Hudson Valley Astrologer

Christmas is an amazing holiday for the festivities and gathering of people, and especially Christmas dinner. We not only create a banquet atmosphere befitting for a king and queen, we also adjoin two tables to stretch 14 feet across the Great Room where the feast begins and ends. Filet, twice baked potatoes, veritas beans, baked beets, stuffed mushrooms, homemade sourdough and plenty of Cabernet Sauvignon for the au ju sauce and Pinot Noir for the table.

As I come into my twilight years, however, I grow increasingly suspicious of the commercialization of Christmas and the hypocrisy of the Christmas story. The intention and meaning of the holiday seems lost in the manipulation of the hearts and souls of the celebrants. The Christmas Story has in some sense been hijacked and made political which might eventually ruin supper, because we will end up breaking bread with loved ones so entranced in their beliefs that there will be an invisible veil pulled around their spirit to keep the falsity out — in an attempt to protect their own personal truth — but in that effort, not let anything else get in.

I grew up Catholic and the overall theme of the Christmas holiday seemed to be “Peace on Earth” and “Joy to the World.” But the faith has been disintegrating and breaking off into sectarian and fundamentalist groups whose brand and message is contrary to the very Christian ethics I was raised with, and is instead sown in extreme bias and prejudice. The taken over of religion is more about separation and division, not Unity, which is the message for the age and the singular clue that the religious movements of today are more egoic than universal, as in “my god” is better than yours, and so on, but out of step with Time.

I still believe in the “Christmas Spirit.” However, for me, it is now less about the childlike identification and personification of God, and more about a transcendent, universal experience-a sense that All is One.

HVA

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