Children of the Solstice
June 21, 2014
Did you feel the magic of the Solstice these past days?
I am asking because we just left behind the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere on the 21st, the time when the Sun was at its Zenith marking the longest day of the year, the day that started summer.
Astronomically, it is the time of year when the noon sun appears to be farthest north from the celestial equator. "Solstice" is Latin for "sun stands still" (sol "sun" and sistere "to stand"). Summer Solstice is named this way because to the naked eye, the sun appears stationary in its northern and southern progression. The sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer at the summer solstice, at which time the sun is 23 degrees 27' north. The sun travels 23.5 degrees to reach its maximum distance from the celestial equator during both the summer and winter solstice.
The Solstice, or Midsummer has been one of the important solar events throughout the evolution of humankind. It was an indicator that the year was about to begin waning (longest day and shortest night of the year) , thus winter would be again returning. Although not all the ancients were as precise in their calculations from an astronomical point, you can be sure that they were keenly aware of the sun's progression, and did most assuredly know when Solstice was upon them, as the sun appeared to stand still in its progression. The moment had profound implications, so much so that it had been immortalized in buildings which stood the test of time.
To reinforce with an example of ancient acknowledgment of the solstice...the axis of Stonehenge, aligned with the entrance to the temple, is oriented in the direction of the midsummer sunrise. The Temple of the Sun in Teotihuacan Mexico, was also built to align with the sun's passage at the Summer Solstice. During the time of the ancient Egyptians, Sirius rose on the Summer Solstice (today it rises August 10) heralding the beginning of their new year, just before the season of the Nile's flooding.
The ancients knew that the Sun was all life giving and life supporting (have you ever thought how the world and life would be in...darkness? would that be even possible?). The journey of the sun impacts life profoundly and at every level. We have technology, electricity, time pieces, greenhouses to grow our foods and more, so we stopped looking at the Sun as this "measure of everything". However, the Sun's passage affects our life and times as much, while not being immediately apparent. Perhaps we have grown quite complacent in our small arrogance believing we can ...replace everything:)with a manmade version of it.
In many cultures, the ancestral traditions related to the summer's solstice are still vibrant and life seems for a while to return to a more organic, natural way of being....with a bit of magic thrown into the recipe for good measure:)
The Celts have named this yearly passage into summer the Midsummer's Eve and in many cultures it is the day/evening when herbs, flowers and spices were/are harvested with the belief that they are most potent. They were then hung in kitchens, above windows and doors and spread throughout the home for protection and that unforgettable, life giving scent of summer. I too remember my grandmother's house in the countryside, being filled with rosemary, chamomile, roses and daisies, fennel, and the first sprigs of lavender in a sacred ritual of honoring the Sun, summer and life triumphant. Pillows were filled with field flowers, old linens were lined up on lines outside to be "blanched" by the sun. The houses were small and white, with their old wood beams and floors, polished to perfection and smelled divine. Sleeping in one of the cool, white painted rooms, cradled by the scent of field flowers and crisp linen sheets passed from one generation to the other (another timeless ritual) was a delight and a magical time of the year. A time when "dreamtime" opened into "waketime" and we felt closer to the natural rhythms more than ever: a perfect symbiosis of man and nature.
In some cultures, it is the time when young ones dance, celebrate and braid flower crowns as offerings to the fairies of the forest and divination in matters of love is believed to successfully reveal the beloved to be. In Scandinavian countries, the night of the Solstice, every young girl places a bunch of flowers tied with nine pieces of grass or nine flowers under her pillow, upon which she will sleep and dream of her future husband. In Ireland the young lasses place yarrow under their pillow to dream of their destined mate.
The moon of or around Midsummer/Solstice is named the Honey Moon in many continental cultures, as this is a time when the hives are filling with fragrant delicious, flower honey. This exuberant, passionate and apotheotic time of year is, since times immemorial, the best time for engagements and marriages.
It is through this season that we can see the beauty of life, the intensity of being, the rapture of passion, the exhilaration of awareness, possibilities of creation and the surprising tenderness of love. Just as the summer solstice is symbolic of nature resplendent, so is it symbolic of personal growth. Wherever we live, however engulfed we are in our daily modern routines, we all feel somehow, at the depth of our being the need to emulate the Universe and nature, the Sun at noon and be one with the world of tradition, letting our inner being merge with the celestial rhythms...if only for one or a few days. As this is part of the never-ending dance of life.
