A Nature Worshippers Guide to Summer Solstice
The Deer, the Cicada and the Crow-Dipper
I am delighted to be sun-basked and coming to you at the peak of the sun’s cycle, mid-summer and the Summer Solstice. Like summer itself, the Solstice is a celebration of fullness, completion, mastery and maturation at the pinnacle of sun’s celestial longitude, and the gateway point between the solar cycles. This is the apex of the Yang energies for the year and simultaneously the rebirth of the Feminine Yin.
Here among modernity, we have raised a dismissive hand to seasonal celebrations like Solstice in favour of an organized and largley indoor religious experience. In turn, we stripped ourselves of the wild timelords and threw ourselves at the mercy of a system that measured us by our sins. Adrift and disconnected from nature, we lost the very thing that merged us with God/Source/Spirit in the first place.
Bringing in the longest day, Summer Solstice aligns us for a shimmering moment with the bright energies of noon and the high tide of the Heart channel itself. It is the critical pivot point in the almanac, the beginning of the end, and the commencement of the 15 days of peak summer observances that make up this bright, luminous portal.
The ancient nature worshippers knew the rhythm and nuance of the great cycles of Helios by heart, and here at the mid-point they celebrated its abundance and generosity with an enthusiasm made richer and more fervent by the knowledge that the dark and cold would soon be upon us. There’s nothing like a little death to accelerate the celebration of life.
At this paused and expansive midday moment, there is much to be observed in terms of the Spiritual journey and the individual acknowledgement of each of us as pilgrims on its path. To assist us in better understanding and participating the ancients acknowledged the Summer Solstice over 15 days, divided into 3 parts, each with a symbol of transformation, rebirth and ascension. From the Deer to the Cicada, to the time-keeper of the Crow-Dipper, Summer Solstice comes to shower us with divine appreciation and thanksgiving as she also reminds us of our impermanence.
“Deer Antlers Come off”
The first 3 days of the Summer Solstice Cycle begin at the mark of full sun and call the swift majesty of the deer or fairy-cow forward as a symbol of potency, fertility and otherworldliness. The annual shedding and regrowth of the deer’s powerful antlers symbolize the cycles of maturation, the growth of grace, and the power of virility in the Divine Masculine of the herd. In the same way, the fiery alchemy of the Summer Solstice is the pinnacle of fertility, Soul growth and the evolutionary work of the year. The antlers, as talismans or tools, remind us to bridge the earthly and spiritual dimensions to bring Heaven to Earth. “Deer Antlers Come Off” is an acknowledgement of all we have overcome, accomplished and brought forward in the last cycle. It represents where we now claim power, mastery and our place in the herd.
“Cicadas Begin to Chirp”
Next comes a 5-day window that carries the themes of creativity, resilience and the eternal cycle of life through the image of the Cicada. In ancient Greece, cicadas were linked to the Muses, the Goddess’ of art, creativity, music and poetry. Cicada’s endless song bringing forward the power of sound as emissary of FIRE, transporting us beyond the mundane and into the supernatural realms. After a 6 - 7 year underground cycle, the cicada rises in summer’s heat to sing in another generation as a symbol of rebirth and immortality. Their cast, split shells, medicine for a weak voice in ancient China, are, like snake skins, representative of all we have outgrown and left behind, and all we have Become and permanently changed.
‘The Crow-Dipper Grows”
The final phase of the Solstice lasts 7 days and emphasises the profound connection between our earthly cycles and the tide of the wider Universe that we live among. The Crow-Dipper is a water-loving plant with tiny, fragrant white flowers on a tapering spike and was the pendulum of the season. Flowering in mid-summer the Crow-Dipper marked an important stage in traditional summer farm work practice, calling in a time of rest and fasting after the intense work of summer crop planting. In this resting phase the Crow-Dipper allowed for integration of the year passed and the work done, offering protection and communion with Spirit, keeping pure the crucible of the work.
These nuances of nature could so easily be missed or lost altogether in the electronic haze of digital times. Yet here they stand as midwives at the gateway of the Solar year giving us reason to reflect, reorientate and renew year after year.
May we each take the time at this cycle close to celebrate the light and all it has illuminated in us since Winters valley. To acknowledge where passage for evolution and growth was granted, and where it changed us forever. Where life found fullness, ripeness and power, and where it touched completion and end. For what do we need to give thanks and feel grateful? And for whom should a candle be lit?
Notice the subtle, become balsamic in the full light, celebrate and share the completion of your work. Feel and know life as bright, full and paused at the peak of itself, until a golden leaf falls from a nearby tree, and the season of great space and emptiness descends.
I invite you to use this powerful window to secure FIRE, steady its flame, and light the beacon that will guide you in the darkest of Winters.
A comprehensive 3-part seasonal resource that brings you into right relationship with the powerful and transformative element of FIRE through yoga asana, breathwork and guided Self Inquiry.
