21 December 2023 – It is 7:27 pm, Pacific Time.

In sympathy with the sun, even the traffic stands still.

Solstice.

From the Latin solstitium, meaning “sun standing still.”

That apparent pause by the sun, at the twice-yearly moment when the 23.5° tilt of the earth’s axis puts our orbiting planet in its most extreme relationship with the sun’s rays — and the moment when our path will cause us to start, bit by bit, tilting in the opposite direction.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the tilt will now increasingly be away from the sun; here in the Northern Hemisphere, the reverse. Even as winter brings us greater cold, it also brings lengthening days. (I write this, knowing that latitude has huge impact: close to the equator, change is negligible year-round, while close to the poles it is extreme.)

Happy Solstice! The next great cycle is now underway.