"Here are some thoughts on this time of christmas and new year etc. I hope yours was filled with light, love and liberty!

We find the celebration and the worship of light in virtually every religion and culture. Most of them in the northern hemisphere occur around this time. This time is seen by many as the birth of light because the sun is furtherest south. The days are shorter and the nights are longer.

On the solstice the sun begins its journey to the north and slowly the days become longer and this symbolizes the light ruling the darkness etc. Thus the winter solstice is considered by many a culture as the symbolic birth of light. Jesus the Sun of God has his birthday placed around this time. In Judaism we find the rituals of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. Chanukah is a celebration of the victory of the Maccabees and the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple. It also commemorates the miracle of the oil that burned for 8 days.

In Sweden there is an exquisite little ritual called the feast day of Lucia. In the early hours of the morning of December 13 a young woman, dressed in a white gown, and wearing a red sash and a crown of lingonberry twigs and blazing candles, goes from one farm to the next carrying a torch to light her way, bringing baked goods, and stopping to visit at each house then returning home by break of day.

In India we have Deepavali or Diwali, which is one of the most popular festivals of India and of Hindus. It is also one of the most eagerly awaited celebrations being that they celebrate this time with fire crackers.

When we look closer at each form of worship and celebration we find that whatever the reason for the celebration, there is a deeper underlying unity in all these rituals and celebrations and that is: that in the worship and the celebration of light we are actually making a connection with our highest aspirations and our deepest yearnings. These rituals are whole prayers set in motion that characterize our natural inclination for things that are born of light and things that are beautiful. They are a means of confirming and affirming our allegiance to God by turning our eyes sky ward and our inner eyes heavenwards to express our deep devotion.

Symbolically, 'light' represents our divine nature and so these rituals and celebrations also remind us to pursue the path of light and thereby to find the light-divine within all things."