Ghia- Join me as I talk about the tilt of the earth and the transformative effects of water—all in an effort to celebrate Jesus Christ on the June Solstice.

Hooray, GIA here.

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I'm this week's host of the Creative

Spiritual Journey podcast where Judy and I

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talk about those things that bring us joy.

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For me, I find joy by connecting

with nature, connecting with Jesus

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Christ and our heavenly parents.

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Seasonal living, and all the bits of magic

and wonder I come across while navigating

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this remarkable journey we call life.

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Today I want to talk

about the June solstice.

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Here in the Northern Hemisphere,

it's the summer solstice, and of

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course in the southern hemisphere

it's the winter solstice.

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Either way, we are looking at

half the year of being gone.

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Isn't that crazy?

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Where does the time go?

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So what does Solstice mean?

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Well, there are two days a

year called the Solstice.

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One is on the longest day, meaning the

day with the most daylight, and the

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other is on the shortest day, meaning the

day with the least amount of daylight.

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The reason we have these changes

in the length of our days is

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because of the tilt of the earth.

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The Earth has a 23.5

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degree tilt relative to the plane of

its orbit, which means that in the

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northern hemisphere, the solstice

arrives when the North Pole hits

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its maximum tilt towards the sun.

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At this point, the earth begins its trek

back towards the opposite tilt, which

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takes roughly six months From here on

Earth, this shifting tilt looks more

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like the sun is moving across the sky.

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And if you can see the rising or

setting of the sun over consecutive

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weeks or months, you can note

its progress across the horizon.

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Let's compare this to other planets.

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Turns out mercury has virtually no tilt,

which means it has no true seasons.

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Uranus, on the other hand, has

almost a 98 degree tilt, which means

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it has seasons that last 21 years.

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Isn't that interesting?

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Now, there is a book I

absolutely love called Mirrors

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in the Earth by Osseous Solar.

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I want to read you an excerpt of

her book because of her insightful

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thoughts about the solstice.

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I love to imagine God tossing planets

together with a wave of his finger.

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So regardless of your beliefs about

Earth's creation, I think OIA has

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a thought provoking perspective.

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It's a little long to read

here, so I did some editing.

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But here goes, this is titled

The Impacts That Shape Us.

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The Early Days of Planet Formation

are a heroic time in those first eons.

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Fledgling planets are endlessly

knocking together in a dance

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of forge and collision.

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The last of the three dances called

the Giant Impact Phase is often what

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gives a planet its final character.

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Earth experienced 10 different major

collisions with other astronomical bodies.

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Over this time, each one

shaping our planet according

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to the Thea Impact theory.

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However.

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The last collision took

the cake around 4.5

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billion years ago.

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Thea, a massive rocky orbit the size of

Mars hit our earth with such force that

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the planet turned spontaneously molten

was knocked so far off balance that the

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tilt of our globe was permanently shifted.

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Today instead of spinning

upright, the earth leans at 23.5

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degrees.

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A can't that sets the globe rotating

at an angle in the sun's light As

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our planet dips her crown towards

and away from the sun, the resulting

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dance of shadow and warmth births

the variations known as the seasons.

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With the exception of a narrow band around

the equator that is nearly seasonless.

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All of Earth's life is

defined by seasonal shifts.

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If we were in a ballet class, this

kind of off-centered pirouette would

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seem as an imperfection, but our tilt

is what makes Earth the incredible

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place of diversity it is today.

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In fact, if we had stayed turning

in a perfect upright axis, most

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species we know wouldn't exist.

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When it first happened, this collision

was a catastrophe for our planet.

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But Earth's meeting with Thea ended

up being the impact that gave us life.

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the seasons that are so essential to

our here on earth are the result of

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trauma and its subsequent healing.

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They are the aftermath

of an impact so immense.

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It changed everything, and yet it was this

very event that set us on our journey,

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the way our planet carries herself, in

the wake of healing from this literally

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earth shattering event as what has given

us this precious gift known as life.

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Her resiliency has much to teach

us in the wake of the collisions

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that have colored our own lives.

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Trauma is a natural part of being alive.

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Yet so many of us have shame around the

things that have hurt or changed us.

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We assume that what we experience

shouldn't warrant this dislocation.

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We feel, Or we worry that our altered

ness somehow makes us less lovable.

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Our traumas, however, are not the

things that have damaged us beyond

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repair, but the impacts that have

gifted us, our unique dimensionality.

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end quote.

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Wow.

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Isn't that a beautiful thought?

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I love the idea that the Earth's

resiliency has much to teach us.

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I don't know about you, but I

love to learn from the earth.

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And let me read that last sentence again.

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Our traumas are not the things

that have damaged us beyond repair,

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but the impacts that have gifted

us our unique dimensionality.

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I know this isn't a new concept.

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I've heard things similar before, but

I love the idea that our Earth, our

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beautiful blue planet, modeled this idea

of trauma to life-giving transformation.

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I personally don't believe

this story is a coincidence.

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The creation is taught over and over

again in scripture and in the temple.

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Obviously that's because it has

a lot to teach us and is an

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integral part of our own stories.

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So I hope this has given you some

new thoughts about how tuning into

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the magic of the earth and its

rhythms can teach us about life.

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Now, I told you last year that it was my

goal to celebrate Jesus Christ in every

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season, that this year feeling a need to

root my celebrations in a specific date.

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I chose to celebrate Jesus Christ on

the winter and summer solstice, along

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with the spring and fall equinoxes.

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Do you know what that means?

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It means it's time for me to plan my

Solstice celebration of Jesus Christ.

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If you recall, I am also using

the year as a representation

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of Christ's life on Earth.

