Solstice, Winter

In the summer, the Northern Hemisphere is slanted toward the sun, making the days longer and warmer than in winter. The first day of summer, June 21, is called summer solstice and is also the longest day of the year. However, June 21 marks the beginning of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, when that hemisphere is tilted away from the sun. 

I noticed this was the winter solstice. Here was a clue. The winter solstice is traditionally the time of the rebirth of the savior messiah. It is a time of pause when there is a shifting of the cosmic machinery. It is also the time of the transition of the sun from Sagittarius to Capricorn. I put no particular stock in astrology, but I noted that Dennis is a Sagittarius and Ev a Capricorn. I consulted my star... 

FIGURE 3.22 Effect of latitude on solar zenith angle. On the scale of true solar time, also called apparent solar time and apparent local solar time, the sun crosses the meridian at noon. The latitudes and seasons represented are as follows I, 20°N latitude, summer solstice II, 35°N latitude, summer solstice III, 50°N latitude, summer solstice IV, 20°N latitude, winter solstice V, 35°N latitude, winter solstice VI, 50°N latitude, winter solstice (from Leighton, 1961). 

Previously published in "The Entheogen Review" Vol. 3, No.4 Winter Solstice, 1994)... 

Druids harvested the mistletoe berry yearly and used it in their winter celebrations, known as samain and imbolc, which were centered on the winter solstice. For this celebration, the Druids concocted a strong potion of the berries, which researchers have subsequently discovered contains a female-like steroid that may have stimulated the libido (presumably structurally related to either estrogen or progesterone). Mistletoe has, of course, become a contemporary symbol to Yuletide merrymakers as a license to kiss. 

Winter solstice celebrate Hail the festive season ... 

He would have been correct if he had said that they applied it to the Lead of the Philosophers, or their Saturn. The name in question was given to this substance because Capricornus signifies the winter solstice, corresponding to the matter of the work in its black stage, for the Saturn of the Philosophers is also the Winter of the Philosophers. 

Also at the Cahokia site is a mysterious structure known as Woodhenge. Similar to Stonehenge in construction, it consisted of a circle of red cedar posts that may have been used as a solar calendar by the priests to mark off specific astronomical events. These would have included the two annual equinoxes and the winter and summer solstices. The equinox is the point at which the center of the sun crosses the celestial equator and day and night are of equal length. The solstice is the point at which the sun is at its greatest distance form the celestial equator and appears to be farthest north or south in the sky. Knowledge of these events helped the priests to determine when to plant crops. 

From Figure 7 the seasonal variation of UVR at noon can also be estimated, remembering that noon solar elevation increases from winter solstice to summer solstice by about 47°. Annual maximum noon solar elevation (se(max)) can be calculated for any latitude higher than 23.5° as (se(max))= H3.5° —latitude, while for latitudes lower than 23.5° the maximum noon solar elevation is of course 90°. As already mentioned, the absolute values of erythemal irradiance shown in Figure 7 correspond to a situation with extremely high irradiance however, relative variations of irradiance with solar elevation can be estimated from these measurements. 

Figure 3.24 Calculated ozone distribution (in ppmv) for Northern Hemisphere winter solstice with and without chemical eddy transport. From Garcia and Solomon (1983).

The Earth rotates in an eastward direction around the polar axis, which is inclined at 23°27 from the normal to the ecliptic plane. The line joining the center of the Earth to the center of the Sun makes an angle A with the equatorial plane, which is called the Sun declination with the equatorial plane. A reaches its maximum value of -E23 27 at the summer solstice around June 21 it reaches its minimum value of — 23°27 at the winter solstice, around December 21, and is zero at the spring and fall equinoxes. A can be computed at any day of the year by A (in radians) = —0.4cos[27r([Pg.129]

The hyssop is the tree of the winter solstice, lA, and the cedar was the tree of the summer solstice, HU. Together they make the divine name lahu. 

Solstice - The two times of the year when the sun is apparently farthest north and south of the earth s equator usually occurring on or around June 21 (summer solstice in northern hemisphere, winter solstice for southern hemisphere) and December 21 (winter solstice in northern hemisphere, summer solstice for the southern hemisphere). 

The time at which the sun reaches either of these points. The summer solstice occurs on June 21 and the winter solstice on December 21 in the northern hemisphere the dates are reversed in the southern hemisphere. 

At low latitudes, the geomagnetic field lines are nearly horizontal, which introduces some unique transport effects. First, the meridional neutral wind can very effectively induce an interhemispheric flow of plasma along geomagnetic field lines. At solstice, the dayside wind blows across the equator from the summer to the winter hemisphere. As the ionospheric plasma rises on the summer side of the equator, it expands and cools, while on the winter side it is compressed and heated as it descends. 

FIGURE 7 Diagrams of the modeled mean meridional atmospheric circulation in the thermosphere at the time of the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, for three levels of auroral (geomagnetic) activity. The intensity of auroral heating of the upper reaches of the atmosphere increases from the top to the lowest panel. As auroral heating of the upper thermosphere increases, the influences of the heating are felt at lower latitudes, inhibiting circulation from the summer to the winter hemispheres. 

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