We need not fear the darkness but the blinding flash of light.
Darkness and light have been the primal archetypes of consciousness since the beginning of time. The subject of myths and legends the world around, they were once forces over which we were powerless. As it is in the myths, light has triumphed over darkness to the point where darkness and quiet are endangered elements in our civilized world. We even have the term “light pollution,” because in most cities there is too much light to see the stars.
In the endless dance of these archetypal twins, darkness has been given a bad rap, equated with evil, death, and everything negative. The ancients however, saw darkness as the fecundity of the soil, and white as the bleached bones of death. Darkness was a place of rest and renewal, necessary to keep from “burning out” in the season of light. Darkness was the womb from which we emerged, the underworld that holds the roots and seeds of plants. Darkness is the senior partner, the one that gives birth to light.
The darkest point of the year is once again upon us. Now is the time to let go of the past, still our minds, and quiet our souls. Now is the time to open our inner eyes to the blank canvas of darkness and dream in a new world.
We are one year away now from the solstice of 2012, a time many said was a pivot point for humanity. Many changes have occurred. We averted a war with Iran. We have begun, however clumsily, to institute national health care. Gay marriage is legal in 17 states and 16 other countries. Facebook topped a billion users, having increased a thousandfold since it reached 1 million in 2004. We are waking up and more connected than ever.
But the stakes are getting higher. This is also the year that the North Pole melted into a lake, and global warming passed its tipping point. This is the year that Colorado flooded and it snowed in Egypt, and the Philippines experienced the worst storm in history. This is the time when everything we do matters.
Now we are entering the null point between the years. Now is the time to pause, to think carefully about where we are going, to put on the brakes to the highway of mass extinction, to really slow down and consider. For as Rumi says, “We are drunk, and standing on the edge of the roof.”
What can we create together?
Now is the time to dream it. We must reach beyond what we know, anchor into the darkness so that we can sustain ourselves in the light before we burn up everything.
Each of us is called to play a part. Each of us is a cell in the awakening global heart.
We are here to create miracles. We are here to co-create with the divine, and bring heaven back down to earth. But first we must quiet ourselves and listen for the instructions that await us.
Now more than ever, we need the darkness to teach us how to dance in the light.
Happy Solstice!
Anodea Judith
12-19-13
P.S. Here is a preview for workshops coming up next year…