Summer

 By Lucia Bettler

        Summer brings a sense of time suspended and afternoons that seem to go on forever. There’s the drone of the lawnmower and cold glasses of lemonade. We walk barefoot in the garden trying to give the plants some cooling water before the blazing sun takes over. Summer is a time to be active, enjoy the ocean and shady nooks, play in the sun and celebrate the fullness of life. The paradox is that although it is a season of outward activity; we also take some of this time to rest, dream and go within.

        With summer comes the Summer Solstice celebration, near June 21. The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, thus the night is short and weak in comparison. Light triumphs over darkness, but victory is short-lived. The light begins to wane the very next day! Do not lose heart, though, for there will be more daylight than nighttime until the Autumn Equinox occurs in mid-September. 

        Perhaps the best known Summer Solstice festival in Britain today is performed by modern Druids at Stonehenge, the famous stone circle on Salisbury Plain. In Ancient Britain the Druids worshipped in oak groves, not stone circles. Some believe that Stonehenge was a star temple where initiates went to study the movement of the stars. The impressive ancient monument at Avebury, in Wiltshire, was the great Sun Temple of the Old Ones, and is far more important site for this reason. 

        Midsummer is sometimes celebrated also on St. John’s Eve, June 24. There was a very old tradition of lighting bonfires on beacon hills to celebrate the power of the Sun at its peak and implore “him” not to wane and withdraw into the cold and darkness of winter. If enough bonfires were lit on enough hilltops it was considered that a net of flame-light would lie over the land, and strengthen the Sun. I wonder what we could do in Houston to ask the Sun to take a backseat and let us have a little more winter?! 

        At Midsummer in some places in England today there is a Harvest Mother or Earth Lady with a group of flower decked friends, a reminder of ancient pagan rites. She carries a posy of flowers and herbs, choosing nine valuable plants and also nine weeds to cast into the flames. Blessings are asked for the valuable plants and they dance around the bonfire, much like their ancestors in ages past. There is much old magic here as they select the plants and bind them with five colored ribbons: red, blue, green, yellow and white uniting land and sky, summer and winter, water and fire. 

        Midsummer is also a prefect time to see the fairies, devas or wee people who inhabit our gardens and the shady nooks there. Many cultures believe that there are nature spirits whose energy and care enable all earthly things to grow. There are devas for each flower, herb, tree and shrub. Indeed, the streams, rivers rocks and wind all have these shining spirits behind them, giving them their energy and growth patterns.

        In July, one of the old European customs that combines spirituality with a sort of flower show is the art of Well Dressing. At different times of year, the village well source of water is dressed with scenes of mythic or Biblical stories on beds of damp clay, with flowers, petals, leaves and mosses. Some wells are dedicated to Christian saints, often female, who took over from the older pagan spirits who guarded the waters or the sacred women who were keepers of the fountains, often associated with healing. This well dressing brings to mind the Native American sand paintings, as well as those of the Tibetan Buddhist Monks …offerings of beauty and symbolic art for the glory of the Divine Spirit. 

        Midsummer brings out the transforming nature that lies deep within each of us. Once we are in harmony with the elements, we can probe our Earthly legacy, back to the ONENESS we have shared since creation. This is a time of creative fulfillment and activity, a festival of manifestation when nature is most active and great physical expressions of life occur. As humans we are part of the ecstasy of the Earth!!! Celebrate your aliveness, your flowering, your fullness. Honor the fires we go through in life to make us strong and durable as a pottery bowl. Fire, like water, symbolizes transformation; it heals and cleanses. 

        In some lands, Summer is dedicated to the Goddess of Fire and Light and her maternal life force. Arinna was the Sun Goddess of Turkey who smiled on all humans. The power of the Sun is at its peak and then begins its return with the winds of Autumn not too far away.

        Once all marriages took place in June and it was thought of as “unlucky” to marry at other times. The wedding ceremony was seen as imitating the union of Earth and Sun, a divine marriage that brought forth vegetation …thus, throwing the rice or grain at the wedding. 

        Summer is a good time to put your crystals out in the sun to let them be recharged. For crystals are like seeds of light, little energies to help us in our everyday lives.

        Some herbs that are sacred to this time of year are marjoram, lavender, rosemary, chamomile and southernwood. Take some of these herbs, dry them and call upon the Sun to shine into dark corners of your life, to give you a change of outlook, to bring you a bright day. Ask “her” to channel abundance into your life for optimism, and to aid your sight. She will light your way as you express yourself on the path you have chosen.

        Enjoy the light and have a happy summer!