Summer Solstice

“Why did we go and perform that ritual around that oak tree? How does that help us become better human beings?”

“Precisely because most people don’t perform rituals around oak trees and more, and because by performing apparently absurd rituals, you get in touch with something deep in your soul, in the oldest part of yourself, the part closest to the origin of everything.” Aleph.

Summer Solstice marks an important time when we watch the seasons and follow the cycles of the moon and sun. It’s a time when the Sun God’s strength begins to wane. Summer is hot, lush, erotic and sexy, it’s a time when everything, (including us) is in full bloom. This intense heat creates fiery, breathless passion, we are in a time of mature desire, hot appetite. That’s why we all love to have a summer romance. In the cycle of the seasons, mid-summer gives time for rest, play and celebration. It’s the time of year when the faeries are out playing with us, enjoying the sun and sharing their sparkles with us. All the he hard works we put in over the spring is being rewarded and we relax and have fun before we start the work on the abundant harvest ahead.

On a deeply personal level, midsummer is a time to reflect on the challenges I set in midwinter. Last winter solstice I shared a beautiful ritual with a group of gorgeous and spirited women on the bank of the Brisbane river. Together we set fire to our souls and let go of that which no longer served us. Today, I’ve been reflecting on that which I let go and am grateful for the time in between in which I have worked, have toiled to break the cycles of the things that were getting in the way. Today, I am grateful for the freedom I feel from that letting go.

Along with that gratitude, I feel a sense of loss, a sense on heart ache. I’ve been all discombobulated this last week, nothing has quite fit together, there hasn’t been the ease of day to day life. Maybe it’s the solstice. I have never really enjoyed summer solstice; it makes me sad. I always find myself in the depths of melancholy at midsummer. I think it’s because midsummer doesn’t have that same feeling of anticipation and expansion that midwinter has. Midwinter the Goddess is full and pregnant and ready to burst forth a new Sun God. The time is one of excitement and anticipation as the days get longer and the joy builds. But mid-summer? Pfft, nope, the Sun God is at his height and now he will start to slowly diminish. Its like a great big breath in and now a slow exhale. From mid-summer the days get shorter and the nights longer. I feel a sense of disappointment that the excitement of summer has reached its peak and is on its way out and all I have done is sit in an office 9-5!

I also feel a desperate need to make the most of our hot stormy nights. I only have a month or two left to hike, ride the motorbike in the balmy night air, hug trees in the quiet still mornings and run along the beach with my dog in the warm light of the setting sun.

I know mid-summer is usually celebrated with fire, but I want water this year. I want to sink my heart and soul into the warm liquid of life and cleanse whatever is there. On mid summers eve I will go to the beach, say a favourite Sufi prayer and send devotional boats full of my hopes and blessings into the ocean. I will send them with love and gratitude into the outgoing tide and thank the Goddess for all that she provides. In doing so, I surrender myself to the water, and have my feelings of sadness and melancholy replaced by something positive, as if my soul is being washed clean by the deep waters of compassion and love.

So, that is how I will move through this melancholy of mid-summer.

How will you celebrate? Here are some simple ideas:

Make a sun wheel by creating a large wreath with flowers. Then get some strips of paper and have your friends write a wish on it and wrap it or tie it with string to the wreath. Hang it in a tree or on your front door.

Gather or buy some yellow and orange flowers and make a mandala offering on the Earth. Pick the petals off and arrange them in circular patterns. The act of creating something beautiful and sacred is a holy and healing act. Offer love and sweet wishes to the Goddess and those in your life as you create your mandala.

Light a candle (red, orange or gold) and state your wish or prayer.  Surround it with the flowers of the season in bright or warm shades like zinnias, marigolds or sunflowers.

Bath in moonlight at night – round up your closest and tell stories or read poems of nature and drink wine, eat fruits and write out your wishes for the year ahead.

Build a house for the faeries that come out (while your back is turned, of course).

Build a flower crown, make herbal tinctures, make a flower bath or create flower water.

Soak in a pampering flower bath.