Thank you for The Sun (son?) on Solstice

We are Sun worshipers.

Always have been, from the beginning of our existence when we needed the crops to grow and the light of day to hunt bison and reveal dangerous crevises so we wouldn’t fall and break our necks.

It probably doesn’t matter how we spell it; sun, son, whatever.

It all originates from a time before we knew how to spell anyway.

I am amazed at the development of our species as sun worshipers.

We are so creative!

For those who don’t know much about astronomy, you probably don’t know much about religion either and that may be best.

But anyone who understands that religion has come from astronomy and astrology which comes from the need to anticipate seasons so we can plant the corn, well, let’s talk about the rising sun.

Or all of the rising sons, if you like….

How many of them are there?

How many holy dudes rose from the dead after three days?

Plenty! On account of that’s exactly how many days it takes the sun (of God?) to wake up from the dead o’ winter at the solstice and assuage our fears about the paucity of grain to go around.

Everybody say “Yay, the sun is coming back! Let’s plant some crops, quick, lest we die!”

But then we gotta wait til “Easter” or “Eostre” to be fertile so we can actually plant the seeds.

Okay, so we love the sun and the sun loves us.

But that just ain’t enough for a really intelligent society so we gotta create some mystical personifications here, right?

Well, let’s see, how ‘bout all those guys that just happen to be born around the time of that dark night of winter…

All of ‘em Capricorns; Jesus, Mithra, Horus, Attis, Dionysus, etc.

We had plenty of time on our hands to create stories at that time because we couldn’t plant corn in the dark.

Incidently, speaking of the dead of winter and astronomy, the brightest star appearing at that time is Sirius (eastern star).

And did ya know those three little stars that follow behind it (all pointing toward the sun) were called  “The three Kings” ?

Yep, we got ourselves a myth in the making with that, eh?

Add twelve deciples (or twelve houses of the zodiac that were used to plan for sowing, reaping, and resting) and now we got a complex story with all manner of metaphoric drama!

We are really good at folk lore when there’s free time from planting the crops, huh?

Now, I could go on about the myriad of folks who worship their versions of the “son” (evidently).

But I really just wanted to say thank you for the Sun, ‘cause I live in the great Northwest and I am cold and wet and the Sun is the healer of such things.

By the way, I am also thankful that I don’t have to plant my own corn or wheat or grapes and I have experienced the miracle of food actually being delivered to my door in the dead of winter by a little ray of some mother’s “son” shine.

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~ by leakelley on November 19, 2007.