Chaco Solstice - 4 days 'til Christmas

Chaco at solstice, 5 x 7 watercolor

The stars are aligned, including ours. The moon is full. 
In the Anasazi "ruins" of the Southwest, including Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, all the buildings were aligned vertically and with the points of the compass.
They knew because they watched and studied and measured the heavens 1,000 years ago.
We have separated ourselves from the cosmos, trading the milky way for neon lights so we can barely see the stars in a world devoid of dark.

Chaco's pictograph of the 1054 nova

The star we read about this season? Probably a nova, an exploding star, such as the one they observed and painted by a forgotten artist on their sandstone cliffs in 1054.
These are not  "ruins" either... the spirits of the people still inhabit them. If you've ever camped there, you know, because they harnessed the power of the universe to build and thrive.
If you've camped there, you can almost feel the earth move beneath your feet and watch time as it passes, shadows sliding up and down the cliffs, and the stars wheeling overhead.
They measured and recorded all of this by observation over the years, setting up a rock calendar of the sun and moon's movement atop Fajada Butte.
They would have know what today was, its significance, just as other "primitive" peoples did even long before the Anasazi.
Of course we're too "civilized" for that, barely noticing the changes, other than it's the shortest day of the year.
No wonder the magic of solstice is gone, and Christmas merely a worship of materialism, rather than the eternal.

See also:
Solstice Dawn
When the Sun Stands Still

A message from afar-15 days til Christmas

"Message from Afar," #watercolor card

Stars. Messages from afar.
Science teaches we're looking back in time when we view the stars...the light just now reaching us that was first created millions of years ago.
Science also says that when stars explode, they create novas, bright explosions that when they reach us they appear for days or more visible even in the day. Rock carvings of the ancients have recorded these in the past, most recently at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in 1054.
Stars have always been associated with momentous events and monumental leaders, influencing events here on this pebble rotating around a small star.
Some believe that the star leading visitors to the birth of Jesus was such a nova.
'Tis possible. Also, 'tis possible as people of faith to believe otherwise, that it was a message from God.
I don't think it matters. What matters is the story is imbedded in our culture, and the baby born that day has influenced millions through the years.
I do know that such a star, nova or of faith, had to shine more than just a day or night to lead people to Bethlehem.
So here is the first rendition, for the next 15 days--a message from afar. These cards were sent to believes in the star of faith. There will be a special one Dec. 25.

December--Fading

December metaphor, 5 by 7 watercolor card

Old barns fade as they fall into disuse, like novas that appear and then their light dims after original brilliance. Like December, like years, like lives and experiences. Metaphors for every day.
"Enjoy every day you live, Terry," said my Uncle Mike, shortly before his death.
"Let us come alive to the splendor that is all around us, and see the beauty in ordinary things."--Thomas Merton

(Day 26 of December watercolors)