Time to Turn on the Lights:
A Solstice Celebration, Attunement to prepare for 2025, and Community Healing Session on December 22, 2024
Have you noticed that people are getting angry or frustrated or annoyed faster? That reactivity has gone up? I’ve even noticed it around my friends and colleagues who are on deep spiritual paths. No one, including me, is exempt.
These are really challenging times! There is so much polarization, aggression, and what seems to be huge steps backward, all over the world.
You may be feeling a strong sense that you are called into something greater, or you want to find your life’s purpose, but you have felt bogged down, contracted, stymied.
Truth has been hard to come by. Issues of power are in front and center: on the one hand you may feel powerless in the face of all that’s going on; on the other, you feel it’s time to step out and claim, and live into your power.

Quick Details:
Date: December 22, 2024
Time: 8 – 9:30 pm eastern time
We will meet via Zoom.
Once you sign up, even if you cannot be on the call, you will receive the celebration, attunement, and healing session.
The event will be recorded; you will also receive the recording.
Do you resonate with one of these situations?
What you’re feeling is the effects of several challenging astrological events happening at the same time, which are bringing huge opportunities as well.
What you’re experiencing is part of the larger shift of Pluto into Aquarius, together with a very powerful Mars-Pluto opposition.
The Mars-Pluto opposition, which is going to most active through March, and will be exact on January 3 (think extra strong in the week before and after), is a big part of all the polarization and anger that you are seeing and experiencing. However, it is also bringing huge gifts! If you are attuned to it, it will help you cut through the illusions of what you’ve been told in your life. It will help you look deep within and find the power that is hidden within you. More than that, it will help you bring that power out into the light, and to bring that power out in the words that we speak in order to come from our highest integrity.
The sun is meeting up with the Galactic Center (the very center of our galaxy), and also facing off with (squaring) the lunar nodes. It is also supporting you to move out of people-pleasing and to claim your inner power and live it out.
Neptune and Jupiter and Saturn and Mercury are in what’s called a grand cross. This configuration is very powerful. One of its aspects is dreaming big. This is a time to dream — and dream big.
The Solstice itself is bringing in some huge energy to help you and the collective. Not only is there a huge amount of light coming in, but the Solstice sounds a tuning fork for the next 3 months – and actually longer in this case, due to some of the ongoing astrological events.
It also provides the opportunity to come back to center, to get grounded in the earth and the earth’s cycles, and to get connected in community. Now is the time to find an oasis in the midst of the eruptions, turmoil, volatility, and unraveling.
This Session is for everyone!
We are in the midst of the biggest evolutionary shift humanity has ever seen. I have been guided to offer a series of celebration, attunement, and healing sessions throughout the year to support you in your own personal and spiritual transformation.
This session will help you embrace and make the best use of the huge transformation that these shifts are bringing. It will also support the collective as we are all moving through these times of great change.
This session is for all! Anyone on our planet who is experiencing or has experienced both the contraction and the push toward transformation that we’ve been undergoing will experience the benefits of this session.

On December 22 we will gather to celebrate, and you will be attuned to the Solstice:
In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the festival known as Yule, meaning wheel. On the longest night of the year,Yule celebrates the return of the sun.
In the Southern Hemisphere, you will be celebrating the the longest day of the year and the coming of the dark, more inward time of the year.
Yule is the moment where the energy of the new year rises up. It is a wonderful time to look within and set intentions for the following year.
There are three components to these sessions.
The first is celebration.
We will celebrate the cross-quarter holidays of light and fire. These holidays are the true beginnings of each season. Celebrating them together – yes, even together online — will give you a sense of grounding and connectedness to each other and the earth.
Gathering together, celebrating with ritual (even as simple as lighting a candle and sharing a blessing), will also re-connect you with the light that is coming through and changing every one of us and our planet. More than that, it will be a time to drink in that light so it can continue to illuminate you and help others to experience the light.
The second is healing.
We will gather for healing – individually and collectively. Each person who is registered will receive the healing session, and we will also do some healing work for the whole planet.
The last component is attunement.
As I have been doing for the past year, I will attune you to the current astrological energies so that you can move through with grace and ease. I will also attune you to the cross-quarter holidays themselves, so you can connect deeply with the earth and find strength and sustenance from that connection.
These attunements will also help you deal with the ongoing face-offs between Uranus and Saturn (and Uranus and some other planets as well). Uranus, the planet of eruptions, volcanoes (physical, emotional, and metaphorical), and awakening, is shaking things up. Being attuned to these energies will help you deal with the shake-ups. It can also catapult you forward in your own personal and spiritual growth.
Finally, these attunements will re-connect you with the huge shift that happened in December (the Great Conjunction), and with the light that is bringing awakening, change, and a global shift from power-over to power-with; the light that is literally pouring into our planet and each one of us, changing our very DNA.
What is an attunement or alignment and what is its power?
Attunement means to “bring into harmony.” It helps you to be “in tune” with the energies that are strongly affecting us. Alignment means “the proper positioning or state of adjustment of parts in relation to each other.” When you are aligned with the energies, that puts you in sync with them and gives you a greater ability to incorporate the gifts they bring and to use these energies more effectively.
Being attuned or aligned means that you have nature’s support for these shifts. This session will connect you with the opportunities for growth that these events is bringing.
This session will help you:
Your Guide: Mary Shields, PhD
Since 2003, I have been working with astrological energies as a healing practitioner. About a decade ago, Spirit gave me the gift of attuning and aligning people with these energies in such a way that they can use them for their greatest benefit and healing. I have been working both individually and in groups in this way ever since.
Additionally, I bring a strong background in Celtic spirituality. I lived in Scotland for two years, and also did research on Celtic spirituality as part of my sabbatical. As a minister, I know first-hand the importance of ritual and gathering. I love facilitating both, and have been doing so for several decades.
One of my gifts is creating community, and I now have close to a decade of experience doing it online. For many years, I did these attunements and celebrations via teleconference. Zoom has enhanced our sense of connection and community by adding the ability to see each other as we participate together.

