SUMMER SOLSTICE - A TIME OF FRUITION


One of the two major turning points in the yearly journey of the Sun from south to north and back again happens on the Summer solstice.
The word “solstice” comes from Latin, “sol” meaning sun, and “sistere”, to stand still. On the day of the solstice around June 20th, the Sun reaches the height of it’s northern journey. The Sun’s rays are directly overhead, along the tropics of the astrological sign of Cancer and we, in the northern hemisphere, experience the longest day of the year.


The two solstices and the two equinoxes mark the beginning of the four seasons. All traditions recognized the Sun’s journey as a potent power in the seasonal transitions symbolizing great change on the earth. Celebrations created to mark these events are seen as opportunities to give expression to, and participate in relationship to the cycles of nature.
The Spring season symbolizes birth and new life, Summer signifies cultivation and fruitfulness, Autumn celebrates the harvest and Winter is a time of death and decay, the period when everything returns to the earth to be born again in a new form in the Spring.


Because the sun’s highest concentration of solar energy on the earth surface happens during the summer season, the promise of the season, of the abundance of growth and nourishment, light and heat is marked and celebrated.

In Europe, China and Japan the solstice is celebrated as “midsummer” as it is the middle of their growing season. The Shakespeare play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” draws on the Druid traditional belief that on the summer solstice, nature’s spirits are visible and magic is at hand.


All earth-based spiritual traditions always recognized the significance of the solstice and some built stone structures representing the Sun’s position and it’s relationship to the earth. Stones were seen as the bones of Mother Earth. The axis of Stonehenge is aligned to the direction of the solstice sunrise and last year, twenty thousand people celebrate the event there.
Litha or Midsummer is one of the eight sacred Sabbaths of the ancient Celts and is celebrated today by Pagans and Wiccans. It marks the time when the Sun is at the peak of its power and the abundance of light and life is celebrated.


The Roman goddess Juno, a patron of marriage, presides over the month of June and we all are familiar with the desire to be a June bride.
The theme of the marriage of the Heaven and the Earth or the Sun and Moon has its strongest expression in Astrology and is celebrated during the solstice.


June 20th is the beginning of the sign of Cancer and the Moon; the most numinous female ruler in the zodiac is associated with this sign.
The Moon is the most mysterious object in the night sky and it’s “shape shifting” qualities have caught people’s imaginations. The Moon mysteries have been connected to women’s mysteries of menstruation and of giving birth. Full term pregnancies move through ten moon cycles, and women’s bodies shape shift during this time. It’s interesting that women who live together in communities close to nature tend to get their menstrual cycles together with the moon cycle.


The Moon also influences agriculture and since ancient times, people have worked the land in accordance with the phases of the moon. For example, the new moon is seen as the best time to plant, because the low level of light at this time is womb-like and is an ideal setting for fertility and an optimum environment for new growth.


Astrology being an elemental language assigns water to the sign of Cancer as well as to the Moon. Ancient astrology further delineates the quality of “moisture” as the capacity to release emotions and connect with others. Moisture blurs boundaries and allows empathy where bonding can occur.
Water is an element that relates to the world of feelings; it is receptive and perceptive, fluid and penetrating. It requires the Sun’s heat and light, corresponding to the fire element, to create life on earth but it also needs the moon’s life sustaining watery association to aid with growth.


Because the Moon is symbolically seen as re-enacting a pattern that associates her with the processes of nature (birthing, growth, death and rebirth) and with women’s mysteries, she became the first, strongest and most lasting of all the archetypes according to Carl Jung.
The Moon is seen as the “Feminine universal principle”- Yin, together with aspects of the Child, constituting the relational matrix of life. The moon is the womb and ground of life, and in astrology she is associated with the urge and impulse to relate and respond, to need and care, to nurture and be nurtured. Knowing the Moon position in our birth chart will give us insights into our feeling nature and what do we need to feel nurtured and cared for.


If we view the year as a lunar cycle, the summer can be viewed as the full moon phase of the cycle. During this time the earth reflects the fullness of the dance between the sun and moon in the same way that the full moon reflects abundantly the light of the sun.
At the time of the Summer Solstice and the summer season that follows the earth is seen as an embodiment of the Feminine principle with her desire to give, nurture, protect, care, and provide a warm hearth for us all.


As an astrologer I see the benefit of attuning ourselves to the changing times and actively participating in welcoming this full moon-like phase of our cyclic year. To participate in Moon mysteries is to reflect on and respond to the cyclic, rhythmic rise and fall of life’s ebb and flow. It is a fertile time to cultivate and bring to fruition any creative process you have started in the spring. (Spring equinox being the time of initiating the creative process.)


It is also a good time to trust your intuition, and your moods. Moods are messengers from our inner emotional life that need expression without which they can become toxic. It is a time to pause and reflect, go for a walk, take a child to play soccer or baseball, go pick the wild fruits so generously given, welcome a state of being and not doing. Last but not least, it is time to celebrate and share our earth’s abundance with others, care for those who lack food or shelter and fiercely protect all forms of life.

ALL BLESSINGS, ALL LOVE, ALL OF US.