Celebrating Jesus Christ Druing the June Solstice
Ghia- Join me as I talk about the tilt of the earth and the transformative effects of water—all in an effort to celebrate Jesus Christ on the June Solstice.
Transcript
Hooray, GIA here.
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:I'm this week's host of the Creative
Spiritual Journey podcast where Judy and I
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:talk about those things that bring us joy.
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:For me, I find joy by connecting
with nature, connecting with Jesus
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:Christ and our heavenly parents.
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:Seasonal living, and all the bits of magic
and wonder I come across while navigating
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:this remarkable journey we call life.
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:Today I want to talk
about the June solstice.
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:Here in the Northern Hemisphere,
it's the summer solstice, and of
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:course in the southern hemisphere
it's the winter solstice.
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:Either way, we are looking at
half the year of being gone.
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:Isn't that crazy?
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:Where does the time go?
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:So what does Solstice mean?
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:Well, there are two days a
year called the Solstice.
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:One is on the longest day, meaning the
day with the most daylight, and the
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:other is on the shortest day, meaning the
day with the least amount of daylight.
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:The reason we have these changes
in the length of our days is
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:because of the tilt of the earth.
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:The Earth has a 23.5
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:degree tilt relative to the plane of
its orbit, which means that in the
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:northern hemisphere, the solstice
arrives when the North Pole hits
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:its maximum tilt towards the sun.
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:At this point, the earth begins its trek
back towards the opposite tilt, which
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:takes roughly six months From here on
Earth, this shifting tilt looks more
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:like the sun is moving across the sky.
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:And if you can see the rising or
setting of the sun over consecutive
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:weeks or months, you can note
its progress across the horizon.
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:Let's compare this to other planets.
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:Turns out mercury has virtually no tilt,
which means it has no true seasons.
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:Uranus, on the other hand, has
almost a 98 degree tilt, which means
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:it has seasons that last 21 years.
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:Isn't that interesting?
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:Now, there is a book I
absolutely love called Mirrors
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:in the Earth by Osseous Solar.
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:I want to read you an excerpt of
her book because of her insightful
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:thoughts about the solstice.
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:I love to imagine God tossing planets
together with a wave of his finger.
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:So regardless of your beliefs about
Earth's creation, I think OIA has
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:a thought provoking perspective.
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:It's a little long to read
here, so I did some editing.
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:But here goes, this is titled
The Impacts That Shape Us.
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:The Early Days of Planet Formation
are a heroic time in those first eons.
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:Fledgling planets are endlessly
knocking together in a dance
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:of forge and collision.
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:The last of the three dances called
the Giant Impact Phase is often what
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:gives a planet its final character.
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:Earth experienced 10 different major
collisions with other astronomical bodies.
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:Over this time, each one
shaping our planet according
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:to the Thea Impact theory.
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:However.
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:The last collision took
the cake around 4.5
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:billion years ago.
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:Thea, a massive rocky orbit the size of
Mars hit our earth with such force that
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:the planet turned spontaneously molten
was knocked so far off balance that the
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:tilt of our globe was permanently shifted.
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:Today instead of spinning
upright, the earth leans at 23.5
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:degrees.
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:A can't that sets the globe rotating
at an angle in the sun's light As
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:our planet dips her crown towards
and away from the sun, the resulting
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:dance of shadow and warmth births
the variations known as the seasons.
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:With the exception of a narrow band around
the equator that is nearly seasonless.
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:All of Earth's life is
defined by seasonal shifts.
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:If we were in a ballet class, this
kind of off-centered pirouette would
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:seem as an imperfection, but our tilt
is what makes Earth the incredible
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:place of diversity it is today.
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:In fact, if we had stayed turning
in a perfect upright axis, most
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:species we know wouldn't exist.
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:When it first happened, this collision
was a catastrophe for our planet.
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:But Earth's meeting with Thea ended
up being the impact that gave us life.
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:the seasons that are so essential to
our here on earth are the result of
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:trauma and its subsequent healing.
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:They are the aftermath
of an impact so immense.
