Happy Summer Solstice
I awoke this morning to a cacophony of birds singing, welcoming the dawn and once again my feet found the trails of Sedona near my home as the Sun arose. The air was unusually crisp and the forest teemed with jackrabbits, deer, and a profound sense of equanimity. The moment felt blessed and I was filled with gratitude as I moved through the forest and into the sense of peace it always provides.
Wednesday, June 21, (the exact moment occurs at 8:57 am PDT ), marks a turning point on the archetypal wheel of the year: Summer Solstice. We enter the sign of Cancer and move into glorious summer.
I will share more about the intricacies of Cancer at the New Moon but I wanted to offer a Solstice ritual to welcome this season of change.
Welcoming the moment is an act of profound power.
To welcome the moment, any moment not just this one, is to move into alignment with your life. It is being receptive to your experience, no matter what the experience. Because it is yours and therefore a sacred part of your life.
This is a time of growth and nourishment. I grew up in the midwest and can remember my mother saying that by the 4th of July, healthy corn was knee high (hence, the rhyme knee high by the 4th of July). From the perspective of the equinoxes and solstices, the vernal equinox is about planting seeds and summer is a time of tending to what you have planted.
Life moves so very quickly, it is easy to get distracted. As we move through the solstice, as the wheel turns, contemplate whether you are watering your intentions. Seeds need water to thrive (Cancer is a water sign) or they become parched and die.
I have shared before that the root meaning of the word attend is to stretch toward. The most powerful way we can nourish our hopes and dreams is with just a little attention.
It could be a few minutes a day, to journal or meditate perhaps just a moment to breathe in and focus sending love to this seed growing within your imagination. Or even two minutes to visualize and imagine how this dream growing make you feel.
So how are you nourishing the dream you wish to bring into manifestation?
Can you take some time over the next few days to explore this question?
It will help you ground and gain clarity as to where you wish to devote your time and attention over the next three months when the wheel turns toward harvest at the Autumnal Equinox.
As Cancer is so connected with nourishment, make this evening’s meal a ritual/celebration of those dreams you wish to nurture. Take care as you prepare your meal consciously holding love and gratitude for your bounty, symbolizing all of the bounty in your life as it is currently constituted. Dress the table festively, light a candle, put on some background music, and bless the food. If you are with friends and family have each person name one thing they wish to nurture in the months ahead and hold space for each other’s vision of possibility. Do the same for your own vision if you are dining alone. Hold space for it. In other words, send love to your inner vision. Nurture it as you would a child gestating within your womb (whether you have a womb or not just imagine) and in the words of Ram Dass: Be Here Now.
Celebrate and ground in this singular moment of your life, note where you are blessed, and fertilize with your attention and energy the seeds to be harvested at the Autumnal Equinox in the fall.
