For those in the spiritual and/or astronomical know, all our holiday goodwill and merrymaking is rooted in the Winter Solstice. No surprise, then, that “in Pagan times, the Winter Solstice was referred to as Yule,” as an article on the Bustle site points out.

I like this quote from the Bustle article:

The winter solstice is (also) a time of quiet energy, where you get the opportunity to look within yourself and focus on what you want and need. It’s a time to set goals and intentions for the coming year, to examine and let go of our past, and to make changes within ourselves. The solstice is essentially tied to a personal awakening.

Indeed. I have been feeling it these past couple of days.

Below are some thoughts from some old Theosophical friends on what the Winter Solstice means to them.

Happy Yule, dear fellow passengers on this bus called Earth!

Love . . .

Writes Elsa-Brita Titchenell in Sacred Solstice:

“There are indeed times that are holy, which is why we call them holidays. Or is not all holy, if we give it its due attention and respect? Four times in the year — the solstices and equinoxes — are still celebrated although we may not know how they got that special regard. Their quality of sacredness must be due to something that has a particular significance for the human race. Because consciousness in human beings is closely related with that of the governors that move the spheres and bear responsibilities for the motions and qualities of the celestial beings in the solar system, the times we regard as sacred are in fact when certain celestial bodies focus their psychological, gravitational, spiritual, or psychic influences on their surroundings.”

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“The mystical origin of this celebration stems from a recognition of the winter solstice as a time of spiritual rebirth, traditionally associated with the birth of Saviors. Therefore, the Christmas period has always been revered as a sacred occasion, a meaningful inner experience, writes Ingrid Van Mater in A Gleam of Light.

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Writes Ingrid in another article called Birth of the Spirit: “There is something about the inner quality and warmth of feeling at this season that touches our deepest, most sacred nature, beckoning us, however briefly, to reflect on life’s intent and the spiritual impact of the year’s crowning-point. The return of the sun northward at the winter solstice has long been honored as the propitious time for the birth of saviors, for it is then that the initiant, if successful in trials undergone, is “clothed with the sun.”

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Writes G. de Purucker: “There are four turning points of the year: the solstices of winter and summer, and the equinoxes of the spring and of the autumn. The cycle of the year among the ancient peoples was always considered to be a symbol of the life of man or, indeed, of the life of the universe. Birth at the Winter Solstice, the beginning of the year; adolescence – trials and their conquest – at the Spring Equinox; adulthood, full-blown strength and power, at the Summer Solstice, representing a period of initiation when the Great Renunciation is made; and then closing with the Autumnal Equinox, the period of the Great Passing. This cycle of the year likewise symbolizes the training in chelaship.”