Earth Energies
By Karen Crowley Susani
Exploring the connection between heaven and earth.
The Sun's Role in Spirituality
The sun and its immense power and energy have been intimately intertwined with our spirituality throughout the ages. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout the history of the world. Most of us know the names of a few ancient sun gods, such as the Roman god, Apollo, or the Greek god, Helios, or Ra and Aten of the Egyptian pantheon. Even Christ is regarded as a solar deity.
Humans are tuned from the very beginning of life to look up to the heavens. We track the sun as it moves through the sky each day. When night falls, the moon steps into focus as it dances through the heavens with the stars and planets. We have familiar daily
rhythms connected to the sun, and many of us love watching it sink into the darkness at night. Others enjoy seeing the sun’s first rays illuminating the morning sky. Ancient man, not only tracked the daily travels of the sun, but also observed the annual movements of the sun. Giant stone structures were erected to capture these movements. Many megalithic structures around the world are connected to the sun’s yearly rhythm and other heavenly bodies. Dolmens, passage tombs, long barrows, stone circles, and stone alignments are oriented to the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, and some, even to the constellations. Most of us know that Stonehenge is a giant solar and lunar calendar.
Star Nations Magazine • September 2020 • 20
One of its dramatic sun alignments is to the summer solstice sunrise. Other examples are dolmens and passage tombs oriented, so the first morning sunlight illuminates a passageway carefully aligned to a solstice sunrise or oriented to a sunset. As the sun rose or set, carvings on stones or bowls in the back were lit up with the essence of the sun’s power. Megalithic builders were clever. They didn’t choose just any sunrise or sunset - they caught the sun at the most pivotal times of the year; the solstice sunrise and sunset, and the equinox. Imagine for a moment that you traveled back in time and are tracking the sun’s movements.
Credit: All images credit Karen Crowley-Susani unless otherwise noted
But not many people know the secret of how the sun was used to build sacred sites or its ability to help us access a clearer connection to spirit. Of course, many of us know how sacred places are aligned with the sun. Stonehenge and Newgrange are well-known examples of sacred places built with solar alignments. But there is something else, even more important going on with the sun at sacred sites.