I am asking because we just left behind the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere on the 21st, the time when the Sun was at its Zenith marking the longest day of the year, the day that started summer.
Astronomically, it is the time of year when the noon sun appears to be farthest north from the celestial equator. "Solstice" is Latin for "sun stands still" (sol "sun" and sistere "to stand"). Summer Solstice is named this way because to the naked eye, the sun appears stationary in its northern and southern progression. The sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer at the summer solstice, at which time the sun is 23 degrees 27' north. The sun travels 23.5 degrees to reach its maximum distance from the celestial equator during both the summer and winter solstice.
The Solstice, or Midsummer has been one of the important solar events throughout the evolution of humankind. It was an indicator that the year was about to begin waning (longest day and shortest night of the year) , thus winter would be again returning. Although not all the ancients were as precise in their calculations from an astronomical point, you can be sure that they were keenly aware of the sun's progression, and did most assuredly know when Solstice was upon them, as the sun appeared to stand still in its progression. The moment had profound implications, so much so that it had been immortalized in buildings which stood the test of time.
To reinforce with an example of ancient acknowledgment of the solstice...the axis of Stonehenge, aligned with the entrance to the temple, is oriented in the direction of the midsummer sunrise. The Temple of the Sun in Teotihuacan Mexico, was also built to align with the sun's passage at the Summer Solstice. During the time of the ancient Egyptians, Sirius rose on the Summer Solstice (today it rises August 10) heralding the beginning of their new year, just before the season of the Nile's flooding.
The ancients knew that the Sun was all life giving and life supporting (have you ever thought how the world and life would be in...darkness? would that be even possible?). The journey of the sun impacts life profoundly and at every level. We have technology, electricity, time pieces, greenhouses to grow our foods and more, so we stopped looking at the Sun as this "measure of everything". However, the Sun's passage affects our life and times as much, while not being immediately apparent. Perhaps we have grown quite complacent in our small arrogance believing we can ...replace everything:)with a manmade version of it.
In many cultures, the ancestral traditions related to the summer's solstice are still vibrant and life seems for a while to return to a more organic, natural way of being....with a bit of magic thrown into the recipe for good measure:)
The Celts have named this yearly passage into summer the Midsummer's Eve and in many cultures it is the day/evening when herbs, flowers and spices were/are harvested with the belief that they are most potent. They were then hung in kitchens, above windows and doors and spread throughout the home for protection and that unforgettable, life giving scent of summer. I too remember my grandmother's house in the countryside, being filled with rosemary, chamomile, roses and daisies, fennel, and the first sprigs of lavender in a sacred ritual of honoring the Sun, summer and life triumphant. Pillows were filled with field flowers, old linens were lined up on lines outside to be "blanched" by the sun. The houses were small and white, with their old wood beams and floors, polished to perfection and smelled divine. Sleeping in one of the cool, white painted rooms, cradled by the scent of field flowers and crisp linen sheets passed from one generation to the other (another timeless ritual) was a delight and a magical time of the year. A time when "dreamtime" opened into "waketime" and we felt closer to the natural rhythms more than ever: a perfect symbiosis of man and nature.
In some cultures, it is the time when young ones dance, celebrate and braid flower crowns as offerings to the fairies of the forest and divination in matters of love is believed to successfully reveal the beloved to be. In Scandinavian countries, the night of the Solstice, every young girl places a bunch of flowers tied with nine pieces of grass or nine flowers under her pillow, upon which she will sleep and dream of her future husband. In Ireland the young lasses place yarrow under their pillow to dream of their destined mate.
The moon of or around Midsummer/Solstice is named the Honey Moon in many continental cultures, as this is a time when the hives are filling with fragrant delicious, flower honey. This exuberant, passionate and apotheotic time of year is, since times immemorial, the best time for engagements and marriages.
It is through this season that we can see the beauty of life, the intensity of being, the rapture of passion, the exhilaration of awareness, possibilities of creation and the surprising tenderness of love. Just as the summer solstice is symbolic of nature resplendent, so is it symbolic of personal growth. Wherever we live, however engulfed we are in our daily modern routines, we all feel somehow, at the depth of our being the need to emulate the Universe and nature, the Sun at noon and be one with the world of tradition, letting our inner being merge with the celestial rhythms...if only for one or a few days. As this is part of the never-ending dance of life.