IN THE SHADOW OF THE TURNING EARTH

Winter Solstice Offers a Pause for Rest and Reflection

by Stephen Wing
Perhaps the light needed a place to rest, so it made a shadow. Or was the shadow here first, lurking in the dark, invisible till someone or something struck a spark? Night is the shadow created by the vast bulk of the Earth between us and the sun. At sundown, we Earth creatures can see stars and galaxies millions of light years away, much farther than we can see in daylight. Only this nightly eclipse of the light we live by reveals that we are also part of an infinite glittering Universe of darkness and light. Winter is Summer’s shadow, when bears hibernate and sap migrates to the root-- a pause for rest and reflection before the cycle of life resumes.
The Solstice marks the length of the shadow with its long night. When we celebrate our Winter holidays with candles and strings of lights, let’s also honor the darkness that sets them off so beautifully. We all need a place to rest, after all. A time to pause and look back over the bright panorama of the year. A chance to gaze into the darkness inside and remember we are the light. This Winter we have much to contemplate. Our brilliantly lit-up society’s deepest shadows are coming to the fore, eclipsing the United States in the very moment of its ascendancy to global dominion. The dark side of the Earth looms larger as the costs of chemically altering our environment come home. Aided and abetted by shoreline development that made the Gulf Coast more vulnerable, Hurricane Katrina kicked a several-hundred-mile stretch of civilization back to primitive survival conditions. We should have known not to tempt her by concentrating so many oil rigs and refineries along the Gulf—that stretch known as Cancer Alley. But the gas-price hikes Katrina triggered were only a warning. Our livelihoods depend not just on gasoline, we suddenly discovered, but on gasoline we can afford. The unseen systemic cancer of racism was exposed in New Orleans, where those trapped by poverty were simply left behind-- except by the media, which broadcast plainly what color our poorest citizens are. But even many well off white citizens learned what it’s like to become a homeless refugee, starting over.
Hurricane season pre-empted baseball season for once, but the realization is growing that Katrina is only the beginning.
Global warming is slowly heating up our atmosphere like water coming to a boil inside a pot. Atlanta and other cities are as vulnerable as New Orleans if something takes down the electrical grid. The New Madrid fault near Memphis, for example, which has been active lately. Meanwhile, 2,000 soldiers have died to perpetuate the myth of America’s right to dominate the world in the name of democracy. Little by little, a presidency founded on secrecy and deceit finds its Machiavellian stratagems more difficult to disguise. Behind the TV images we are of money and power and media manipulation.
This shadow-world of behind-the-scenes control has always existed. But it’s our shadow. Anyone who accepts the benefits of living in our society must also accept responsibility for its dark side. Evil and corruption cannot exist where we shine the light of our awareness. Villains and conspiracies can’t overpower a nation of informed and involved citizens. A few months before Katrina struck, the National Conference of Mayors-- 173 in all—unanimously adopted the Kyoto Protocol guidelines to curb carbon emissions in their cities.
Do I sense a shift in the weather? Could this mark a new season in respect for Mother Earth? In the ruins of Waveland, Mississippi, where my friends from the Rainbow Gathering were first to arrive with emergency assistance, hippies worked with Christians and police and rescue workers from across the country, serving 5,000 hot meals a day. Could the devastation of Katrina actually help to heal our divisions? Will a new humility toward our fragile environment take root? Military families and veterans are leading the movement calling for withdrawal from Iraq. Citizens of every color and religion are joining together to replace militarism with a policy of peace, both foreign and domestic. Will the sacrifice of 2,000 beloved young people and untold Iraqis unite us in the end? Can grief and outrage and compassion drive people back to the voting booths who Here in Atlanta, our little circle goes on celebrating the seasons, honoring the round Earth beneath all this concrete and pavement, thanking her for feeding us for one more season, praising the Creator by every name and dancing sacred dances drawn from every tradition. Join us for Winter Solstice on Wednesday evening, December 21.
Thank you, Creator Spirit! Thank you, Mother Earth!
Thank you, all my relations!
The Winter Solstice Circle will take place at the Atlanta Friends House, 701 W. Howard Ave, Decatur, (halfway between the East Lake and Decatur MARTA
Stations), from 7:30-9:30 pm. The circle is graciously co-sponsored by our local Dances of Universal Peace community (To help cover their cost for the space, donations are requested- but not required).

Wing is an Atlanta poet and activist.
Contact him at 770/948-3445 ext. 3180 or stevew@newleaf-dist.com for more information about Winter Solstice or poetry performances.