Today marks the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and the shortest day in the southern hemisphere. Either way, it is a day of the ultimate extremes, of light and dark, of day and night; today and tonight are sacred events in the solar system because it means we are turning around and moving toward the opposite extreme. We are turning and facing the strain of the change.  But this change has become a gentle part of our lives. Could other changes be as easy to manage as a change of seasons? Today is the day we stop what we are doing - stop motion, relax, play, sing or sit in silence and face our strain. The earth needs our moment of silence. We need a moment of silence. And when we begin to make sound again, we make it with friends and those we care about because this is a day to celebrate the sounds of change that are humming in all beings on the planet.

This is a day that honors the polarities that exist among all of us -  we are a bundle of opposites, but we are also ONENESS. How could that be?  Because in our state of being, there is a unifying element  that touches all polarities and creates the flow of energy between all opposites---- and it is WATER.

In your Solstice Celebration, bless water near and far. Bless water from your tap and water from the ground.  Bless the water all over the planet, for even if it is water flowing in Australia or water frozen in the Arctic, it is one and the same. In reality, there is no "my water" or "your water." There is only WATER. The water you drink may seem different because it has been filtered, bottled, purified, drawn from a deep well, or bottled at some pristine spring. But in reality, water is something that never belongs to us. In reality, we use it only for a short while and then it moves on to another place and time. Whenever you drink water and from whatever source, you are still drinking water that has touched every life form on the planet, past and present.

What better teacher than water to help us learn about accepting changes. In order to make changes, we must first see ourselves and others as we truly are - masterpieces of polarities and opposites that comprise a whole magnificent being, culture, country, planet, solar system, galaxy, and beyond. Ecstasy is the result of experiencing and acknowledging our polarities - even loving our polarities --  as they exist in the whole body in order to feel our ONENESS.  Once we have found that ecstatic state of realization, and shapeshifted our consciousness to accept and embrace the opposites that bind us together, we have moved well on our path toward enlightenment, just as our part of the earth moves closer to or further from the sun today in a cycle that has been repeated for millions of years.

If you are experiencing Midwinter or Midsummer, it is surely some form of water that influences your comfort and experience.  Water frozen, water rushing, water drying up, water raining down on us. Water shapeshifts its form in order to support life. Like water, we too can make changes in our lives in order to experience our dreams and goals. And we can embrace the changes others make. Opposites are not difficult to understand if we learn to see that in spite of the polarities, there is greater plan for unity.

As we honor the Solstice, remember the joy of changing form. Water shows us how. When we change form and observe the moment between one form and the next, it is a moment of ecstatic awareness of the wholeness we belong to.
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