Winter Solstice

   FACTS AND FACTIONS.

    For this N. Devon GS group Winter Solstice ritual, I wanted to invent a new word – “faction” – or rather, a new meaning for an existing word. As we know, a “fact” is a deed, or anything done…. In fact (ho! ho!), it comes from the Latin ‘factus’, meaning ‘done’. We also describe it as ‘reality’ or ‘the truth’.
           A ‘faction’ is very different – it refers to a group of people in opposition to an established form of government or public body. The new meaning I want to propose for this word is… “that which gives life and meaning to the facts”. So let’s start first with the facts about the Winter Solstice, and then look at the underlying ‘factions’, using this new definition.

            THE FACTS.
          The facts of the Solstice are quite staggering in themselves. Here we are in the northern hemisphere of a planet 93 million miles from the Sun, that celestial powerhouse which gives us all of the light and heat without which our Earth would be lifeless. Would you believe, it also produces our global wind patterns. Here’s how it all works.
           The Sun emits various types of radiation, but some is absorbed high in the Earth’s atmosphere. Only visible light, some infra-red radiation, and a little ultra-violet reach the earth’s surface significant amounts. Of the incoming radiation about 20% is absorbed by the atmosphere and about 50% reaches the earth’s surface, the rest is scattered or reflected back into space. The light energy is absorbed at the Earth’s surface causing it to heat up. The result is that most of the heating of the atmosphere is from the Earth’s surface. Due to the Earth’s curvature, more radiation reaches the Earth’s surface in the tropical regions than nearer the poles. The warmer surface at low latitudes causes the air to rise and move to higher latitudes where it then cools and sinks. This circulation, taking place in several cells between the equator and the poles, combines with the effects of the Earth’s rotation to produce the global wind patterns. Similar current systems are generated in the world’s oceans. By transferring heat from the tropics towards the poles, oceanic and atmospheric circulations profoundly influence the Earth’s climate.
           What about the Sun’s effects on our seasons? Our planet rotates on its axis once in every 24 hours, so features on its surface pass from full sunlight to shadow and back, causing day and night. Earth’s seasons result from the fact that that its spin axis points in a fixed direction throughout its orbit around the Sun, tilted at 23.5 degrees from the vertical. This means that at the Summer Solstice in June, the northern hemisphere points towards the Sun, and the north pole is sunlit all day, whilst the south pole region is in continuous darkness. At the Winter Solstice, the situation is reversed, but with very succeeding 24 hours, daylight increases in length by approximately 2 minutes. And by the Summer Solstice, daylight will have increased by some 6 hours!

            THE FACTIONS

Underlying the above facts are, for me, three important ‘factions’ (you may have others relevant to your situation):
            1). My first is the stimulation I get from change and difference. Specifically, this is the change in the daylight/darkness balance and the turning of the seasons throughout the year. I can fully enjoy the day knowing that night is coming. If there was no night, how boring would be the eternal day! Similarly with the seasons. During Winter, I can wait for Spring knowing that, underground, seeds are germinating and animals are hibernating. With the coming of Spring, this beautiful ‘rest’ period will end, and life will spring forth.
            2) My second ‘faction’ is the great psychological lift given by the coming of light. Recently I drove west from my home in Combe Martin towards Oxford. As I headed towards Tiverton on the A 361, at about 8.30 am, a long line of cloud on the distant horizon was lit up by the dawning Sun. It was a magical spectacle – the deep orange and blue framing the clouds against the backdrop of darkness. As I drove and the light increased, I had the great inspirational ‘rush’ of a fresh appreciation of the coming of light and life.
            3) My third ‘faction’ is the Sun’s vast powers of giving life and growth to every living thing on his planet. What constantly amazes me is the abundance that this life-giving Star offers, including a breadth of incredible diversity, and a depth of unfathomable riches. No wonder then that astronauts, beholding our blue planet from space, have been awestruck by its sheer beauty, combined with a sense of its fragility. It has been blessed with life by its Sun: let us not squander these bounteous offerings

                                                                                       Don Hills   22-12-05

The above meditation was part of a Winter Solstice ritual by the N. Devon GreenSpirit group, enacted on 21-12-05 at a house and garden near Bideford.