Summer Solstice

It's that time of year again folks, the time for the sun to shine and fairies to gather and frolic.  I've decided to be a good little community builder this solstice and actually go out and join in some of the public rituals going on and *gasp* talk to people.  Of course, this being Seattle there's a very good chance of rain this weekend.  It's definitely going to rain tomorrow, but there's hope for Saturday.  Ah well, this is why I have rain gear.  I'll go out and tromp about with all of our lovely local Pagans and see about actually having a good time...during the day at least. Of course, when I get home I'll be doing my own workings. 

Traditionally the Summer Solstice is all about celebrating the power of the light at it's zenith.  The sun is warm, the plants are growing, flowers are in full bloom, and the days are long.  The sabbat celebrations are all about celebrating the growth that surrounds us and encouraging it to turn into prosperity and abundance - wonderful things that should be celebrated.  That's what going to all the public rituals is for. 

For me the Summer Solstice is always a time for mixed feelings.  On the one hand, it rains a lot less in the summer and the weather is generally less dismal; on the other hand, it gets too hot in the summer and all the pollen makes my eyes itch.  I enjoy a pleasant, warm afternoon as much as the next gal, but I tend to melt in the sun.  All the smiles and sunshine of this time of year tends to make me want to hide in my cave, so that's exactly what I'll do.

This year the Summer Solstice coincides almost perfectly with the super full moon.  On the 23rd the moon will be as close to the earth as is ever gets.  On the solstice itself the moon will be waxing and just not quite full.  It's the perfect time to do a working for growth of any kind.  What I need right now is some serious will power and that's what I'm going to do a working for. 

You see, like many people, I'm not a big fan of conflict - it's messy and unpleasant.  Doing conflict well (not letting my emotions get the better of me and not being ruled by pride) is really hard when I've got a vested interest in the outcome.  I've been trained as a mediator so I've got all the skills needed to not make an ass of myself, but it's hard.  Really hard.  It's so very much easier to just slink around and not face my problems, to not stand up for what I know is right, to compromise beyond reason (the shadow rearing it's head).  What I need is the ability to know when a conflict is worth facing head on and exhausting myself to make things right, and then the conviction to actually do so.

I'm going to harness all the power of growth and strength and channel it into a spell for courage, strength, wisdom, and empathy in conflict.  I'm going to use the power of a waxing supermoon on the summer solstice for personal growth and the ability to face the obstacles in my life.  Nothing like using the light of the sun to dive into your shadow and make it a strength right?


On Summer Solstice 2011

Full Moon Divination

I celebrated this full moon by doing some divination.  My preferred method of divination is tarot; I like the pretty pictures.  I have about a dozen decks, some for particular kinds of questions, others for general and everyday use, and one or two that are just to pretty not to own.  For general questions I tend to use a favorite deck for six months to a year and then switch off either to a new one or an old favorite. One of my current favorites is the Shadowscapes Tarot and that is the deck I chose for my full moon reading.

A word about me and tarot readings.  When most people think of tarot readings they envision a long haired woman in a room draped with altar cloths, air thick with incense, laying cards in particular layout and the cards having specific fixed meanings.  There's nothing wrong with that approach to tarot; I don't happen to use it.  I take a more intuitive approach to tarot.  I let the cards tell me how many need to be read and what they want to mean in any given reading, using the traditional meanings as a jumping off point.  This means that the Two of Cups might mean the meeting of soul mates in one reading, emotional satisfaction in another, or being shut out of happiness in a third.  This kind of reading gives me a huge amount of flexibility, but it also means I really have to pay attention to what I'm doing.  You can't fake an intuitive reading - you either feel it or you don't.

For this reading I asked the question, "What do you want to tell me about the coming moon?"  I shuffled the cards and several cards jumped out of the deck, with one in particular separate and above the rest. 

