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Happy Solstice

Happy Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.
Our Sun is at its furthest north position in the sky
and that means long luscious days filled with light. Enjoy!

Pause and take a few moments to honor the Sun, bringer of light and life.

#solstice

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Total Eclipse of the Sun

Next week, the Moon will “extinguish” our Sun for a brief time.  A small strip of the North American continent will be aligned just so, and when the Moon moves between our Earth and Sun, it will cover the entire Sun, turning morning into night.

I have fantasized about seeing a total solar eclipse ever since I read Annie Dillard’s description of one many years ago:

“The second before the sun went out we saw a wall of dark shadow come speeding at us. We no sooner saw it than it was upon us, like thunder. It roared up the valley. It slammed our hill and knocked us out. It was the monstrous swift shadow cone of the moon. I have since read that this wave of shadow moves 1,800 miles an hour. Language can give no sense of this sort of speed—1,800 miles an hour. It was 195 miles wide. No end was in sight—you saw only the edge. It rolled at you across the land at 1,800 miles an hour, hauling darkness like plague behind it. 

…Less than two minutes later, when the sun emerged, the trailing edge of the shadow cone sped away. It coursed down our hill and raced eastward over the plain, faster than the eye could believe; it swept over the plain and dropped over the planet’s rim in a twinkling. It had clobbered us, and now it roared away. We blinked in the light. It was as though an enormous, loping god in the sky had reached down and slapped the Earth’s face.”

The Sky Gods will perform a bit of celestial magic overhead on Monday August 21.   I will be heading north tomorrow to experience the totality first hand. I’m looking forward to the show.

How might this magnificent sky show  affect us physically, mentally, emotionally?

The astrological significance of this total solar eclipse.

☾☽

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Harvest Cross-Quarter

Temple of Goddess Arinna    Image: Bernard Gagnon

In a few days, Earth’s northern hemisphere will reach the halfway point between summer solstice and autumn equinox.  This is one of four “cross-quarter” days that occur in our solar year.

Many of our ancestors celebrated the start of harvest on this particular cross-quarter day. The Celtic people of the British Isles paid homage to the Sun God Lugh at this time. But long before Lugh was known, Arinna was worshiped by the ancient tribes  living in the region that is now Turkey (1400 BCE).  The Solar Goddess Arinna was their main deity. Her consort was the weather god, Teshub. 

I love what Cayelin Castell has to say about worship of the Solar Goddess:

“Before the patriarchy this Cross-Quarter celebrated the Sun Goddess thanking her for the abundance of the ripened grain. As the Solar Feminine was diminished during patriarchal times this festival celebrated the Sun God. The Irish called him Lugh (Light). Lugh’s festival focused on celebrating the skills of the warrior and the craftsmen with less emphasis on the ripened grain or bounty of the mother as a gift from the Solar Feminine.

It is true that the Solar Feminine is returning to our awareness in many ways now. So it seems appropriate that the cross-quarter points are a time for remembering the original Solar Feminine festivals and their intent.

  • The February Cross-Quarter celebrated the Mother’s (Solar Feminine) power to give life including the life giving light of the lengthening days.
  • The May Cross-Quarter celebrated the Solar Feminine in her passion for intimate pleasure and the beauty of life in great abundance.

The August Cross-Quarter celebrated the Solar Feminine for her abundant life giving gifts of Food and sustenance for the coming winter season .

  • The November Cross-Quarter celebrated the Solar Feminine power to live through death and be reborn to a new life.

The returning strength and power of the Solar Feminine is a reminder to honor and celebrate the gifts of life-giving nourishment that we all enjoy. If you feel inspired by this you might use the first week of August as a time to give daily gratitude for the Earth and all that she gives us everyday.

At the Turning of the Ages we might ask: What are the new emerging ceremonies and celebrations that are relevant now?” ~Cayelin Castell

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Sacred Solstice

Artist unknown

Turn your face to the Sun
And let the shadows fall away…

☀️

Summer Solstice is upon us!

Summer Solstice is sacred Sun time. Here in the northern hemisphere, it normally falls between June 20-22 each year.  It denotes the longest day and shortest night of the year.

Young children dance with the Solstice Sun.  They run and jump and scream with sunny joy. They beg to stay up just a little longer so they can squeeze every last drop of living out of the long sunlit days.  Children intuitively understand the power of this sacred Sun time.

Let’s follow their lead. Go outside!  Soak up the sacred rays that bring life to this beautiful blue planet.  Enjoy the green fields and flowers of early summer.  Revel in Nature’s abundance. Get up early and watch the sunrise.  Pause and honor the sunset at the end of another long luscious summer day.

Allow the sacred abundance of summer to bless you.

 

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Solar Eclipse and New Moon

Ring of Fire - Annular Solar Eclipse
Ring of Fire – Annular Solar Eclipse

An annular solar eclipse happens Sunday Feb. 26 as the moon begins anew in watery Pisces. Radical change and chaos is happening all around us — and no place is that more apparent than in the political arena.  Fire is stirring up our inner emotional waters much like molten lava roiling up the sea. Now is the time to slow down and breathe!

Change is coming. Pisces, the powerful dreamer, can help us now. Dream often and dream big. Dream of how you want the world to be. Hold your dream for a beautiful new world close and love it into being.

 

More astrological insights into this time.