahman asks of Ajuna, one of the gods of light and life:

“[Who are you? … I am a season, and the child of the seasons. I am sprung from the womb of infinite space, the seed of the husband and the wife, I am the light of the year, the Self of all that is; and whatever you are, I am also. … I am but a phase of the universal life, and a child of the manifest cycles… I am a spark of the Divine, evolved through the cycle of the twelve stages, And signs and by my means, is all growth accomplished.]”

Moving to the consideration of the Solstice as the longest and shortest days, we are given the contrasting image and the complementary rotations or resonance that represents the revolving seasons of the soul. One definition of the cycles of the year and the seasons is this: A year, in the life of day and night, is the way the soul moves, manifests and matures itself.

Some of the mythopoetic and metaphysical corrolations are these: The solstice points are the only time in the whole year that the Sun stays stationary or is seen as standing still. This station can be seen as a time of concentrated self or soul energy… A time that reinforces what you know about yourself and can affirm the next steps in your path to more complete selfhood.

Second, the two solstice points act as complementary and supplementary mirrors of beginnings and endings. The solstice points act as the mirror that has two faces- one summer one is concave- a view that elongates the search for authenticity and true definitions, and the winter one has a convex face that widens and deepens introspection, assessment, discipline and inner peace.

These points at the beginning of the summer and the winter act as the two faces in the mirror of our being. They complement one another and they place before us the completion of an important life’s task– These two points give us a special time for expressing and then for integrating what you know about yourself. Lastly, the solstice points are an opportune and gracious time for the recapturing and the reconnecting of your personal and relational missing links- those parts of you that you had previously let go or places in your life where you have felt lacking or where you have felt that something is missing. The solstice time period offers us the spiritual opportunity that gives us both the time and energy to reclaim and reconnect them.

As the seasons transpire, circling through the cosmos in their divinely ordered rounds, we who value renewal and the potentials for self and soul, are urged to align and attune ourselves to these cycles. We can adjust ourselves to accepting that we need to heed the rhythm and flow of energy and life.

A parting thought, from one of my recent research projects about connections and corrolations between grace and time:

“[We live in a soul-centered universe, and all beings share in the blessed perpetual motion of the world within and the world without. … These cycles of time and awareness are ours to discern and comprehend; to translate and apply to the complex world of human understanding and behavior.

By following the mythic path of The Sun that will reveal out inner and outer connections to a more seasonal, sensual, and soulful life, we can find more of the answers to how we can find out more about our true selves.]”

Happy Solstice… and may the Long Time Sun shine upon you, All love surround you… and may the gifts of the Solstice be yours to know! So Be It!

May the long time Sun
Shine upon you,
All love surround you,
And the pure light within you
Guide your way on.