Sitting within my circle of stones, facing the North resting in what it represents for me: which is the Seasonal Moments as I have celebrated them for decades, and the entire story of the Universe in fact … all that has come into being to my right in the light part of the cycle, and all that has passed away to my left in the dark part of the cycle, bringing me into the present moment in the centre.

Since I am in the Southern Hemisphere, the Seasonal Moment positioned in the North is the Summer Solstice, so behind me in the South is the Winter Solstice. Thus to my right is the waxing light part of the cycle: I extend my right hand back and around, sweeping the sunwise direction of the waxing light, conscious of the manifestation of form and being. I then extend my left hand in front of me and around, sweeping the sunwise direction of the waxing dark, conscious of the manifesting realm of transformation. All this has brought me to this present moment, where I sit. I can rest in the depth of all this present, in awe and wonder: it is personal, collective and cosmic all at once.

 At some point as I began to practice ceremonial marking of the Seasonal transitions as a whole (that is, not just one or two when I felt like it), I noticed the power of it, of the Wheel, the power of conversing ceremonially with the cycle that manifested in my place, with Earth’s orbit around Sun. This marking of Her transitions, the poetry of it,  had a power of its own. It is much like noticing the power/difference that ten minutes of daily meditation, makes to your life, or the difference that cleaning your teeth daily makes. If one actually does any of these things (and not just talk about it), including the ceremonial marking of the Seasonal transitions, one will notice a difference, a quality that is enticing.

 Whereas at first the celebration of GaiaEarth’s Solstices, Equinoxes and cross-quarter moments was included as just one class in the series I taught in re-storying Her (starting in 1993), I realized (by 1996) that it had to become a whole series on its own: I could feel that it was huge, and eventually I realized (by 1998) that this ceremonial conversation with my Habitat, whom I named GaiaUniverse, was central to embodying Her, feeling Her, becoming confident of being held in Her processes of coming into being and passing away, and emerging yet again.

 I can sit now in my wheel of stones when I need strong medicine, and just rest in Her power present across space and time.

(c) Glenys Livingstone 2021

Some have asked: “Where to start with doing this?”. These may be helpful: Wheel of the Year Contemplation and Womb of Gaia Meditations.

For the whole map of the PaGaian Wheel of the Year

For the on-line course of PaGaian Cosmology: Celebrating Goddess and Cosmogenesis in the Wheel of the Year