What happens on the call?
This is an energetic and healing session, so the process is not like a workshop or class with exercises. Celebration will begin and end each event. I will begin with opening sacred space. We will begin with the celebration and attunement to the Solstice. I will let you know ahead of time what to bring or prepare (for example, I may ask you to have a candle ready to light together).
Next, I will give some information about the astrological event(s), as well as the challenges and opportunities it brings. We will then dive into the attunement(s) and session, which I will explain as they happen. There will be some short periods of silence. I may ask you to breathe deeply or tap your head, heart, and navel (the three brain centers of the body — to learn more, click here). The last part of the healing session is devoted to the healing of the planet, with all of us participating through holding space. We will end by completing our celebration together.
Generally, you are in a relaxed, receptive state throughout. I do suggest you have a notebook handy for any notes you wish to make. I also suggest that you make sure you are in a private, receptive space.
It is especially powerful if you can be on video for the first part of the call, so we can see and feel each other more directly that way. And not to worry if you can’t be on the call live, or need to be on audio/phone only: if you are registered for the call, you are fully connected into the entire event.
What might you experience during or after the session?
You may or may not feel anything during or after the session. That’s perfectly fine. The energy and healing will still be working in you whether you can feel it or not. Whatever you experience (or don’t experience) is just right for you. You will receive what you need.
You may seem to “fall asleep” during the session. Or, you may fall asleep every time you try to listen to the session for a while. This is also perfectly normal. If this happens, know that you are in a very deep, restful state where Spirit can do the deeper work inside you. Don’t resist it and don’t worry — you haven’t missed a thing! Just follow your body’s needs as you listen, and the session will work in you as it needs to.
After the session, you may feel energized and ready to take on the world, or you may feel, as my client Linda told me, “Like I was hit with a truck.” The session will affect you differently than it will other people. What you feel after one session may be completely different than what you feel after another. The energy and healing will be continuing to work in you for quite some time. Be gentle with yourself, especially the day after. Drink lots of water, rest, and give yourself time to integrate.
What is the Solstice?
The Solstice comes from the Latin, sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). The Summer and Winter Solstices celebrate the longest and shortest days of the year.
Since time immemorial, cultures all over the planet have celebrated the return of the sun, which happens at the Winter Solstice. Some have created elaborate structures to mark the return of the sun (such as New Grange in Ireland, and Maes Howe in Scotland). It is a time to celebrate the beginning of the longer days and an anticipation of the growing season to come. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is a time to set intentions for what you want to manifest in the coming year.
Likewise, all cultures have celebrated the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. It is the time in which you are closest to the sun that you will be all year. The sun has reached its peak, and the cycle of growth is completed. Summer Solstice reminds you to celebrate the nourishing light of the sun and the light within you. It’s a time celebrate peak experiences, and also to turn inward to find the nourishment you need to grow and evolve.
The Solstices draw us back to basics.
When you attune to the cycles of the earth, you are no longer swept away by the swirling and eruptions on the surface.
You remember you are part of something much larger and greater.
When you attune to the festivals of light, you bring light back into our lives and the lives of others. You shine the light of truth onto the shenanigans of those acting out more hatred and division.

What others have said about attunements
“Powerful,” and “Incredible” are the most-used adjectives I hear from those who write to me after an attunement.
Some of the comments I’ve received about the last celebration, attunement and healing session: “Amazing Session!” “Beautiful and powerful session!”
“Thank you for hosting the attunement. Somehow, I felt I needed to join in this. Over the past couple of weeks, I have experienced low back pain, affecting hips and legs, stiffness, and soreness. I felt the relief in the sacrum, which also relieved the hips and legs. It all went away when the bones balancing happened! I have been able to squat, not all the way, but something I have not been able to do for a long time. I’m hoping this lasts so that I can do more on my yoga practice.” A day later, she wrote, “So good to be able to move without the pain and stiffness!”
Vicki W, Michigan
“That session was so powerful. I literally felt the fear lift off me as soon as you mentioned…. I was carrying so much fear. And it just kept getting better from there. I couldn’t move after – had to integrate and just felt so peaceful.”
Angela S, Massachusetts
“Those in my orbit are noticeably more ‘lighter’ and joyous since the session.”
Casper B, British Columbia
“Thank you, Mary. I so enjoyed the session and the background and astrological facts that accompanied it. It was a great evening and loved being connect to 99+ people I’ve never met, but we will be connected now for sure. The healing of the planet was wonderful and so needed.”
Cindy H., North Carolina
“I joined the group only by phone last night and was blown away by the energy I felt during both the attunements and healings.” A few days later, she wrote, “My awareness seems more expansive and I sense being an integral part of the Whole.”
Becky A., Ohio