Time to Shine: Celebrating Summer Solstice
Dear Reader,
I’m writing to you from my sunlit kitchen, the scent of fresh lemon balm, rose, and lavender in the air. I picked my first roses from my mother’s garden, and though her lavender isn’t flowering yet, I brought some home with me, and it’s smelling divine. I’m in love with summer.
How are you experiencing this time of year where you live?
What are you noticing in your surroundings?
The beginning of summer
The end of June features a major seasonal turning point in the solar year. At Summer Solstice, the Sun enters the sign of Cancer in the tropical zodiac, marking the longest day of the year and the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. This year, the exact Cancer/Summer Solstice falls on June 21, 4:58 p.m. CET (convert to your local time).
At the start of summer, we’re reaching the midpoint in the Sun’s yearly round. Summer Solstice marks the sacred pause at the height of the cycle when the Sun (sol) stands still (sistere) at its highest point in the sky, rising and setting in the same place for a few days, and then starts moving southward. From here on, the Sun will gradually descend in the sky, lowering its arc across the horizon and shortening the days.
‘Full Moon’ of the year
The light is peaking, promising illumination and fulfillment of whatever vision we had planted back at the Winter Solstice. With the Sun being in its fullest expression of light, our lives during the summer tend to be full and active as well. This is the time of year when the greatest amount of physical work is required in the garden — both in the literal sense and in the garden of our life.
Do you remember what vision for your life you had planted at the December Solstice?
Cancer, the crab, is a cardinal water sign and signifies a season of initiating (cardinal) emotional connection (water). Belonging to the Moon, the cosmic mother archetype, Cancer promises a season of caring for what we love. Cancer season is here to help us remember what we care about most and to remind us that we ourselves are loved and supported.
Are you ready to enter the portal of summer?
How are you arriving in the summer season?
What is ripening in your life?
What needs watering?
What needs weeding or pruning?
What work has yet to be done?
What are your wishes for the summer?
Each question is written as an invitation to weave ourselves deeper into the mysteries of summer. Please take them into your journal or any other kind of creative or contemplative practice where they can work their magic for you.
What this time of year is good for:
Garden time, medicine-making, siestas, bonfires, rituals of care and connection, plant communication, sun bathing, movement, spending as much time outside as possible, walking barefoot, collecting treasures from nature, caring for the living things, gathering with people who feel like home, enjoying nighttime warmth
A moment of balance
At a time when nature is bursting with life, may we find balance between hard work and rest, and support ourselves in receiving what is most nourishing to us. In my own life, I’m noticing the importance of a calming evening practice to balance the heat of the day. It’s so easy to miss my bedtime with the Sun setting so late, but I feel so much better when I wind down early and leave some time for reflection, gentle stretches, or body oiling.
What rhythms would most support your summer body?
How may you balance your inner fire?
I’m wishing you a beautiful summer wherever you are. I know I’m looking forward to spending more time outside and filling up with sunlight, helping to tend my mother’s garden, and making lavender infused oil once the lavender is in bloom. I’m also working on a website and hope to publish something soon.
What is your relationship to summer this time around?
Are you perhaps a child of summer, having been born during this season? And if so, how does that inform you?
Until next time…
I very much look forward to writing to you again around the time of the Leo/Summer Cross-Quarter, which marks the halfway point between Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and heralds a time of generosity and sharing. It falls on August 7, 8:23 p.m. CET this year (convert to your local time).
In the meantime, I’m sending you the very best wishes for the turning of the season on this Summer Solstice!