{"id":2222,"date":"2010-12-21T16:06:33","date_gmt":"2010-12-21T23:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2222"},"modified":"2010-12-21T16:08:24","modified_gmt":"2010-12-21T23:08:24","slug":"a-ritual-of-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2222","title":{"rendered":"‘A Ritual of Transformation’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preparing for last night’s solstice-eclipse, the Montreal Gazette<\/em> went looking for the Pagan perspective<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are two of them actually: The UPG, it’s-personal version …<\/p>\n

“It’s a ritual of transformation from darkness into light,” says Nicole Cooper, a high priestess at Toronto’s Wiccan Church of Canada<\/a>. “It’s the idea that when things seem really bleak, (it) is often our biggest opportunity for personal transformation.<\/p>\n

“The idea that the sun and the moon are almost at their darkest at this point in time really only further goes to hammer that home.”<\/p>\n

Cooper said Wiccans also see great significance in the unique coupling of the masculine energy of the sun and the feminine energy of the moon \u2014 transformative energies that she plans to incorporate into the church’s winter-solstice rituals.<\/p>\n

Since the last time an eclipse and the winter solstice happened simultaneously was just under five centuries years ago, Cooper said she wasn’t familiar with any superstitions or mythologies associated with it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

… and the old-time communal Pagan version.<\/p>\n

The winter solstice also played an important role in Greco-Roman rituals.<\/p>\n

“It’s seen as a time of rebirth or renewal because, astrologically, it’s a time where the light comes back,” said Shane Hawkins<\/a>, a professor of Greek and Roman studies at Carleton University in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

For the ancient Romans, it was also a time of great feasting and debauchery.<\/p>\n

“If (the eclipse) happened on the 21st, they might well have been drunk,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Hat tip: Roberta X, who is most unimpressed<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

A reporter in Ohio left me an email about wanting to do a telephone interview, but she never called. Sigh. She must have found a more accessible expert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Preparing for last night’s solstice-eclipse, the Montreal Gazette went looking for the Pagan perspective. There are two of them actually: The UPG, it’s-personal version … “It’s a ritual of transformation from darkness into light,” says Nicole Cooper, a high priestess at Toronto’s Wiccan Church of Canada. “It’s the idea that when things seem really bleak, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[94,56,43],"class_list":["post-2222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-canada","tag-rome","tag-yule"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-zQ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2192,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2192","url_meta":{"origin":2222,"position":0},"title":"Last Seen in 1378","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A blog post explaining the upcoming lunar eclipse\/solstice event, with a diagram of who gets to see it.","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2192#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1100,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1100","url_meta":{"origin":2222,"position":1},"title":"Yule and its Songs","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Northern Hemisphere winter solstice occurs at 12:04 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time on December 21. That's 5:04 a.m. here in Colorado, perfect for the people drumming up the Sun at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. (I won't be there--too far away.) Remember to visit Archaeoastronomy.com for all your calendrical ritual-timing needs.You can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"music\"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=music"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7857,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=7857","url_meta":{"origin":2222,"position":2},"title":"An Ancient Solar “Observatory” in Arizona","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Sun Dagger at Chaco Canyon \u2014 an Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) residential\/ritual\/governmental (?) complex in northeastern New Mexco that flourished during what where the early Middle Ages in Europe \u2014 is well-known among archaeoastronomers, as is the possible solar alignment built into one of the grand kivas nearby at Casa\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"archaeology\"","block_context":{"text":"archaeology","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=archaeology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=18","url_meta":{"origin":2222,"position":3},"title":"Summer Solstice Nothing this year\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 18, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Summer Solstice Nothing this year in the way of formal outdoor ritual: At the moment of the solstice, I should be streaking across the prairie en route to Chicago aboard Amtrak's Southwest Chief. But I still check my favorite archaeoastronomy site to know just when it will happen.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8678,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8678","url_meta":{"origin":2222,"position":4},"title":"Large-Group Ritual: Magic, Worship, or “Just What We Do”?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend in Poland sent a link to this music video, adding that it looks a lot like the Midsummer celebration in his village but needs the volunteer firefighters, more kielbasa, and more vodka, except, \"Our river\u2019s a fair bit wider, too.\" He describes the St. Nicholas Orchestra as \"Pagan-friendly,\"\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10653,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10653","url_meta":{"origin":2222,"position":5},"title":"Sunne [feminine], Light of the World","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"At one time, we had a book on the Sun as feminine (as in much of the old Germanic tradition) in the pipeline for the Equinox Publishing Pagan studies series. That did not work out, for complicated reasons. Meanwhile, enjoy the video, which is especially interesting if you are used\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Heathenry\"","block_context":{"text":"Heathenry","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=heathenry"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2222"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2224,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2222\/revisions\/2224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}