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So at the spring Equinox, I focused on

his childhood, specifically when his

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mother couldn't find him because he

was at the temple teaching the scribes

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gripes here in the middle of the year

at the June Equinox, I have chosen

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to focus on the middle of his life.

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Well, not actually the middle of his

life in years, more like the middle

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of his biblical story, which I see

as the beginning of his ministry.

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Now, I can't resist noting that the major

life event that would have actually taken

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place closer to the midpoint of Christ's

life would have been his marriage.

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Jewish boys at the time got married

in their late teens or early

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twenties, And of course, Jesus was

married as members of the Church of

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Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

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We have to believe this.

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The culminating event of the temple is the

new and everlasting covenant of marriage.

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Jesus fulfilled all righteousness.

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Of course, he was married we can

only speculate when this took

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place and to whom, but I personally

have no doubt that it happened.

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But without any biblical

proof of his marriage.

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I am going to lay that aside use the

beginning of Christ's ministry as the

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focus point for my Solstice celebration.

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There are two stories

that come to my mind.

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One is the story of his baptism where

his cousin John the Baptist, immersed

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him in the waters of the Jordan River.

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the other story is when Jesus at the

request of his mother turned water into

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wine as his first public miracle, What

do these two stories have in common?

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Water.

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I love water and I love

to talk about water.

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As you may recall from the two podcasts I

did last year about water, but never fear.

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For this podcast, I am to keep my thoughts

about water brief, Sticking with the theme

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of life transformations, I want to talk

about how water can gently, as well as

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forcefully shape everything in its path.

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One of my favorite examples

of the transformative power of

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water is in the Grand Canyon.

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Most people are familiar

with this fabulous Red Rock

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Canyon, seen from the rim.

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This is a wonderful example of the power

of water, but I wanna talk about what is

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found down in the heart of the canyon.

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What I'm calling the heart is

also known as the Inner Gorge.

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The inner gorge can't

be seen from the rim.

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Thus, it is only witnessed by intrepid

hikers, and adventurous river runners.

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This gorge is formed by Vishnu

Schist, which is a black rock, not

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a red rock, as we usually expect

to find in the Grand Canyon.

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This rock is hard making the

gor narrow and full of rapids.

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So for a rafter gorge day means running

some of the toughest rapids in the canyon.

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And believe me, being surrounded

by immense ancient black walls only

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adds to the anxiety of the day.

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uh, but don't despair.

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Those black walls are

also incredibly beautiful.

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Running at angles through this black rock

are fissures of pink zoro, astor, granite,

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here is where the water comes in.

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This black granite streaked

sh has been fluted by eons of

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the polishing effect of water.

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Fluting.

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Looks like the giant fingers of God.

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Were dragged down through the rocks,

producing grooves and fissures.

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then these grooves were polished by water.

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It's like sculpture.

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I love spending time running my hands

over the satin surface or searching

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for magical nooks and crannies.

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I have found holes that were formed

by rocks getting stuck in fissures.

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And over time as the rock rode up

and down with the water currents, It

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carved a perfect tube shaped hole.

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So fun and amazing to see.

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So given this transformative power

of water, I don't think it's a

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surprise that water is often used

as a metaphor for Jesus Christ.

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He is our creator, our sculptor, and as

you know, Christ isn't done working on us.

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We are not finished products.

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We are still in the process of being

transformed into our true selves.

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All of us still have rough edges that

need polishing or edges that perhaps need

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a thea sized whack to smooth them out.

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So back to my solstice,

celebration of Jesus Christ.

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Because of these early biblical stories

of Jesus Christ's ministry, I decided

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to center my celebration around water.

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I happen to live only 15 minutes

away from the Colorado River, so

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that is where I plan to celebrate.

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If you are interested in doing

something similar, know there are lots

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of other water options ranging from

lakes, pools, fountains, and bathtubs.

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Now I want to share with you an

obstacle I didn't anticipate.

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this year the solstice falls on

June 20th, I fully planned on

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spending that day on the river.

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Then a family event conflicted with

this date, and I wondered what to do.

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Fortunately, I learned three things

that I want to share with you.

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The first one is that, although

the day of the summer solstice has

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the longest daylight hours, the

earliest sunrise of the year actually

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takes place a few days before.

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Hmm.

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Interesting.

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Another thing is that the word solstice

is a combination of the Latin words,

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soul for sun and sit for standing.

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That is because when the sun hits, it

zenith on the solstice, it appears to

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pause for a few days before it turns

and goes back in the other direction.

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and then lastly, even though the

June solstice takes place somewhere

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between the 20th and the 22nd,

depending on the year, Midsummer's

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Eve, a historical solstice celebration.

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takes place on June 24th.

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All these things added together gave

me permission to be happy with any date

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that fell somewhere around the 20th.

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So if you want to celebrate Jesus

Christ with me during the June

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solstice, feel free to improvise

and pick a date that works for you.

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I am so excited for my solstice

celebration of Jesus Christ.

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It's a little thing, but I love

connecting with Christ through

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his magnificent creations.

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Water, the solstice and Jesus Christ

form a rich spiral metaphor for growth,

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renewal, and divine transformation.

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Judy and I know your time is precious

and that you have many choices.

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We love that you have chosen to

walk with us for a few minutes as

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we navigate this journey of life.

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If you like this podcast, will you take

the time right now to share it with a

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Your efforts will help this podcast

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and shine a brighter light of hope.

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It will also let Judy and me know

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us the motivation to keep going.

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Thank you in advance for

your vote of support.

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Now speaking of water and rivers, John

7 38 quotes, Jesus, where he says He

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that believeth on me out of his belly

shall flow rivers of living water.

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Hmm, that's what I'm going for.

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Namaste.