

Winter Solstice 2010: The Gabriel Initiation

By Jane Sherry & Curtis Lang on Dec 19, 2010

God is Alive, Magic is Afoot!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010 is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

This is a long newsletter, because we take a look at the Winter Solstice Traditions from various Mystery School Traditions and religions from around the world. It's fascinating to see the parallels between them all.

And we also offer instructions for a set of beautiful meditations: a special Solstice Meditation designed to unite the aspirant with the Invincible Sun -- the Christ within -- and a Gabriel Meditation, calling upon the Archangel of the new Winter season to transform our lives. And to top it all off, we present a beautiful song-poem by Buffy St. Marie entitled "God is Alive, Magic is Afoot", which captures the essence of this Sacred Season. So please be patient and read on. . .

Solstice 2010 is the day the Sun enters into Capricorn, conjuncting Pluto, which not too long ago entered this Earthy sign of large organizations, public and private for a multi-decade long stay that will transform our entire global society. And this year's Solstice is a promise that we can transform our lives and our society, and fulfill our dreams for a life with a Higher Purpose than mere survival, domination, or accumulation.

Solstice Secrets of the Mystery Schools of the East and the West

The Solstice has been a holy day around the world for thousands of years. The holy days marking the beginning of the four seasons are known as the "cross-quarter days" because the two equinoxes and the two solstices divide the plane of the ecliptic into four equal parts. The plane of the ecliptic is the apparent yearly path of the Sun in space, which seems to an observer on the ground to be moving around the Earth.

The lengths of the seasons are unequal because of the changing velocity of the Earth in its orbit. The change in velocity is caused by the fact that the Earth's orbit is elliptical, and so as the Earth travels along its path through space, it builds up increased momentum from time to time according to the laws of motion.

The Earth is three million miles closer to the Sun at New Year's than it is in June, but here on the East Coast of North America, we are entering the coldest part of the year.

The seasonal rhythms on our blue-green planet are orchestrated by the fact that, as the Earth revolves around the Sun, the Earth's axis wobbles off-center, tilting some 23°27' from the perpendicular, relative to the plane of the planet's orbit.

The Earth is nearly spherical, and receives parallel rays from the Sun as it rotates daily on its axis in its annual orbit around the Sun. The tilting of the Earth's axis remains basically constant throughout the year. Since the Earth's axis is always pointed in approximately the same direction in space during a given yearly cycle, each terrestrial pole is turned alternately toward and away from the sun during a given solar year.

This wobble tilts the Northern Hemisphere away from direct solar exposure during the autumn and winter, and causes the Sun to appear lower and lower in the sky for fewer and fewer hours per day in the Northern Hemisphere during the autumn months, until we reach the Winter Solstice, the point where the planetary wobble begins to tilt the Northern Hemisphere back in the other direction, increasing the length of time the Earth is exposed to the Sun each day, and causing the Sun to appear higher and higher in the sky.

Beginning on this Sunday, December 20, we enter the three-day period called "The Winter Solstice Window", when the sun appears to stand still from the standpoint of a viewer on Earth, and rises in the same place along the horizon for three days in a row.

The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Every day thereafter until the end of June, days will grow longer and longer.

Why then does the Winter Solstice herald the onset of winter? As days grow longer, one might expect days to grow warmer as well.

The Solstice is followed by winter because the atmosphere and conditions on the Earth's surface affect the progress of seasonal climate change.

The air, ground, rocks, lakes, rivers and oceans all conduct heat more slowly than the vacuum of space.

After the Summer Solstice in June each year in the Northern Hemisphere, days grow shorter and the Earth loses heat, but water, ground and air release their heat slowly, so that even though days are growing shorter, warm conditions prevail for some time.

For some weeks after the winter solstice, the daily increase in heat from slightly longer days is much more than offset by the cumulative cooling of ground, air and water on the Earth's surface, set in motion by the shorter days of fall, and cold weather prevails. It takes a long time for the rate of heating to overcome the rate of cooling, and that time lag determines the length of the winter season.

So as we enjoy winter sports or huddle around the fireplace, let us all meditate on the fact that despite appearances, day by day the web of life on Earth is being infused with cosmic forces conducive to life and growth, and conditions in our Solar System, and especially here on Earth, are creating a collective momentum toward light, warmth, growth and rebirth of vegetation on the Earth's surface. That momentum will sustain the long summer season and the harvest of early fall in the coming year.

