There goes the sun...
The summer solstice is nearly upon us, the “first day of summer”, the longest day of the year. I love to mark the solstices — they’re my anchor points in the year.
I’ve spent the solstice in Glasgow where at 10 pm the sun wasn’t even close to setting:
And I’ve marked the solstice by climbing to the top of a hill and watching the sun set over my city (at a much more reasonable 9:30 pm).
I love the complexity of the solstices, the duality of it all. In the winter we rejoice because the sun is returning, but we also acknowledge that we’re heading into winter with all that that brings. In the summer, we are celebrating the sun and the beginning of summer, but we are also starting the process of the days getting shorter. In my mind, summer is just one long goodbye to the bright mornings and sunlit evenings. Every day after the solstice will be a little shorter, a little darker. And I love that bittersweetness.
It’s funny because in many areas of my life I struggle with endings; my inner protector always worried about how much they’ll hurt. My coping mechanism has always been to never really invest fully invest in things that might end, so that when it’s time to walk away I can hopefully keep my heart intact.
But the ending of summer is a beautiful thing. It leads to autumn, and cooler days, and wool sweater wearing, and nights sat outside drinking hot chocolate. I enjoy all the parts of summer, almost more so because I know they’re fleeting. With summer, I’m fully investing.
And it starts by the celebrating the solstice.
If you don’t have any rituals and you would like to start some, here are some suggestions:
Be outside during sunset. As the sun goes down, whisper a note of thanks to her for all she does.
The solstice marks roughly the halfway point in the year if you set intentions in January. How are things going? What have you learned? Are you happy with the goals you made or is it time to scrap them and start anew? Light a small fire/candle and on a small scrap of paper write down anything that you’ve been carrying for too long. Safely burn it. If fire isn’t accessible to you, you can also bury it in the ground or simply tear it up into tiny pieces. A fun alternative to paper is to use pencil to write on a bay leaf (or regular leaf).
Spend some thinking about what summer means to you. What are the parts you like? What are the parts you don’t? How do you want to feel about your summer? Brainstorm some things you can do to help you get that feeling. Put this list somewhere where you can see it and be reminded of it.
If summer involves an uptake in your caretaking responsibilities, have a think about what responsibilities you’re going to let go of in order to balance that out. If you can take time off work that’s great, but so many of us can’t. So what has to shift? Maybe you all eat off of paper plates for a couple weeks so you can have a break from dishes. Or maybe you need to call in all your favours and ask for help.
Journaling questions:
Summer is a time when the plants really shoot up. They work hard to grow but they also need lots of nourishment. How will you nourish yourself this summer?
Summer is also a time of work hard, play hard. How will you play this summer?
Summer is lastly a time of slowing down, of needing to do less thanks to the heat. How will you rest this summer?