21st June, 2010
During the summer solstice the sun sits highest in the sky. This is the longest day of the year and the beginning of the summer season. The solstice literally means sun standing still or sun stopage in Latin (the Sun stops moving north during the Solstice).
Most ancient cultures have established Summer Solstice celebrations, often religious or spiritual in nature. The Northern Hemisphere celebrates in June, but the people on the Southern half of the earth have their longest summer day in December. Summer Solstice was celebrated by the Slavs, the Celts and many Germanic tribes, with massive bonfires as a main feature of the festivities. The Druids celebrated it as the marriage of Heaven and Earth. Every tribe or culture had their own rituals. These included bonfires, fruit and berry gathering festivals and purification and fertility rituals. In Ireland we celebrate St. John’s Eve or bonfire night on the 23rd June. All over Ireland people light bonfires to celebrate midsummer. People gather around the fires and dance, sing and tell stories. In some places people use this time to bless the crops of the coming year.
It is also a time for sending healing to the earth. Mother Earth was commemorated as “The Goddess”, while “The God” was represented as the Sun King. Today I am celebrating Summer Solstice by sitting in quiet meditation and visualising pure love and healing pouring into the earth. The earth needs us now more than ever to join together to help heal it. We can do this by simply lighting a candle for the earth; visualising healing or light pouring into the planet (to either a specific place or the whole planet). I have also joined groups such as Humanity’s Team or Global Coherence. Together united with heart-focused intention we can help ‘to shift global consciousness from instability and discord to balance, cooperation and enduring peace’ (www.glcoherence.org/)