This mystery, the eternal return of the light, implicit in the moment of greatest darkness, is what we celebrate at the Winter Solstice.

"Annually at this festival point in December the celestial rhythm of Earth and Sun come momentarily to pause," says biodynamic farmer, philosopher and astrologer Steven McFadden, "an anomaly that moves us inescapably into the deep, the dark, the other. At this Winter point, consciously or unconsciously, we set an inner pattern to guide what we will weave in the outer world through another solar cycle. We dream the dreams that will flower in another season. How much more powerful if we know we are dreaming? How much more beguiling if we know nature is inviting us to peer through the veils?"
Ancient Solstice Science and Spirituality
The Winter Solstice has been held sacred in spiritual traditions around the world for thousands of years, as the time of the rebirth of the Sun, and of the birth of the Son of God.
Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Icelandic, Irish and Hindu spiritual traditions speak of the succession of the Ages through a period of time known as the Great Year, calculated to be approximately 26,000 years, and the reincarnation of human souls through vast cycles of time. All these traditions celebrate yearly festivals dedicated to the return of the light, the birth, and re-birth of a Solar Deity.

It is quite likely that the Earth's wobble is the physical phenomenon underlying these diverse manifestations of spiritual science.

Because of the Earth's wobble, there is a 23°27' angle between the planes of the earth's equator and orbit. The Earth's axis performs a slow, wobbling movement in relation to the fixed Zodiacal constellations found in the plane of the ecliptic, and thus the site of the rising sun on the day of the Spring Equinox performs a slow, backwards movement through the signs of the Zodiac. This long cycle takes 25,920 years, and this cycle is known as the Precession of the Equinoxes.

From approximately 4000-2000 BC, the spring sun rose in the sign of Taurus, the Bull; from around 2000 BC to 1 BC the sun rose at the spring equinox in the sign of Aries, the Ram, and from I AD to the present it has risen in the sign of Pisces. We are now about to enter a 2,160 year long phase of the Great Year in which the spring equinox will find the sun rising in the sign of Aquarius, the Water-Bearer. This is the meaning of the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. We are living in the cusp between ages, a time that many ancient cultures speak of as being a time of great confusion, transition, challenge, and opportunity for spiritual advancement.
For ancient civilizations, the Precession of the Equinoxes indicated a flaw in the Earth's orientation in space that seemed to be the root cause for seasonal fluctuations in temperature, rainfall and general weather conditions that resulted in the yearly vegetation cycle of birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth.

This wobble represented a kind of cosmic "original sin", the signature of human mortality writ large across the Earth's surface and indeed, across the vast expanse of the starry night skies.

Ancient astrologers were scientists and priests. These ancient practitioners of spiritual science devised rituals and myths that would explain the origins of the Universe and detail the descent of humanity into a creation fraught with the vicissitudes of Nature and circumscribed by the iron-clad limits imposed by the death of the physical body. They sought to provide spiritual practitioners with the wisdom teachings and the tools they would require to understand and transcend the unceasing cycle of birth, death – and reincarnation.

For it was obvious to these spiritual scientists that the human soul had its home and origin in realms that transcend the yearly seasonal cycles, overarching the incomprehensibly long cycles of the Great Cosmic Year, and that the soul, like the Sun, like the Earth's vegetation, was subject to a cosmic cycle of eternal return involving repeated birth, growth, death and resurrection.

On a social level, these astro-hierophants believed that it was necessary for human beings to participate in these yearly and cosmic cycles, attuning their efforts to the energies prevalent at the time, and performing spiritual tasks, rituals and prayers, designed to insure the ongoing cycles of eternal return would successfully initiate a new yearly cycle of birth and growth, a new yearly resurrection of the light at winter's onset, a new rebirth of vegetation slumbering in the depths of the Earth during the time of the dying of the light.

Evidence compiled by archeologists and comparative mythologists, and detailed in Dr. Thomas McEvilley's comprehensive work,"The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies", shows that in the fourth millennium BC, prior to the invention of writing, Sumerian spiritual scientists, working with an oral tradition that handed down memorized sunrise positions for the Spring Equinox over very long periods of time, correctly calculated the cycle of the Precession of the Equinoxes.

