People are crowding the streets, buying foods and other goodies at the elaborately decorated stalls of the Christmas markets. There is a hurried frenzy in the shops with choirs and musicians performing carols in the town square. That was Christmas last year and most years prior to that.
The world has gone into hibernation, I thought as I took doggy for a walk in the empty streets of my village here on the island of Mallorca where a curfew takes effect from 10 pm. Gatherings of more than six people are prohibited in a stage 4 lockdown.
Humanity is in hibernation
Collectively humanity is going through a wintertime of the soul period. But it is also in the darkest of nights that we can see best the first glimmer of light. It is a good time to reflect on the deeper meaning of Christmas that has degenerated for much of the world into a loud celebration of meaningless consumerism, family squabbles and gluttony.
The world Christmas stems from the words “Christ Mass” – the celebration of Christ at mass in the Catholic tradition. But this time of the year has for thousands of years, long before Christianity, been a day of celebration and ritual for people. In the northern hemisphere, the sun moves to its lowest arc in the winter solstice on December 21st when the North Pole is tilted furthest from the sun.
Worship of the sun or the light was at the heart of many pagan religions as a reminder that all life on Earth stemmed from the sun. It was the basis of the Roman and Greek religions, Mithraism and Zoroastrianism. The early Roman Christian bishops found it therefore convenient to set December 25th as Jesus’ date of birth thus incorporating the old religions with the new.
Moving from the darkness into the light, and turning the soul outward back into the light after a period of grief and sadness is very much also the story of Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection. It gives sense to the seasonal and cyclical nature of life. With the birth of Jesus, the Christ is invited within.
In recent decades humanity has see-sawed between a mindset of rigid fundamentalism and nihilistic, non-comital consumerism that found special expression around Christmas.
The search for the Holy Grail is on a symbolic level the search for meaning and purpose, finding soul purpose and aligning with the inner Christ on a heart level. In connecting with the soul it becomes your inner friend and guiding light. That moment of connection between soul and purpose is rebirth and resurrection. The soul has turned outward into the light after a long period of inner hibernation.
Christmas is a story of hope, optimism and a new beginning as humanity moves collectively from this period of great anxiety and fear.
Pointedly a “Star of Bethlehem” constellation will be seen in the sky on Monday, 21st December. Two of the solar system’s brightest planets Jupiter and Saturn align closer together than at any time during the past 400 years. The two planets last lined up this close in the year 1623!
Among the star gazers and astrologists this unique star constellation is seen as a symbol of hope and new beginning.
Reino Gevers – Author. Mentor. Speaker
One more thing…
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