Celebrate the Solstice – Honoring the Earth’s Seasonal Rhythms through Festival and Ceremony
By Richard Heinberg, Foreword by Dolores LaChapelle.
199 Pages | A Quest Original 1993 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835606937.
Rejoice in the Seasonal Festivals of the Earth . . .
Seasonal festivals are not cultural relics. They are joyous, fun, mischievous, profound, life-affirming events that connect us deeply with the Earth, the heavens, and the wellspring of being within us. This engaging book tells the history and meaning of the Solstices, encourages the practice of full-bodied, ecstatic rituals of seasonal renewal, and gives practical suggestions for how to celebrate them in contemporary times.
- Discover the ancient roots of Christmas-tide customs.
- Honor the Goddess in all of her Names by celebrating the June Solstice as a Festival of the Divine Feminine.
- Learn how cultures around the world honored their connectedness with the Earth rhythms.
- Create life-affirming celebrations of the Solstices - alone, with friends or family, in the wilderness, or in the city.
From Chapter 3 - 'The First Solstice Festivals' (p.27):
" Each year, for about a week before and after the winter solstice, light from the rising Sun passes through a boxed slot above the doorway of Newgrange and shine the entire length of the corridor to the far wall of the central chamber (a distance of over eighty feet), illuminating a stone basin positioned below a series of intricate carvings of interlocked spirals, eye shapes, and rayed solar discs. For about seventeen minutes the inner sanctuaryis softly lit; then the finger of sunlight slowly creeps back across the stone floor, and darkness returns. The effect is stunning, and the effort spent to obtain it must have been enormous. "
Celebrate the Solstice – Honoring the Earth’s Seasonal Rhythms through Festival and Ceremony
By Richard Heinberg, Foreword by Dolores LaChapelle.
199 Pages | A Quest Original 1993 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835606937.
Rejoice in the Seasonal Festivals of the Earth . . .
Seasonal festivals are not cultural relics. They are joyous, fun, mischievous, profound, life-affirming events that connect us deeply with the Earth, the heavens, and the wellspring of being within us. This engaging book tells the history and meaning of the Solstices, encourages the practice of full-bodied, ecstatic rituals of seasonal renewal, and gives practical suggestions for how to celebrate them in contemporary times.
- Discover the ancient roots of Christmas-tide customs.
- Honor the Goddess in all of her Names by celebrating the June Solstice as a Festival of the Divine Feminine.
- Learn how cultures around the world honored their connectedness with the Earth rhythms.
- Create life-affirming celebrations of the Solstices – alone, with friends or family, in the wilderness, or in the city.
From Chapter 3 – ‘The First Solstice Festivals’ (p.27):
” Each year, for about a week before and after the winter solstice, light from the rising Sun passes through a boxed slot above the doorway of Newgrange and shine the entire length of the corridor to the far wall of the central chamber (a distance of over eighty feet), illuminating a stone basin positioned below a series of intricate carvings of interlocked spirals, eye shapes, and rayed solar discs. For about seventeen minutes the inner sanctuaryis softly lit; then the finger of sunlight slowly creeps back across the stone floor, and darkness returns. The effect is stunning, and the effort spent to obtain it must have been enormous. “