These Sumerian hierophants created a calendar of 72 five-day weeks with 5 additional inter-calendar days. Multiplying 72 by five we get 360, and multiplying 360 by 72, we get 25,920, the number of years in the Great Cosmic Year.

The Sumerians also created a sexagesimal number system, whose primary use throughout history has always been for astronomical observation. All this prior to the invention of writing.

"What the evidence just reviewed suggests is that the Sumerians, in the fourth millennium B.C. . . .had developed an alternative arithmetical method -- the sexagesimal – which would magically plug into the Precessional cycle and thus give greater force to human reckonings by harmonizing them with cosmic fact, and finally that they subsequently devised a myth of cycling time, since lost, which diffused secretly from one priestly caste to another, giving rise to variant myths with interrelated numerologies from Cambodia to Iceland," explains Dr. McEvilley, in "The Shape of Ancient Thought", p.79. "The alternative is that these steps were taken by some earlier culture or cultures and inherited by the Sumerians."

As another example of the importance of the Solstice to humanity’s various mystical traditions and religions, consider the case of Stonehenge, thought to date to around 2800 B.C. Sir Norman Lockyer was the first person to identify an astronomical reason for the orientation of Stonehenge, in a book published in 1906. He realized that on the summer solstice the sun rose at the end of the main axis, as it would have done in the second and third millenniums BC.

The huge circular stone megalithic structure at Newgrange, Ireland is estimated to be 3,200 years old, older than Stonehenge. Newgrange was built to receive a shaft of sunlight deep into its central chamber at dawn on the winter solstice.

Hundreds of other megalithic structures throughout Europe are oriented to the solstices and equinoxes. Archaeologists exploring the origins of ancient structures and their links to astronomical events have discovered similar sacred sites in the Americas, Asia, Indonesia, Africa, and the Middle East.

The Chumash Indians, who occupied coastal California for thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans, "believed in supernatural forces and beings and they believed that humans could influence those forces for good or for evil," according to the University of Michigan website, Windows to the Universe. "The most important time of the year for the Chumash was right before the winter solstice. They believed that this was the time when the Sun might not choose to come back to the Earth. This would've obviously affected life on Earth and so it is not surprising that the Chumash took it upon themselves to influence the Sun to come back since it was a matter of life and death. The Chumash people held times of prayer and dancing that would last for several days. They observed the Sun by putting sun sticks and poles in the ground. This vigilance was meant to pull the Sun back to Earth."

Hannukah is the name of the Jewish Festival occurring around the time of the Solstice. Known as the Festival of the Lights, Hannukah occurred December 1-9 this year. The Hannukah celebration is tied to both lunar and solar festivals and calendars. Hanukkah begins three days before the new moon closest to the Winter Solstice.

Hanukkah commemorates the Maccabees' victory over the Greeks and the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem.

After many years of war and persecution, the Jewish people, who had been in exile, returned to their temple in Jerusalem, which lay in ruins. The Jews began rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem in 165 B.C. When they came to rededicate the Temple they found only one small flask of oil with which to light the menorah, or temple candleholder, which illuminated the sacred texts. This flask contained only enough oil for one day, yet the lamp burned for eight days (by which time a fresh supply of oil was obtained).

On the first night of Hanukkah, one light is lit. On each successive night a light is added until the eighth night, when all the lights are lit. The addition of light recalls the greatness and growth of the miracle. Candles are placed in the menorah from right to left, but lit from left to right. The highest candle, known as the Shamash or "servant", is used to light the other candles. Blessings are recited each night before the lights are kindled.

Hannukah recapitulates the basic Solstice themes of resurrection, this time of a temple, and of an entire people, the return of the light, and the waxing and triumph of the light.

In Iran, the Winter Solstice is the time of the Feast of Shab-e Yalda. "In most ancient cultures, including Persia, the start of the solar year has been marked to celebrate the victory of light over darkness and the renewal of the Sun," explains Massoume Price in his article on Yalda on Farsinet.

". . .Egyptians, four thousand years ago celebrated the rebirth of the sun at this time of the year. They set the length of the festival at 12 days, to reflect the 12 divisions in their sun calendar. They decorated with greenery, using palms with 12 shoots as a symbol of the completed year, since a palm was thought to put forth a shoot each month."

