The Winter Solstice this year occurs at 6:03 PM EST today when the sun, as viewed from the Earth, ceases its apparent southward trajectory through the sky and begins its journey northward towards the celestial equator. I say apparent because it is not the sun that actually moves, but what we see is the result of the interplay between the rotational axis of the Earth that always points to the same place in the sky, and the orbital motion of the Earth, which gives us different seasons at different places on the Earth’s surface at different times of the year; starting today the days become longer.

OK, enough of the physics; I have long held, and I am not alone in this, that this turning point, in effect the incipient return of light from darkness, is of great physical and emotional significance to the multifarious manifestations of life on our planet. The Winter Solstice is the true dawn of a new year, and in this spirit I wish you, my steadfast readers, bounteous happiness and good health in the months to come.