It is neither Pagan nor Christian exclusively, but Metaphysical.

Today, there will be a lot of posts from various sorces about the "paganity" of the first solstice, so we thought it would be interesting to give the readers some information on other side of this most aspicuous day's significance. That is, its Christian and contemporary significance.

The first solstice, traditionally, is seen as the day of the feast of Saint John the Baptist. In order to understand why, we must go into some astronomy: this is the day when the sun is known to reach its greatest declination, that is, it is the day when daylight lasts the longest in the year, and therefore is also the point at which the sun gradually begins to retreat from the earth, beginning its return only six months from now. It is peasant tradition to say that the sun "turns" today.

On the first solstice, the sun stands in its northern-most declination, where as on the second it will stand in its southern-most declination. This is symbolically significant given the traditional understandings associated with the two directions of north (solidification) and south (dissolution).

So the Christian tradition dedicate this day to Saint John the Baptist, because much like he prepeared the way for Jesus Christ, who was born six months after him and has that day dedicated to him, so too does this day, when the sun reaches its peak and turns on the longest day of the year, prepare the way for its (re)birth during the second, or winter, solstice on the shortest day in the year. Note the correspondence with the traditional notion of the four ages as well, seeing that the Golden Age is the "longest" and the Iron Age is the "shortest".

Today, the sun is prepared, tomorrow it starts its long procession into the darkness, and will there die and be reborn, corresponding, with two significant days delay, with the day of the birth of Jesus Christ, and with him the coming of the apocalypse and the end of days with the feast of Silva or Silvester, the day of the old night, of New Years Eve.

Solstice Meditations

The Sun (Surya) is the visible presence, the vision of the Divine, the cosmic symbol for the Supreme. He is the Divine light and presence that fills all the worlds. He is the world-soul, the Self, the Atman of all beings. He is the sun in the heart by which we all live and have our being and consciousness. It is this solar Self that is the truth and reverence behind the ancient solar religion.

Golden-handed Savitar, clear in vision, travels on between Heaven and Earth. he drives away violence and directs the approach of the Sun. Through the darkened region he unfolds Heaven.
Let the perfect guide, the compassionate almighty Self-natured Lord with golden hands approach. Driving away demons, the God is present, sung at evening.
Savitar, your original paths, perfectly made, dustless in the interior realm, by these easy going paths today guard and bless us, oh God. (Rig Veda)

Savitar (Surya's pre-dawn form) has golden hands. These are his rays of knowledge that give life and enlightenment. He is the night sun, the secret Sun of the inner planes, who prepares and directs the approach of the day Sun, Surya, the manifest Sun of the outer planes.

The Sun is the visible face of all the Gods. The Arya are the people, the children, of the Sun. It's rays are like open hands everywhere offering the gift of wisdom. It is for us to just see them, to witness them, and in so doing, work as a channel for them.

Today, oh Gods, in the rising of the Sun, deliver us from all narrowness and blame. May the Divine Lord and Friend increase that for us, along with the Infinite Mother, the Ocean, Earth and Heaven. (Rig Veda)

“The Japanese are of a kindly disposition, not at all given to cheating, wonderfully desirous of honour and rank. Honour with them is placed above everything else. There are a great many poor among them, but poverty is not a disgrace to anyone.

There is one thing among them of which I hardly know whether it is practised anywhere among Christians. The nobles, however poor they may be, receive the same honour from the rest as if they were rich.

They listen with great avidity to discourse about God and Divine things… They do not worship any gods under the form of beasts. Most of them venerate certain ancient men, who, as far as I have been able to ascertain, used to live after the fashion of the old philosophers.”

~ St. Francis Xavier to St. Ignatius Loyola in Rome, The Christian missionaries Letter

In Europe, every consciously established link with the centre through the medium of orthodox organizations is now broken, as has been the case for several centuries. This severance was gradual, completed in various successive stages rather than at once.

The first of these breaks occurred at the beginning of the fourteenth century, at which time one of the principal roles of the Orders of Chivalry was to make a direct connection between East and West. The importance of such a link will be readily understood when it is recalled that the centre has always, at least in 'historical' times, been depicted as being situated in the Orient.
After the destruction of the Order of the Templars, the liaison was maintained in a less overt fashion by the Rosicrucians, or those to whom this name was afterwards given.

. . .

