In Asia, the Yin Yang symbol developed from the observations of shadow lengths due to the tilt of the earth relative to the sun.
Yin Yang developed based on the Sun shadow
In Banpo, China, all the buildings in the village dating to 4000BC are oriented to gain solar energy. There is also the Dōngzhì Festival or Winter Solstice festival that can be traced back to the Yin and Yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, days have longer daylight hours and therefore an increase in positive energy flowing in. This was also known as aligning with Qi or “flow of energy”, as related to Feng Shui.
Due to the lack of written information in some cultures, we may never know how some of the meanings and relationships to the Sun evolved over time. One thing that is certain was that most of our ancestors once had a great deal of reverence and awareness of the Sun and its cycle relative to the Earth but modern man has lost most of this knowledge.
We can reconnect to these ancient wisdoms and also build upon their knowledge by integrating our modern scientific knowledge about light, and about the Sun’s cycle. The study of light in ancient India was called Jyotisha. We now call it optical science which has become technically complicated, and is part of many related disciplines including electrical engineering, physics, astronomy, psychology, ophthalmology and optometry. For the purpose of this book we will focus on scientific aspects of the light that relate to reconnecting to the Sun spiritually.
© Copyright2009 Kelly Sabota-O’Donnell
Another powerful symbol related to the light, the Sun and Solar Energy is the Yin Yang Symbol. It is formed by the annual light cycle on the Earth as it orbits around the Sun.
Shadow length
The ancient Chinese recorded the shadow length of a pole every fifteen days.
Yin Yang developed based on the Sun shadow
They then divided a circle into 24 Segments using six concentric circles, and recorded the length of shadow.
The measurement began at the summer Solstice when the shadow was shortest, when yin began. They plotted the shadow length every fifteen days from the outside of the circle inward until winter Solstice, when the shadow was longest and Yang began. They then began plotting the length from the center of the circle outward until the summer Solstice. This is because they believed the Chi energy changed directions right after the Winter Solstice. When they connected all the measurements, it resulted in the familiar pattern of the Yin Yang. The Yin Yang would be the opposite color scheme if we were to record the shadow length from the southern hemisphere and this pattern would be less dramatic if one were to measure it on the equator.
Another way to represent this pattern is to draw two separate diagrams of the increasing light and the increasing darkness without the energy changing directions.
Increasing Light
Decreasing light
These essentially mean the same as the Yin Yang but do not combine very well into one diagram.
© Copyright 2009 Kelly Sabota-O’Donnell
Thanks for checking out the Conscious Revolution Blog, please join the discussion by leaving comments and expanding our thoughts, knowledge and ideas for a positive vision of the future.