The card the crowned all others was The Moon, and this card was to guide the meanings of all those below it.  When I look at this card I think of the line in Midsummer Night's Dream "Ill met by moonlight proud Titania."  In this reading, this card is all about dreams.  Dreams are odd things, they can be beautiful and horrifying, light and dark, real and unreal all at the same time.  This card was telling me that this reading was about my dreams, not the dreams my brain conjures at night, but dreams for myself and hopes for the future - particularly those concerning my magickal life.

The cards that I drew underneath The Moon were: Page of Wands, Four of Cups (rev), Ten of Swords, Queen of Wands, Knight of Swords (rev), Four of Swords, and King of Pentacles.



The reading really began with the Page of Wands.  This card shows a young woman playing a violin to an audience of foxes and trees.  It represents creativity and charisma.  It is the effective communication of a creative message.  I took this to represent my efforts in magickal communication, particularly my classes and my book (you'll hear all about it soon enough).  I have a lot of hopes and plans in this arena and it definitely occupies my mind more often than anything else, so it's not surprising that it came first in the reading. 

The next card is the Four of Cups reversed.  Right-side up this card represents a lack of grounding and narcissism.  Reversed, I take it to be a gentle warning not to get too wrapped up in my own marketing.  I may be experiencing a fair amount of success and recognition right now, but that doesn't mean I don't still have a lot to learn.  If I can keep myself grounded and humble I'll be better off.

Next is the Ten of Swords.  In most circumstances this card would mean calamity, death, or a major fall.  However, I have a rather quirky relationship with the nastier cards.  Instead of meaning something bad is going to happen, for me they're about release.  In this reading this card reminds me that sometimes I have to let go and let myself fall, to experience the darkness in order to come out the other side.  This also reminds me that I have chosen the more difficult path and that I shouldn't bitch too much when the going gets tough.

The Queen of Wands is similar to the Page of Wands, just turned up to eleven.  Where the Page is taking her first steps into leadership and mastery, the Queen is already sovereign.  The Queen takes mastery and leadership to a new level; her very presence invites respect.  In this reading she is telling me that I have the ability to do everything I hope to do, I just need the courage to own my mastery and step up - a scarier thought than it probably should be, which means I really needed to hear it.

The Knight of Swords reversed.  Were it right-side up it would represent impetuous arrogance and domineering force.  Reversed, this card encourages me to use delicacy and tact in my actions.  Sometimes strong like bull equals dumb like ox, and that just doesn't work for me.  It's ok to be the quiet one who waits for all the idiots to blow themselves hoarse and then step in and quietly, calmly point out their misconceptions and present the best solutions - Yes, I'm a trained mediator and I use those skills in everything I do.

The Four of Swords represents the eye of the storm.  The woman lies back, almost in an attitude of death, with lotus blossoms floating around her.  She's very calm and restful, but she'd still got a grip of her sword and can use it at a moment's notice.  This card tells me to enjoy the calm moments I have, to rest and recharge while I can, because it's about to get very, very busy.

The final card is the King of Pentacles.  This card represents strength, success, material wealth, and dominion coupled with generosity of both riches and spirit.  This card tells me that I am poised to have all the success I desire, I just need to be willing to put in the work necessary to manifest my dreams and bring them into reality.  Now is not the time to slip into pleasant day dreams and let time slip by.  The opportunities I want are right in front of me, but they'll come to nothing if I don't stand up and grab them.

The real message of this reading is that I can be everything I want to be and do everything I want to do, I just have to seize the opportunities as they present themselves and never for one moment say, "I'll do it later, it'll come around again." 

Reflections on the Winter Solstice

The whirlwind of family that is the holiday season is over.  Thank the Gods!  Don’t get me wrong, I love the holidays.  I love the lights and decorations, seeing family and friends, and the recognition of the turning of the wheel.  It’s just that it’s exhausting.  For me, the hardest part of the secular holiday season is the fact that all those gatherings make it really difficult to get quiet time for magick and reflection – hence these thoughts not being set down until a week after solstice.