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:It changed everything, and yet it was this
very event that set us on our journey,
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:the way our planet carries herself, in
the wake of healing from this literally
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:earth shattering event as what has given
us this precious gift known as life.
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:Her resiliency has much to teach
us in the wake of the collisions
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:that have colored our own lives.
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:Trauma is a natural part of being alive.
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:Yet so many of us have shame around the
things that have hurt or changed us.
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:We assume that what we experience
shouldn't warrant this dislocation.
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:We feel, Or we worry that our altered
ness somehow makes us less lovable.
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:Our traumas, however, are not the
things that have damaged us beyond
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:repair, but the impacts that have
gifted us, our unique dimensionality.
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:end quote.
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:Wow.
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:Isn't that a beautiful thought?
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:I love the idea that the Earth's
resiliency has much to teach us.
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:I don't know about you, but I
love to learn from the earth.
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:And let me read that last sentence again.
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:Our traumas are not the things
that have damaged us beyond repair,
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:but the impacts that have gifted
us our unique dimensionality.
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:I know this isn't a new concept.
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:I've heard things similar before, but
I love the idea that our Earth, our
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:beautiful blue planet, modeled this idea
of trauma to life-giving transformation.
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:I personally don't believe
this story is a coincidence.
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:The creation is taught over and over
again in scripture and in the temple.
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:Obviously that's because it has
a lot to teach us and is an
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:integral part of our own stories.
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:So I hope this has given you some
new thoughts about how tuning into
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:the magic of the earth and its
rhythms can teach us about life.
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:Now, I told you last year that it was my
goal to celebrate Jesus Christ in every
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:season, that this year feeling a need to
root my celebrations in a specific date.
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:I chose to celebrate Jesus Christ on
the winter and summer solstice, along
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:with the spring and fall equinoxes.
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:Do you know what that means?
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:It means it's time for me to plan my
Solstice celebration of Jesus Christ.
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:If you recall, I am also using
the year as a representation
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:of Christ's life on Earth.
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:So at the spring Equinox, I focused on
his childhood, specifically when his
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:mother couldn't find him because he
was at the temple teaching the scribes
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:gripes here in the middle of the year
at the June Equinox, I have chosen
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:to focus on the middle of his life.
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:Well, not actually the middle of his
life in years, more like the middle
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:of his biblical story, which I see
as the beginning of his ministry.
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:Now, I can't resist noting that the major
life event that would have actually taken
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:place closer to the midpoint of Christ's
life would have been his marriage.
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:Jewish boys at the time got married
in their late teens or early
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:twenties, And of course, Jesus was
married as members of the Church of
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:Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
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:We have to believe this.
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:The culminating event of the temple is the
new and everlasting covenant of marriage.
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:Jesus fulfilled all righteousness.
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:Of course, he was married we can
only speculate when this took
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:place and to whom, but I personally
have no doubt that it happened.
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:But without any biblical
proof of his marriage.
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:I am going to lay that aside use the
beginning of Christ's ministry as the
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:focus point for my Solstice celebration.
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:There are two stories
that come to my mind.
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:One is the story of his baptism where
his cousin John the Baptist, immersed
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:him in the waters of the Jordan River.
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:the other story is when Jesus at the
request of his mother turned water into
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:wine as his first public miracle, What
do these two stories have in common?
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:Water.
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:I love water and I love
to talk about water.
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:As you may recall from the two podcasts I
did last year about water, but never fear.
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:For this podcast, I am to keep my thoughts
about water brief, Sticking with the theme
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:of life transformations, I want to talk
about how water can gently, as well as
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:forcefully shape everything in its path.
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:One of my favorite examples
of the transformative power of
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:water is in the Grand Canyon.
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:Most people are familiar
with this fabulous Red Rock
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:Canyon, seen from the rim.
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:This is a wonderful example of the power
of water, but I wanna talk about what is
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:found down in the heart of the canyon.
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:What I'm calling the heart is
also known as the Inner Gorge.
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:The inner gorge can't
be seen from the rim.
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:Thus, it is only witnessed by intrepid
hikers, and adventurous river runners.