"The Persians adopted their annual renewal festival from the Babylonians and incorporated it into the rituals of their own Zoroastrian religion. The last day of the Persian month Azar is the longest night of the year, when the forces of Ahriman are assumed to be at the peak of their strength. While the next day, the first day of the month 'Day' known as 'khoram rooz' or 'khore rooz' (the day of sun) belongs to Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom. Since the days are getting longer and the nights shorter, this day marks the victory of Sun over the darkness. The occasion was celebrated in the festival of 'Daygan' dedicated to Ahura Mazda, on the first day of the month."

"'Day' Fires would be burnt all night to ensure the defeat of the forces of Ahriman. There would be feasts, acts of charity and a number of deities were honored and prayers performed to ensure the total victory of sun that was essential for the protection of winter crops. There would be prayers to Mithra (Mehr) and feasts in his honor, since Mithra is the Eyzad responsible for protecting 'the light of the early morning' known as 'Havangah. It was also assumed that Ahura Mazda would grant people's wishes, specially those with no offspring had the hope to be blessed with children if performed all rites on this occasion."

"One of the themes of the festival was the temporary subversion of order. Masters and servants reversed roles. The king dressed in white would change place with ordinary people. A mock king was crowned and masquerades spilled into the streets. As the old year died, rules of ordinary living were relaxed. This tradition persisted till Sassanian period, and is mentioned by Biruni and others in their recordings of pre-Islamic rituals and festivals. Its' origin goes back to the Babylonian New Year celebration. These people believed the first creation was order that came out of chaos. To appreciate and celebrate the first creation they had a festival and all roles were reversed. Disorder and chaos ruled for a day and eventually order was restored and succeeded at the end of the festival."

"The Egyptian and Persian traditions merged in ancient Rome, in a festival to the ancient god of seedtime, Saturn. The Romans exchanged gifts, partied and decorated their homes with greenery. Following the Persian tradition, the usual order of the year was suspended. Grudges and quarrels forgotten, wars would be interrupted or postponed. Businesses, courts and schools were closed. Rich and poor became equal, masters served slaves, and children headed the family. Cross-dressing and masquerades, merriment of all kinds prevailed. A mock king, the Lord of Misrule, was crowned. Candles and lamps chased away the spirits of darkness."

"Another related Roman festival celebrated at the same time was dedicated to Sol Invictus (the invincible sun). Originally a Syrian deity, this cult was imported by Emperor Heliogabalus into Rome and Sol was made god of the state. With the spread of Christianity, Christmas celebration became the most important Christian festival. In the third century various dates, from December to April, were celebrated by Christians as Christmas. January 6 was the most favored day because it was thought to be Jesus' Baptismal day (in the Greek Orthodox Church this continues to be the day to celebrate Christmas). In year 350, December 25 was adopted in Rome and gradually almost the entire Christian Church agreed to that date, which coincided, with Winter Solstice and the festivals Sol Invicta and Saturnalia. Many of the rituals and traditions of the pagan festivals were incorporated into the Christmas celebration and are still observed today."
Solstice Wisdom Teachings
Wisdom teachings of the West provide us with insight into the deep spiritual meaning of the Christmas festival.

"In the days when genuine occult teaching was not disowned as it is today by materialistic thought but was the very wellspring of the life of the peoples, the Christmas Festival was a kind of memorial, a token of remembrance of a great happening on the Earth," explains mystical Christian philosopher, sage and educator Rudolf Steiner, in his Christmas 1905 lecture, given in Berlin, called "The Christmas Festival: A Token of the Victory of the Sun".



"We call these remote ancestors of humanity the Lemurian race," Steiner continues. "Then came the Atlantean race and the Atlantean race was followed by our own — the Aryan race. Into the bodies of the Lemurian race the human soul descended. This descent of the divine 'Sons of the Spirit,' this great moment in the evolution of mankind was celebrated by the sages of all times as the victory of the light over the darkness. Since then the human soul has been working in the body and bringing it to higher stages of development but not at all in the way that materialistic science imagines. At the time when the human soul was quickened by the Spirit, something happened in the universe, something that is one of the most decisive events in the evolution of mankind."






