Like most Minnesotans I was unable to watch the lunar eclipse take place due to thick cloud cover.  Likewise, due to that same cloud cover, I was unable to see the Sun reborn this morning.   I’ll have to settle for watching it second hand on youtube.

In some Pagan traditions Winter Solstice day is a time of omens that tell what will happen during the coming year.  The day is seen as a parallel for the year, with the dawn showing how the year will start and sunset showing how it will end.  Any changes in weather, clouds, wind, bird sightings, and even things such as money found on the ground or an overheard bit of conversation are carefully recorded along with the time of day that the omen occurred.  This time line of events is then related to the months of 2011, similar to a horoscope.

Others are honoring the god Freyr for Yule, spending the day eating a ham, hanging holly, mistletoe and exchanging gifts.  Or perhaps you are celebrating the Saturnalia or Sol Invictus.  Most Pagans are celebrate the Winter Solstice as one of the eight Sabbats, when the god is re-born by the mother goddess.

I am celebrating the Heliogenna, a holy time of somber remembrance and exuberant joy as Dawn leads a re-Born Helios across the sky once more.

My your Solstice day be a joyous one, filled with family, friends, and good food – and my all your omens be positive ones.