This year the Winter Solstice happened to coincide with a full lunar eclipse.  I was fortunate enough to have the house to myself on the night of the 20^th and decided to do my Yule ritual then.  During that ritual I spent a fair amount of time meditating on the return of the light.  Traditionally, Yule is celebrated as the return of the light.  The longest night is filled with lights and feasting to drive out winter’s chill, with revellers safe in the knowledge that from then on each day would get a little longer until winter finally gave way to spring and summer.  However, I’ve always had a hard time thinking of Yule that way.

The Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year – about 16 hours of darkness here in the Pacific Northwest.  In the old Celtic calendar Yule was considered the middle of winter, but in modern times we call it the beginning of winter.  I’ve always tied my practices to the weather I actually experience so I’ve always considered Yule to be just about the beginning of winter.  Sure, we may get the occasional Thanksgiving snow storm, but in most years the weather here in Seattle is wet and chilly until the end of December and then it goes to wet and cold.  Yes, the days get longer after Yule, but they also get colder and a lot less pleasant.  Anyone who’s spent a long time waiting for the bus in the wind and rain on a really cold day knows the misery of which I speak.  So yeah, not so much mid-winter for me.

To make it more complicated, I also don’t see winter as something that needs to be driven away or something from which to hide.  As I mentioned before, I worship the Crone – this means winter is a time of power and profound spirituality for me.  When I feel the wolves of winter screaming across the skies I feel power.  When the skies are dark and the rain comes in constant sheets it isn’t time to run and hide, it’s time to stand up and let those rains cleanse you.  Winter is harsh and it brings death to the land, but without it there would be no rebirth in the spring.  The land needs time to rest, time for the autumn leaves to compost and make the ground fertile.

Like the land, we also need that time to rest and reflect.  That’s what Yule has always meant for me.  It’s a time to set yourself apart from the bustle of the everyday; to take a moment to really look at your life and to determine what you no longer need.  Yule is a time for banishing, a time to let that which no longer serves to die and fall away so that you’re actually ready for the new growth of spring when it comes.  It can be hard to look at yourself and admit what isn’t working, but it’s very necessary.

This year I took the time to look at myself and realized that I’m still trying too hard to fit other people’s ideas of what I should be.  No, I am not a ray of sunshine.  No, I will never voluntarily wear pink.  Yes, I was a bit goth in college and yes I practice some very dark and spooky stuff, but that does not mean that I look like an extra in The Crow.  To be frank, I’m a geek and I look like a geek.  I am happy looking like a geek; by choice I wear jeans and t-shirts.  Yes, the colors to tend towards black, red, and purple but that’s not that unusual.  I really don’t feel the need to proclaim my alignment literally on my shirtsleeves.  I like my witchyness to be subtle.  Yes, being flashy gets you noticed but that’s just not who I am.  I am going to wear what I want to wear and act the way I want to act because it makes me happy.  I don’t have anything to prove.

This year I also spent some time reflecting on the spiritual significance of the winter sun.  As I mentioned before, I have a hard time seeing Yule as the return of the sun because the weather is so crappy immediately after.  Even when the sun does shine in the dead of winter it doesn’t seem to warm – instead of having things be dark and miserable it just makes things bright and miserable.  (Yes, I venerate winter and the introspection it forces on us, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy cold, wet feet.)  However, amidst my musings I found a reason to be grateful to the winter sun.  At the winter solstice the earth is at its farthest point from the sun, after that it begins to travel back towards the sun, light, and warmth.  What would happen if it didn’t go back?  What if the earth didn’t tilt back and forth?  The side farthest from the sun would likely freeze and become uninhabitable and the side closest to the sun would burn away in an eternal summer.  The winter sun might not be as friendly as the spring sun, but it keeps us alive.  Thanks for keeping us all alive Apollo, don’t be a stranger.