"There is wisdom in every part of the divine, rhythmic Nature to which our forefathers looked up with such veneration and the very soul of which is the Sun with its regular, rhythmic course. And as the wise men of old looked upwards to the Sun, they said to their disciples: 'Thou art the image of what the soul born within thee has yet to become and what it will become.' The divine cosmic Order was revealed in all its glory to the sages of old. And again, in the Christian religion we have the 'Gloria in excelsis.' The meaning of 'gloria' is revelation, not 'glory' in the sense of 'honour.' Therefore we should not say: 'Glory (honour) to God in the highest,' but rather: 'To-day is the revelation of the Divine in the heavens!' The birth of the Redeemer makes us aware of the 'Glory' streaming through the wide universe."


"Those who had reached the second stage of Initiation were known as 'Occultists'; at the third stage they were 'Warriors,' at the fourth, 'Lions.' At the fifth stage of Initiation a man was called by the name of his own people: he was a 'Persian,' 'Indian,' or whatever it might be. For that man alone who had reached the fifth degree of Initiation was regarded as a true representative of his people. At the sixth stage a man was a 'Sun Hero' or one who 'runs in the paths of the Sun.' And at the seventh stage he was a 'Father.'"





Wisdom Traditions of both East and West have always taught that the Winter Solstice presents those of us on the Path of Spirit with a unique opportunity for accelerated development in our chosen practices.

Those who wish to participate in the Esoteric Mysteries, the Wisdom School Teachings of Mystical Masters of the East and West, are encouraged to call upon Archangel Gabriel, the Guardian Archangel who presides over The Winter Solstice and the winter season at this most sacred time of year.

Gabriel is the Archangel known as the Leader of the Heavenly Hosts, the Messenger of the Lord. As Messenger of the Lord, Gabriel is first and foremost the Archangel of Vision, and also the Archangel of revelation, creativity and faithful service.

Gabriel is known as the messenger who brings good news from Divine realms. In the Old Testament, in the Book of Daniel, verses 8 and 9, Gabriel appeared to interpret Daniel’s dream vision of the future of Israel to the prophet.

Jewish sacred tradition says that Gabriel inspired Moses to write the Book of Genesis, and that Gabriel taught Joseph 70 languages he needed to rule in Egypt.

Islam teaches that the Archangel Gabriel revealed the 114 chapters of the Koran to Mohammed.

Most famously, as the self-announced “Bearer of Good Tidings of Great Joy”, Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary bearing a lily flower at the time of the Annunciation, bringing her the Good News that she was to become the Divine Mother of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. This moment was at once a revelation, a fulfillment of prophecy, an interpretation of a sacred vision, and a unique sacred empowerment of the Virgin Mary.

Gabriel is often pictured with a trumpet, because he is expected to return at the Second Coming of Christ to announce the Turning of the Aeons, the Resurrection of the Dead, and the Last Judgement.

Gabriel figures prominently in the Sacred Tarot, the repository of the Wisdom Teachings of the West during the time of the Inquisition and thereafter, appearing in Trump 20, known as “Judgement”, which is also called “The Aeon” in some modern decks.

All the people, places and events pictured in the Tarot are not just archetypical figurations of chapters in the world’s history, they are, perhaps more importantly, representations of archetypical stages in the evolution of the Soul on its journey from animalistic instinctual behavior to rationalistic egoistic mentality and eventually to achievement of the ultimate goal, Unity consciousness and Self-realization. (For more information on the Tarot and the true Mystery Teachings of the East and West, see my article, “Tarot: The Yoga of the West”.

The Tarot teachings concerning the Last Judgement consider that apocryphal event to be the culmination of a lifetime’s spiritual practice, the doorway to liberation of the mind and enlightenment.

The Judgement or Aeon card is about transformation of the egoistic personality, and awakening to a higher consciousness, the birth of the Higher Mind, the dawning of the Higher Self, and represents the final preparations before the disciple can attain the final goal, Christ Consciousness, or Cosmic Consciousness, Self-Realization, pictured in Trump XXI, called The Universe.

In the Waite deck, Judgement pictures the Archangel Gabriel blowing his trumpet, as three figures, a man, a child and a woman, rise from coffins in the lower foreground. The man represents the conscious, rational egoistic mind, the woman represents the unconscious powers of instinctual wisdom, and the child represents the infant born of their union, the intuitive consciousness residing in the Higher Mind.





