Tonight, on this Winter Solstice, there will be a rare celestial event in the sky. Jupiter and Saturn will be in alignment. From the perspective on Earth, they will meet in the sky and create what is called the “Christmas Star”. The last time humans were able to witness such an event in the night sky was nearly 800 years ago. In Earth’s night sky, these planets will align to almost a tenth of a degree apart, in space they are actually hundreds of millions of miles apart.
Two planets, both near and far, depending on your perspective. As are we.
Like Jupiter and Saturn, with all this physical distancing, it feels like we’re hundreds of millions of miles apart from our loved ones, especially at Christmas. Whether they are down the block, across the country, or have passed onto the spirit realm, we can’t be near them physically. For some of us it’s been months and others maybe even years, since we’ve been able to embrace our sisters, grandpas, best friends, nephews, mothers….
We miss them. And it can be sad to feel that physical distance.
Yet we are also close...close if even for a moment.
A warm memory of someone passed.
A good laugh over a phone call.
A shared tradition practiced.
A card with an update and a note of love.
This closeness from afar can manifest in many forms.
I made my Grandma’s famous Christmas gingersnaps on Saturday. We are more than hundreds of millions of miles away from each other. She’s in the land of the ancestors, the spirit realm, and probably baking cookies with her God. I felt so close to her when I was baking her special recipe as I do every year, as she did every year. As I was measuring out the cinnamon, I heard her whisper to me and carefully instruct me as she always did in life…Be sure not to measure the cinnamon over the mixing bowl. I smiled and slowly moved my measuring spoon over the kitchen sink instead. In a fleeting moment, like the celestial one, we were in perfect alignment. I felt her near me. And I wept. Because I miss her terribly. Even though she’s not here with me physically, our love for each other remains.
A good and wise friend of mine, Emily Linderman, calls this the “spirit highway”. We can be close when we are far from each other physically by holding on to and being aware of the love that binds us. Love is beyond space and time. It’s felt. Perhaps it’s a deeper intimacy to feel that love from a distance? Love is like that, defying all finitude.
And with love, like Saturn and Jupiter, we are in alignment.
We are close.
We are together.
Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls