Here at the gateway of the year
May we strive to make good cheer
In our revels shall joy abound
And sorrow be cast underground
It is just before sunrise on a cold December day some three thousand years before the coming of Christ.
For those crouched at the heart of the mound it must seem as though light has been banished forever. Then, suddenly, a tiny sliver of sunlight strikes the stone slab at the back of the chamber.
Slowly it widens, climbs upward, illuminating a number of mysterious carvings – circles and spirals, zigzag patterns.
Slowly it widens, climbs upward, illuminating a number of mysterious carvings – circles and spirals, zigzag patterns.
For the people crouched in the center of the great mound of Brug na Boine (also known as New Grange) every symbol has meaning. But by far the greatest significance is the return of the sun itself.
The light that enters the dark womb of the earth brings with it the promise of warmth and life to come.
Thou dost appear beautiful on the horizon of heaven. O living Aton, thou who wast the first to live. When thou hast risen on the eastern horizon, thou has filled every land with thy beauty. When thou dost set on the Western horizon. The earth is in darkness, resembling death. At daybreak, when thou dost arise on the horizon. Dost shine as Aton by day, thou dost dispel the darkness and shed thy rays.
It is a powerful awakening each year, this night of dreams, to be approached in sacred manner. In Shamanism, the "gift" of a vision is not realized until acted upon, manifested or "danced" into this reality. That is the Great Truth of our walking between the worlds, at any time of the year, but especially during this time.
What the Iroquois knew, and Westerners would not "discover" for hundreds of years, is that the line between waking "reality" and nightly dreaming is not so impermeable. What the Creator instructs in dreams can be the very "reality" of health, insights, group dynamics and individuality within a community, revealing not only the dreamer's world, but the shared vision -- and lessons -- for a people.
Our modern society has yet to learn this profound truth.
Our true desires are slumbering within us even as the Earth turns cold outside and plants sleep as next spring's seeds beneath the ground. We know the world in our hearts, among the Sacred Hoop of our family, friends and loved ones.
It is sad that this time of year has become so commercialized.
As our minds are racing to keep up with Christmas shopping, parties, socializing and demands of societal and cultural expectations, our bodies -- if they are in sync with the Earth -- are slowing down.
Our attention should not be on the accelerating demands of action to fulfill some cultural impossibility (Christmas and all its attendant demands on time and energy), but on our inner fires, our visions. If we are in sync with the Earth, our outer world will mean less as our inner world expands.
The light within will illuminate how we and our world should be.
So to all of you who chose to go out and drink your sorrows away, wake up and realize, this is your chance at rebirth, along with the rest of us.
As this night comes to an end, let usdream alive Mother Earth as she watches over us, giving birth to a new dawn.
Let's heed our dreams, the ones that are birthed within us, not the ones imposed from without. Let's let the spirit of our ever full, loving hearts' reality drive out the ghosts of want and let us arise from this illusion.
It is the only "reality" that matters.
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