Gabriel’s element is water and his chakra is the throat chakra, which is associated with the color blue, with creativity, and with communication. Traditionally, the opening of the throat chakra represents the beginning of the attainment of Higher Consciousness, once the heart is opened and compassion is attained. The opening of the heart chakra is a long, arduous process, which depends upon the purification of the emotions, which are associated with the element of water.

When we have successfully banished negative emotions, such as jealousy, greed, lust, and anger, and successfully released the old energies of past emotional traumas and failed relationships, then we are prepared for the Gabriel Initiation of the Winter Solstice.

This is why the season of Advent is traditionally a time of purification, and Christians are encouraged to perform acts of penance, fasting, and abstinence during the forty days prior to Christmas. Penance, fasting and abstinence are designed to purify the physical body, and also to cleanse the emotions, as well as turning our attention away from material pleasures and toward the summits of spiritual attainment.

The Gabriel Initiation

Those who wish to pursue the path leading to the Gabriel Initiation of the Winter Solstice are encouraged to spend the three day period of the Winter Solstice through Christmas in a spirit of wakeful awareness, open and waiting for a revelation, and to perform their normal spiritual practices in a relaxed, yet determined manner, in an attitude of certainty born of faith, for Gabriel is the Archangel of Faith.

As Messenger of the Lord, Gabriel appeared to the Shepherds in the Fields near Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, and announced to them the Nativity of Jesus Christ.

As it says in the second chapter of Luke, “. . . there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.



For unto you is born this day in the city ofDavid a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.




On these three sacred days of the Solstice Festival, especially on Christmas Eve, the aspirant is encouraged to seek the Vision of the Inner Sunrise in a late night meditation session. If the preparation is adequate, and if the disciple’s spiritual evolution has brought the individual to a moment of inner awakening, and if the individual’s karma allows it, the disciple will receive an initiation.

To best prepare to receive this initiation, the disciple is encouraged to identify with the shepherds in the field near Jerusalem.

Quiet the mind, and enter into a meditative state using whatever practices have been taught to you by your Teachers and Guides. Call upon the Archangel Gabriel to illuminate your mind, to elevate your Soul, and to grant you a Vision of the Birth of the Christ Child, Unity Consciousness, your own Higher Self or Higher Mind.

Allow the indigo blue of a clear, cold starry night to permeate your consciousness. Ideally, you will see a field of deep midnight blue in your mind’s eye. Maintain an attitude of watchful wakefulness, expectant but open and relaxed.

Then, cast your consciousness through the center of the Earth, and into deep space on the other side of the globe, where the Sun is shining, radiant and golden. Imagine a ray of illumination, extending from your third eye, and penetrating through the depths of the Earth, and imagine that as this illuminating ray penetrates the Earth, your consciousness penetrates and illuminates the roots of your own personality, your own egoistic mind, your own human nature.

Allow images of the high and low points of your life, and of your past lives, if they are granted you, to appear as you penetrate deeper and deeper into your own Earthly nature. Maintain your inner equilibrium, and remain identified with the Inner Watcher who sees all without becoming emotionally involved, no matter how turbulent or difficult or painful or delightful those images of your inner lifetimes become as you envision them within your mind’s eye.

As each vision appears before you, simply observe what happens. Observe the emotions attached to these actions. Simply observe your own emotional reactions, and identify with that watchful presence within you rather than with the visions or the emotions they release.

Continue this practice in your meditation until you reach a point where you achieve inner stillness. For the Birth of the Word of God is found only in Silence. Although Gabriel’s element is water, his inner nature is Fire, and his Word which is a mantric blast from his trumpet is a brilliant Light. You will know you have achieved this inner stillness when the inner visions of your own Earthly nature dissipate and your field of vision is filled with the midnight blue of the starry night of Bethlehem.

Feel the peace that passes all understanding, for this is what the shepherds felt on that Nativity Night so long ago. Relax into this peaceful indigo blue energy. Allow the mind to completely relax. Let go of all thoughts, emotions and mental considerations. If you like, you may again call upon Archangel Gabriel to grant you an initiation or to grant you an initiation into the Birth of the Christ Child at this time.

