What Kabbalah Says about this Solstice

Last night, as the moon floated in her dark ocean and owls called to one another across the naked landscape, a celestial summit occurred. Two great beings—Jupiter and Saturn—came together in a Great Conjunction, elegantly coinciding with the Winter Solstice.

In Kabbalah, these two ancient planets Jupiter and Saturn are associated with Chesed and Gevurah, respectively. Chesed (blessings, mercy, loving kindness) and Gevurah (structure, discipline, capacity to hold) are like two wings of a great bird. Both are needed to fly.

The rare intimacy of these two planets, the first in many hundreds of years, culminates tonight, December 21. Their visible kiss is said to represent a powerful new symmetry, a marriage of opposites that might lead to a generational change and a shift of consciousness for humanity.

Hallelujah! Bring it on! After a ruinous year, humanity is in dire need of help! The world is enduring what the great Kabbalist Isaac Luria called Shvirat haKelim, a great shattering of vessels.* By vessels, think of the “containers” of our culture: our institutions, our social contracts, our democracy, our illusions about the way things should go. Many layers of cultural thinking about gender, race, age, money, and the earth are indeed breaking now, under the weight of new insights that tell us we can’t go on as before.

In the Kabbalistic creation myth, the vessels were not strong enough to contain the high voltage of the creative force. Now too, the blessings of our new consciousness must find containers that match the power of what's coming through.

In the Lurianic myth, once there is a breaking of vessels — whether in an individual, a relationship, a community, or culturally — the sparks of light scatter everywhere, hiding beneath the shards of the broken containers. Then comes our work: Birur, the necessary sifting through the rubble, to clarify and determine what’s of value, what sparks are ours, what repair work needs to take place.

Do we have the discipline and responsibility of Saturn, to generate the containers necessary to receive and hold the new light for the year ahead? What are our dreams and intentions for ourselves and our community? Let’s go to the “limits of our longing,” as Rilke said, and take care to balance our big dreams and undertakings with the personal structures, such as disciplines, routines, self-care, that can make our wishes for 2021 sustainable.

* Although Luria’s cosmology was describing the birth of the universe, creation is cyclical, not a one time event. These are patterns that are repeating throughout time — any time the vessels are not strong enough, sound enough, or relevant enough and cannot contain the energy of the present, there is a shattering.

A Ritual for Marking Solstice and Turning Toward New Light

With the intention of saying goodbye to all that has ruptured — our cynicism, failed beliefs, disbelief that things can be different, false self images — let's make ourselves available for this new download of faith in ourselves and the forces that are holding us.

Light a candle.

You might wish to face the West as you do this. Using your journal, or simply in meditation, address the past year. Bid the year adieu, thanking it for its lessons, and telling it what you have learned (e.g. “I thank you 2020. You have been a harsh teacher, but I have grown. This is what I have learned….”)

Then address the year to come. You may wish to turn toward the East and draw the new energies birthing themselves toward you. Inhaling, extend your arms out, palms up, and in a circular motion bringing the energies from the horizon toward your body and fill your entire self with star light, and the new light of the Solstice. Welcome the new year of 2021, and tell it what you hope for and intend (e.g. I have released the density of the past year and I’m excited to welcome in creative possibilities, people and love. Please help me by...)

When you feel complete, blow out the candle with gratitude.

Photo by Michael Olsen