It Only Comes Four Times a Year
Honoring Earth in the City

by Stephen Wing

Swinging in the arms of gravity, dancing her yearlong loop-the-loop around the Sun in such perfect time that she defines 'time,' the Earth tilts just enough on her axis to give us seasons. I like to think it's a gift she gives consciously, fully aware of how useful seasons are – and how majestic she looks dressed up in their revolving colors and moods.

Some people migrate to the tropics, permanent summer, and never miss the other three seasons. But I like to see all four come and go. Perhaps it makes me feel like I've been somewhere; I can't afford to travel far these days. In fact, treading the annual round of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter has become a kind of pilgrimage for me over the last ten years as I've striven to observe each Solstice and Equinox. It helps me stay connected with Nature amid the city, finding sanctuary in patches of green where the life-force leaks through the concrete.

For me, the Solstices and Equinoxes are a time to celebrate not just the natural world, but my community. Perhaps that's a vestigial memory of my ancestors who tended fields and flocks; when they celebrated the seasons, they celebrated survival itself. And only in tribes, bands, villages, clans, and extended families did they survive to become ancestors at all.

Or perhaps it's an instinctive recognition that all of Nature is a community, an extended family of relatives. Solstices and Equinoxes are family reunion days. As members of the family from birth, we humans are invited. But most of us are estranged children, prodigal spenders of our inheritance at the expense of our four-legged, finned and winged siblings.

Lately, we don't celebrate our own survival so much as the miraculous survival of this community of Nature itself. Everywhere we look, irreplaceable ecosystems are in danger. We come together – we two-leggeds who feel our own connection to the soil, the water, and other living things – because Creation needs our participation to go on creating.

This must have always been true, because wiser people than us have celebrated at the same sacred intervals since prehistoric times to bless the planting and safeguard the harvest. But now that the inherent capacity of humans to wreck the biosphere has been scientifically proven, the reasons for this tradition have grown suddenly clear. We need to participate in the seasons so we don't forget that our lives depend on the Earth.

All over metro Atlanta, small groups gather in urban sanctuaries to praise Nature on its sacred days. Most of these events are private – a precaution against ignorant prejudice, perhaps, or against too large a crowd. Some charge money to cover expenses.

As a newcomer to the city a decade ago, I didn’t know how to find these events. So I started a new one. Coming from a spiritual tradition that emphasizes total openness to all – the Rainbow Family gatherings – I felt strongly that in a city the size of Atlanta, at least one circle every Solstice and Equinox should be held on public land, at no charge, so everyone can feel included.

Over the years I haven't lived up to this pledge very well. I couldn't keep up with all the deadlines and listing fees it would take to keep every Solstice and Equinox in the public eye. I settled for articles in local publications, postcards, flyers, and word-of-mouth. I never wanted to be in charge of anything! Fortunately, other Earth-lovers have stepped in to help. The DeKalb Inter-Faith Coalition for Prevention now co-sponsors the events. The Dances of Universal Peace generously hosted us for several years and still shares its weekly Wednesday evening with us twice a year. Our events are always changing as different people contribute their vision and talents.

I am grateful for the transcendent moments when Spirit descended as we prayed and the Earth trembled beneath us as we danced. But the numbers in our circles remain small; we welcome more participants, and need more help to create ceremonies worthy of them.

If you want to be part of a community that gathers four times a year to honor the Earth in Atlanta, please join our Winter Solstice celebration on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 7: 30-9:30 pm, at the Atlanta Friends House, 701 W. Howard Ave., Decatur.

If you have suggestions for the ceremony, get in touch. If you have contacts in Atlanta's faith community who might wish to participate or co-sponsor, get in touch. If you can help get the word out, get in touch. If you want to be part of my mailing or email list, get in touch. If you belong to a group, consider sponsoring a future Equinox or Solstice event, wholly or in part.

Every day is just as sacred as the Solstice or Equinox, just as every direction is sacred, not just North, South, East and West. Celebrating the cardinal days and directions draws a symbolic circle around the whole, embracing the entire year and the entire planet as precious and holy. You're already in orbit with the rest of us. Why not join the dance?

Thank you, Creator Spirit! Thank you, Mother Earth! Thank you, all my relations!

Stephen Wing is an Atlanta poet and activist, author of Crossing the Expressway: Poems from the Open Road. For more information about Equinox and Solstice circles, or to help with planning and publicity, contact him at 770.948.3445, ext. 3180, or stevew@newleafdist.com