If you are successful in this meditation, you will see a small, brilliant globe of golden light appear within the field of midnight blue in your mind’s eye and this golden globe will grow until a brilliant light fills your field of vision and you will have a sensation similar to that of being in an open field on a summer’s day, but without the heat – you will sense a downpouring of this brilliant light from above the crown of your head, streaming into your being, filling you with a brilliant, yet cool, golden light.

This is the golden dawn of the invincible sun within you. Know that this is the Gabriel Initiation, the announcement to you of your own inner awakening to Higher Consciousness. Whether or not you see everything described here in this meditation, it is highly productive spiritually to repeat this meditation as often as possible during the period between Christmas and Epiphany.

Consecrate this time as a time of your own personal Vision Quest. Concentrate during this period of inner questing upon your own strong, heartfelt desire to receive an understanding of your own Higher Purpose, and of the best path forward for you to achieve that Higher Purpose during the upcoming year. Open yourself to receive messages from the Universe in meditation, and in your daily life as synchronicities and in the form of meaningful coincidences of all kinds. Remain observant day and night.

May the Archangel Gabriel favor you with a Vision of your path forward in life during this High Holy Season, and may the Archangel’s trumpet blast penetrate your inner ear, awakening you to the Life Divine that dwells within you. May you be present this year and every year to come at the Nativity of the Christ Child, and may his birth signal a birth of Unity Consciousness within you that will connect you ever more closely to the Spirit of the Invincible Sun. 

Solstice at the Turning of the Ages
At the time of the Winter Solstice 2005, the Sun was located near the Galactic Center, where the Milky Way intersects the ecliptic, an area sacred to the Mayans, known as the home of Hunab K'u, the Creator God, the Center of Consciousness that manifested our Galaxy through a whirling "cosmic womb" in space. Hunab K'u was also thought to be the gateway to other galaxies beyond our own. The Mayans believed that all activities in our Galaxy were directed and shaped by Divine intelligence manifested as periodic bursts of energy emanating from this Galactic Center.
Modern astronomers have verified that there is a "black hole" at the center of the whirling disk which is the Milky Way, and that this "black hole" emits and swallows stars.

In March of 2005, physicist and astronomer Dr. Scott Hyman announced the discovery of an intermittent signal coming from the Galactic Center, which seems to be intelligently directed. (See Strange Rumblings at the Center of Our Galaxy.)

"The ancient Mayan astronomers accurately predicted, over 1500 years ago, the exact alignment of the Earth, the Sun, the star cluster Pleiades and of the center of our Galaxy that will take place at the end of the present long cycle on the Gregorian year 2012," according to Hunab K'u researcher Hector Carreon. "On the Mayan Long Calendar the day designated as 4 Ahau 3 Kankin ( falls on December 21, 2012 and this day will mark 'El Fin de los Tiempos' or the end of the long cycle at which time humanity will experience a new beginning. On this day, according to the Mayas and subsequent Meso-American civilizations, the return of Kukulcan (Quetzalcoatl) will take place."

New Age researchers and students of Mayan ways expect to see startling, unprecedented bursts of Cosmic energy emanating from the Galactic Center at the Winter Solstice of 2012, and predict that the Earth will be inundated by high-frequency waves that will trigger the elevation of human consciousness and simultaneously inaugurate a breath-taking array of profound climatological earth changes, ushering in a new age qualitatively different in every way from our present culture and consciousness.

This Winter Solstice, Lightworkers, meditators and everyone can begin to tune in to the energies of this New Age during the three-day Solstice Window we are now entering. Try it for yourself. Take a quiet moment, light a candle, symbol of the return of the light, and invoke the Higher Consciousness at the Galactic Center, which has been radiating high-frequency, intelligent energy broadcasts throughout this tumultuous year. Sit quietly and meditate upon the alignment of this year's Winter Solstice with that Galactic Center, and upon the scale of the transformations taking place in our world.
Reflect upon the difficulties and the sorrows experienced by so many around the world this year as a result of hurricanes, famine, war, disease, and human greed. Contemplate the fact that humanity is experiencing a difficult and painful initiation that is essential for our spiritual evolution as a species, and consistent with the demands traditionally placed upon humans, as individuals and as societies, during the time of the turning of the Ages.