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:This gorge is formed by Vishnu
Schist, which is a black rock, not
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:a red rock, as we usually expect
to find in the Grand Canyon.
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:This rock is hard making the
gor narrow and full of rapids.
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:So for a rafter gorge day means running
some of the toughest rapids in the canyon.
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:And believe me, being surrounded
by immense ancient black walls only
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:adds to the anxiety of the day.
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:uh, but don't despair.
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:Those black walls are
also incredibly beautiful.
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:Running at angles through this black rock
are fissures of pink zoro, astor, granite,
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:here is where the water comes in.
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:This black granite streaked
sh has been fluted by eons of
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:the polishing effect of water.
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:Fluting.
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:Looks like the giant fingers of God.
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:Were dragged down through the rocks,
producing grooves and fissures.
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:then these grooves were polished by water.
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:It's like sculpture.
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:I love spending time running my hands
over the satin surface or searching
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:for magical nooks and crannies.
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:I have found holes that were formed
by rocks getting stuck in fissures.
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:And over time as the rock rode up
and down with the water currents, It
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:carved a perfect tube shaped hole.
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:So fun and amazing to see.
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:So given this transformative power
of water, I don't think it's a
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:surprise that water is often used
as a metaphor for Jesus Christ.
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:He is our creator, our sculptor, and as
you know, Christ isn't done working on us.
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:We are not finished products.
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:We are still in the process of being
transformed into our true selves.
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:All of us still have rough edges that
need polishing or edges that perhaps need
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:a thea sized whack to smooth them out.
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:So back to my solstice,
celebration of Jesus Christ.
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:Because of these early biblical stories
of Jesus Christ's ministry, I decided
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:to center my celebration around water.
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:I happen to live only 15 minutes
away from the Colorado River, so
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:that is where I plan to celebrate.
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:If you are interested in doing
something similar, know there are lots
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:of other water options ranging from
lakes, pools, fountains, and bathtubs.
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:Now I want to share with you an
obstacle I didn't anticipate.
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:this year the solstice falls on
June 20th, I fully planned on
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:spending that day on the river.
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:Then a family event conflicted with
this date, and I wondered what to do.
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:Fortunately, I learned three things
that I want to share with you.
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:The first one is that, although
the day of the summer solstice has
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:the longest daylight hours, the
earliest sunrise of the year actually
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:takes place a few days before.
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:Hmm.
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:Interesting.
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:Another thing is that the word solstice
is a combination of the Latin words,
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:soul for sun and sit for standing.
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:That is because when the sun hits, it
zenith on the solstice, it appears to
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:pause for a few days before it turns
and goes back in the other direction.
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:and then lastly, even though the
June solstice takes place somewhere
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:between the 20th and the 22nd,
depending on the year, Midsummer's
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:Eve, a historical solstice celebration.
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:takes place on June 24th.
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:All these things added together gave
me permission to be happy with any date
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:that fell somewhere around the 20th.
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:So if you want to celebrate Jesus
Christ with me during the June
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:solstice, feel free to improvise
and pick a date that works for you.
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:I am so excited for my solstice
celebration of Jesus Christ.
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:It's a little thing, but I love
connecting with Christ through
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:his magnificent creations.
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:Water, the solstice and Jesus Christ
form a rich spiral metaphor for growth,
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:renewal, and divine transformation.
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:Judy and I know your time is precious
and that you have many choices.
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:We love that you have chosen to
walk with us for a few minutes as
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:we navigate this journey of life.
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:If you like this podcast, will you take
the time right now to share it with a
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:friend, share it somewhere on social
media, or leave us a five star rating.
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:Your efforts will help this podcast
make a bigger impact in the world
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:and shine a brighter light of hope.
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:It will also let Judy and me know
that you like our show and will give
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:us the motivation to keep going.
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:Thank you in advance for
your vote of support.
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:Now speaking of water and rivers, John
7 38 quotes, Jesus, where he says He
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:that believeth on me out of his belly
shall flow rivers of living water.
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:Hmm, that's what I'm going for.
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:Namaste.
