Summer Solstice 2020 - A Ceremony that you can do at home

​The Summer Solstice is coming up this weekend; the longest day of the year, and nature in its fullest. You can use some of this amazing energy to foster positive transformation, and call new vision, passion, joy, abundance and magic into your life.
There will be an outdoors celebration at the Fireside Lodge with a small group of people, and you can connect to the circle by doing some of the ceremonies at home or in a nearby park.  You can also send us your input for the Solstice Fire. We will give to the Fire what you sent to us  and will witness how the smoke and the light takes your voice to the universe.

A very special time of the year...

Why are these times around Solstice and Equinox so special?

• Based on what is happening in nature (Summer Solstice; the longest day), there is generally extra energy around, and it has a content or focus – the longest day, the sun is strongest, nature is at its fullest, the strong growth of the plants produces an abundance of blossoms and fruit.
• Our ancestors have been celebrating these occasions for thousands of years. Even though we somewhat forgot how to do these ceremonies in our society, we still can connect with this ancient wisdom and ask for the support of our transcended ancestors.
• Many communities around the globe celebrate these occasions, so there is a great amount of light energy of people standing in circles and celebrating their connection to the universe, to each other and to nature. We can connect our circle with others to create a web of light.

 
Themes of the Summer Solstice

• The longest day, strong Sun power. Wildness, wilderness, emotions, passion, joy, abundance
• The playfulness and innocence of the Inner Child. We can heal and acknowledge this part in ourselves, which does not always have room in our busy life
• Nature is at its fullest. We can trust that there is abundance in our life
• Magic is in the air; we can connect to nature spirits and fairies; and we can bring the magic (back) into our life. We can dare to dream again and allow new ideas and passion for our path
• The spirit of the Water can take the burdens off our shoulders and carry them for us
• The Midsummer Fire burns strong and allows us to gather as a community – we stand in circle with ‘all our relations’: other people, the universe, plants, animals, elements and nature-beings. The Fire will carry our dreams, ideas, passion, and prayers to the universe.

 

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The Ceremony

Create Connection
Start with connecting to the people who will come to the Fireside Lodge, and to other people who will do the ceremony by themselves. Take some time to acknowledge that you are a part of this circle, even though you are not there in person. Your spirit will be standing with us around the Solstice Fire.
Honour all the other circles and communities in your life. These are not just humans – it can be nature, things you love to do, angels or spiritual beings, ancestors, etc. Give thanks for connection.
 
Water Ceremony:
Give away your burdens, worries and sorrows
When we use Water in the Summer Solstice, it is not so much its cleansing energy we work with, but the flow and the carrying/caring power of Water. We ask Water to take away our burdens, the heavy weight on our shoulders or our heart. We aim to be light and playful and unburdened in our life, and Water can help us with it.
You can work with a big body of water, such as the ocean, a river, or a lake. If there is a body of water near you, you can do this ceremony there. If you do the ceremony at home, you can create your own cauldron of Sacred Water – even with just a salad bowl filled with water.  How to do it:

• Create a nice place to work in (e.g. light some candles, place some crystals, whatever you would do before you start a mediation or a ceremony).
• Call in good energies and your helping spirits or angels.
• Get a bowl, cleanse it, and fill it with water then add some decorative or symbolic elements to it (some crystals, flower-heads, some mugwort, etc.). Bless the water and give thanks to it. Sit with your water-bowl for a while and meditate about all the different aspects of water – the tenderness of the summer rain, the force of a torrential storm-rain, the ocean that is home to so many creatures and connects the continents, the water you drink every day or use for cleaning…
• Give thanks to Water for all its aspects and services. Speak a blessing. Then ask Water to please take your burden in this sacred time of the year.
• Find a piece of wood (it will have to fit in your bowl of water and float easily on the surface: a small twig, piece of bark, even some wooden matches if you have nothing else. (Ideally, you first would do a nature walk to find a small piece of wood). If you work outdoors with a real body of water, just use what you find nearby.
• Smudge the piece of wood. Take it in your hands and hold it to your heart and thank the tree that gave you Wood. Honour its life. Then bless the piece of wood and ask it politely to carry your burden to the water. Keep holding Wood with both hands in front of you, while talking about all the things that feel heavy on your heart or your shoulders. Just give them away to Wood. Then put it into the bowl and observe a while how it floats on the water – no problem for Water to carry your burdens. You may want to shake or circle your bowl softly and make some little waves… Wood still floats on Water. It is so easy for Water to play with your burdens.
• You can keep your bowl during some of the long days of Midsummer, and then give Water and Wood back to nature with thanks. If further burdens/pressure come up during this time, just add another piece of wood, or speak again to the one you used.

 
Nature ceremony:
Finding abundance, magic, wisdom – dare to dream

• If you can go out, go for a walk in the park, if not, just connect to a tree or a part of nature that you see through your window. If you have no nature view, close your eyes, and imagine a place in nature that you know and love. You can just visualise the ceremony.
• Walk/sit for a while and then allow yourself to be attracted by a specific plant. Introduce yourself to the plant and ask whether you may hang out with it. Invite Plant to watch you for a while.
• Then ask Plant to help you bring abundance, magic, new dreams, heart-energy (or whatever else you need) back into your life. Also ask for any teachings that Plant can give you right now.
• Widen your awareness, taking some time to observe and acknowledge nature around Plant, enjoy the abundance of this time of the year. If you like, ask some Nature Spirits and Fairies to join you. Say hello to them in a respectful manner. Maybe you want to share a song…
• Before you go home, give thanks, speak a blessing, and say good-bye.

 
Fire Ceremony: 
Send your dreams, visions, ideas, passions, and prayers to the universe, and ask the universe to help you

• For this part, you can just light a candle and speak to the flame. If you do so, take some time to sit and meditate about all the different aspects of Fire first (now represented in the candle). The sun, the fire in the earth, the fire of lighthouses and the lights of big cities, the fire people use for cooking and the fire in your heart. Connect to all of these, allow them to inspire you, give thanks.
• Then talk to the flame and share your visions and prayers and imagine how they are sent to the universe on the little ray of light.
• If you like us to give your dream/visions/prayers to the Solstice fire at the Fireside Lodge,  – you may email me a list of your dream/vision/passions/prayers, or a drawing or symbol or just one word that represents it all…, and I will print it  and give it to the Fire on Sunday evening. The smoke will carry your dreams to the universe/the ancestors, and they will hear you and support you