Reflect upon the Great Cosmic Truth that despite the vicissitudes of life encountered during the cycling of the Ages, the human spirit continues to advance Age after Age, producing a continuous flowering of human culture in the form of Wisdom teachers, artists, scientists, and Lightworkers dedicated to the affirmation of the forces of Life, working diligently in service to humanity, to Nature and to Spirit.

Conscious of the grand arc of human evolution, let us rest in a state of radiant inner equanimity, like the Sun. Despite the tumultuous upheavals in our world today, it is nothing less than our historical and spiritual task to maintain our equilibrium at this time of World Transition, and to steadily, consciously and lovingly assist in the setting aside of old, outworn cultural forms and norms and in the birthing of the New Age that will replace the current global culture of greed, materialism and religious war.

Let us then celebrate the accelerating earth changes occurring around us and let us give thanks for the elevation of human consciousness we are currently experiencing worldwide at this time of conflict and global climate change at the cusp of the Age of Aquarius. Let us maintain a spirit of surrender, love and gratitude despite the physical discomforts, emotional upheaval, mental turmoil and soul angst that horrendously destructive outer events and tremendously demanding inner transformations now trigger within us.

It is ever the task of the clairvoyant, the spiritual being, to channel the energies of humanity's future evolution into the world of today. In this respect, little has changed over the centuries.
Those who are able to maintain their inner balance during this time of transformation are being offered access to the energies of Love generated within the crucible of the New Cosmic Age, as evidenced by the recent bursts of intelligent cosmic energy emanating from the Cosmic Center of our Galaxy.

For rest assured that no love is in vain, love will never lose its own, and those who walk the path of Spirit will inevitably experience for themselves the Victory of the Sun, despite the appearance of darkness all around them.

Love, light, peace, health, happiness, and well-being to you and yours throughout this Festival Season from Jane and Curtis and Satya Center. May you find harmony with Nature, become one with the power of the Spirit, plant the seeds of your own best and highest being deep within your heart, and may you receive the grace and guidance required to help you fulfill your loftiest spiritual goals.
Meditation Moment: God is Alive, Magic is Afoot

God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot
Play song from MySpace Music
(Lyrics: Leonard Cohen, Recorded By Buffy Sainte-Marie)

God is alive, magic is afoot
God is alive, magic is afoot
God is alive, magic is afoot
God is afoot, magic is alive
Alive is afoot, magic never died

God never sickened
Many poor men lied
Many sick men lied

Magic never weakened
Magic never hid
Magic always ruled

God is afoot, God never died
God was ruler
Though his funeral lengthened

Though his mourners thickened
Magic never fled

Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live

Though his words were twisted
The naked magic thrived

Though his death was published
Round and round the world
The heart did not believe

Many hurt men wondered
Many struck men bled
Magic never faltered
Magic always led
Many stones were rolled
But God would not lie down

Many wild men lied
Many fat men listened
Though they offered stones
Magic still was fed
Though they locked their coffers
God was always served

Magic is afoot, God is alive
Alive is afoot
 Alive is in command

Many weak men hungered
Many strong men thrived

Though they boast of solitude
God was at their side

Nor the dreamer in his cell
Nor the captain on the hill

Magic is alive

Though his death was pardoned
Round and round the world
The heart would not believe

 Though laws were carved in marble
They could not shelter men

Though altars built in parliaments
They could not order men

Police arrested magic and magic went with them
Mmmmm.... for magic loves the hungry

But magic would not tarry
It moves from arm to arm
It would not stay with them

Magic is afoot
It cannot come to harm
It rests in an empty palm
It spawns in an empty mind

But magic is no instrument
Magic is the end

Many men drove magic
But magic stayed behind

Many strong men lied
They only passed through magic
And out the other side
Many weak men lied
They came to God in secret

And though they left Him nourished
They would not tell who healed

Though mountains danced before them
They said that God was dead
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live

This I mean to whisper to my mind
This I mean to laugh with in my mind
This I mean my mind to serve

Til' service is but magic
Moving through the world

And mind itself is magic
Coursing through the flesh

And flesh itself is magic
Dancing on a clock

And time itself
The magic length of God

[Nature photos by Jane Sherry]