Summer Solstice 2015

Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year and the shortest night of the year, arrives today. The majesty of the Sun shining through 14 to 20 hours is awe-inspiring. Then Lady Moon shows herself, this year in a dainty growing crescent, for so brief a span.

This Summer Solstice brings with it more renewal. There have been a number of gateways of change and shift happening in 2015 ~ even though the energies may have begun as long as two years ago.

Solstice is a time of celebration, and in particular, of fire and fecundity. Look at the flowers, at the gardens, at the fields. Every thing is in bloom, bringing with it ripeness and sweetness. This year, many of my gardener friends have told me that their gardens have ripened early. They continue to speculate ~ and noisily discuss ~ about the duration of the growing season. Will the plants continue to produce their crops (berries, tomatoes, etc.)? Or will they complete their growing cycle more quickly, leaving a fallow time to fill out the remainder of the summer?

Summer Solstice also brings with it a time of reflection. It is one of the Quarters that marks the seasonal calendar. I choose to burn incense ~ sage, to cleanse and renew; frankincense to reconnect with the Holy Mystery. Drumming calls in the directions and honors the guides who show up and grace the entry into a new season. Ritual always connects me, connects us, with the threads running through our lives and all of Life in, on and through the Earth.

What do you do to celebrate the Summer Solstice? Why? How do you honor the change of the seasons? Are they important to you? Why or why not?

Walk Through Fire

Have you ever felt like you were walking on hot coals? or across burning sand? I know some people have done these things literally, but I'm referring to that feeling of needing to move quickly and gingerly through something.

Lately, with the wonder of Mercury Retrograde and both the Solar Eclipse and New Moon, much of that kind of feeling has been happening in my world. Scorpio is so intimately involved in all this ~~ the hidden places are being brought to light. This is not the easiest path to pursue. Yet there is no true alternative. If I try to avoid the truths arising and being revealed, well, it'd be like stepping fully on the hot coals without protection or awareness. I only get burned. And I still have to face the truths. So I might as well face them from the start.

Since Mercury has gone direct, language is easier and expressing what's been happening and what continues to happen is more likely to make sense. The revelation piece comes out of Scorpio's hidden realm.

How does all this relate to Bukowski's quote? Revealing my truths, especially the ones I've spent time tucking away into the darkest corners, is "walking through the fire." It burns away the cover I've so carefully designed, planted and cultivated ~~ sometimes so well that I've hidden the truth from myself too. I walk well when I keep moving and face whatever is left after I get to the other side of the fire. I am eager to walk well through the fire!

What lies at the core of your fire? What have you hidden? What is being revealed? How well do you want to walk through your fire?