"Orientals have been Westernized-so someone wrote-if they believe something foolish.

But if they were wise before the poison of the West, why did they let themselves be robbed of their wisdom? The East does not bear the first guilt for the fall of humanity –– but we are all human beings!"

– Schuon, Autumn Leaves

'The Mithraic mysteries lead to the very heart of the magical Western tradition – a world characterized by self-affirmation, light, greatness, regal spirituality and spiritual regality. In this path there is no room for escapism; or asceticism; or mortification of the self through humility and devotion; or renunciation and contemplative abstraction. Mithras' path is one of action, of solar power and of spirituality, which is opposed to both the dull and dreamy orientalism and to Christian sentimentalism and moralism.

It is said that only a "man" could proceed along this path; any "woman" would be consumed and broken by the "taurine strength." The brightness of the hvareno, of the glorious and radiant Mithraic halo, arises only out of a frightful tension, and it only crowns the "eagle," which was capable of "staring" at the Sun.'

Julius Evola – The Path of Enlightenment According to the Mysteries of Mithras

Prochoros Kydones was condemned by the Greek Church for upholding the Traditional doctrine of Divine Simplicity that was taught by Augustine, Boethius, and Aquinas. The Byzantine Humanists were in line with both the Traditions of the Pagan Philosophers and the Christian Patristics unlike the followers of Palamism.

Augustine has interesting takes but they are on the field of philosophy. . . On exegesis, metaexegesis, metaphysics (higher sense), and unironically pagans they are crappy. Same problem with Ficino when he starts christianizing some aspects of Platonism by siding with Origen, Augustine and Boethius against Plato and Aristotle.

The problem with Aristotle (and hence scholastics) is that it is a natural philosophy. A pure exercise of the intellect means you can make calculations but it doesn't help you in itself. Instead it paves the way to the Divine madness. Without understanding him, one will never understand Plato. Damascius, Bessarion and Ficino agree on this point. In regards to the point made before this, a medium is established by Dionysius of Areopagite between the Renaissance Humanists and Platonists: the Bacchic approach to God through the negation of the intellect. Both Pico and Ficino agreed that the highest form of love is blind. Pico in particular believed that man must surrender himself utterly to a state of unknowing and approach the divine secret in the blindness of self destruction.

This comment is misunderstanding the goal of Scholasticism. Scholasticism was never meant to be an ends in itself but a means to the end. Scholasticism is meant to be the preparation for the mystical experience of God. The words of Tomberg would be helpful here:

"St. Thomas Aquinas was not the only one. Just as he arrived at contemplation through scholastic reasoning, so did the peak of the scholastic wave reach gnosis [mystique], that is to say, intuition or the state of union of faith and intelligence, which is the aim of scholasticism. A Meister Eckhart, a Ruysbroeck, the Admirable Doctor, a St. John of the Cross are in fact spirits amongst whom you will search in vain for a spirit of opposition to scholasticism. For them also it was true that scholasticism was “like straw”, but they knew at the same time from their own experience that this straw is an excellent combustible. They certainly surpassed scholasticism, but after having attained its aim. For the aim of scholastic effort is contemplation, and it is gnosis [mystique] which is the fruit of the scholastic tree."  - Meditations on the Tarot, Letter XIX, The Sun

Also the Renaissance Humanists such as Pico and Ficino were very indebted to both Aristotle and the Scholastics, especially St. Thomas Aquinas. Ficino stated that one needs to be “initiated into the disciplines of Aristotle” before one can understand the doctrines of Plato:

"From natural things one ascends to divine things, and this is why no one can ever understand the sublime mysteries of Plato unless he has already been initiated into the disciplines of Aristotle." - 𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂 𝑶𝒎𝒏𝒊𝒂, 𝒑. 𝒄𝒎𝒍𝒊𝒊𝒊.

We here at NFTU don’t believe in “Mysticism vs Reason” but we affirm the union of the two.

Thanks to NFTU's recent comment on shedding clarification on my judgement:
»This comment is misunderstanding the goal of Scholasticism. Scholasticism was never meant to be an ends in itself but a means to the end. Scholasticism is meant to be the preparation for the mystical experience of God.«

The underlined portions were my point exactly that it wasn't an end in itself and couldn't be (theoretically speaking)

Wisely show yourself spirited and resolute when perils press you; likewise reef your sails when they swell too much by a favoring breeze.
• Horace