Circlewood friend and guest writer, Rev. Elaine Breckenridge, shares insight into the significance of summer solstice along with some experiences and rituals that are part of this day for her. Thanks to Godspacelight, where a version of this article was originally published.
On June 21, we mark the official beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, a date set by Pope Gregory in 1582. However, the summer solstice this year begins on June 20 at 7:42 pm. The solstice marks the point that the Earth’s orbit is most tilted towards the sun. It falls within a three-day range, and can also occur on June 20 or June 22. Solstice means “standstill” and refers to the way that the sun appears to rise and set in the same place during this time period. On this day we will experience the longest day of the year, the day with the longest period of sunlight. For me, it has been a cold and dark spring in Northern Washington where I live. I am hoping to see Brother Sun make an appearance!
Many cultures, both ancient and modern celebrate not the sun so much as the movement of the sun. The sun reaches its most northernmost point on the summer solstice and will then begin its journey back south, ending at the winter solstice in mid-December.
My education about the importance of the solstices began when I first visited Ireland in 2007. I learned from our guide, Dara Molly, that summer solstice celebrations were and still are common in Europe, particularly in the Celtic landscapes of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Dara explained that the eve of June 21, or midsummer’s eve, was a night of magic and feasting. Bonfires dotted the countryside, on the island of Inish Mor especially where we were staying. Mara Freeman in her book, Kindling the Celtic Spirit, writes,
The power of fire was especially important at midsummer. People lit bonfires to celebrate the sun at its height of power and implore it not to withdraw into winter’s darkness. Fires ritually strengthened the sun to swell fruits and ripen grain, and it protected both humans and livestock from insect-borne disease.
It was also believed that midsummer’s eve, was a “thin place” when the walls separating the worlds of the spirits and humans became as thin as tissue paper. The spirits of field and forest, of river and stream—all the inhabitants of that inner world—were free to pass back and forth between those walls and play among humans.
We Christians might prefer to think of thin places as where the veil between this life and eternity momentarily lifts, and we experience the nearer presence of the Trinity, God, Christ, Spirit. I think of a thin place as any moment when our hearts are opened to receive the love and peace of the divine.
I used to think that celebrating the solstices was a “pagan” activity. Yet, I have discovered that marking and celebrating the solstices can be occasions to experience the presence of God in a more potent way. Perhaps this happens because I come to this day with an intention to allow myself to be opened either by being in nature, or by participating in an intentional ritual, preferably in community. It is also a time to give thanks, with joy, for God’s wonderful creation!
Since my awakening to the importance of the solstices, I have created and participated in both personal and communal ritual celebrations of the solstices since 2007. (The cover photo is one occasion.) Each time, I am changed, even if only for a short time. I experience the lifting of the veil that often separates me from my True Self and the Divine.
At these times, I am reminded that as a human being I am only just a small piece of a greater whole. I find that celebrating the solstices is a way to affirm that I am a part of the cycle of moving from light into darkness and back again into light and into darkness again and again. It helps me to live into what “is.” As a part of creation, I know that my coming into this life was in the wind as the breath of God, and leaving this life will be in the wind as dust of the Earth. I find it comforting to know that I am part of the greater cycle and rhythm of life, just like the solstices.
This year, I will be celebrating the solstice on a property on Camano Island. We will gather under a grove of cedar trees and hold a “Wild Church” service. We will wander the property and listen to what the land has to say to us. Then we will gather and share.
After our sharing, we will gather in a different grove on the property. A circular path with fresh cedar greens will include candles that we will light ritually and we will say the poem (which is below) together.
On the day of the solstice (or even the day before or after!), you might also like to make a small fire or light a candle to give thanks to God for the sun which keeps us alive. You might like to burn incense symbolizing your prayers rising like incense (Psalm 141:2) as you offer gratitude for both the Creator and Creation. You might also like to offer this prayer of praise, by Edward Hayes. Edward Hayes was a Catholic priest and storyteller. His website is full of wonderful stories and poetry.
Here is a favorite prayer of praise that he wrote:
Holy is this fire of midsummer’s eve, and holy are you, O God, who from your
burning heart drew forth a fiery ball and flung it into space.
Your laughter shook the empty cosmos and echoed again and again until the
darkness of space resounded with your love and with fire.
You reached in again and drew forth fire and seeded it like yeast in each atom,
plant and animal, each bird, fish, man and woman.
And you gave us a special star, our sun, aflame with a life-evoking energy to
make our planet green and fertile, sun-soaked in your love.
As we celebrate this magic feast, open our eyes to the countless wonders and to
the sparks of fire-life that you have planted in each of us.
May this holy and magical night be aglow with star-fire and God-light as we
once again begin the sacred season of summer.
Prayers of a Planetary Pilgrim by Edward Hays
However, you mark the changing orbit of our sun, may you give God thanks and praise for this sacred season of summer!
Rev. Elaine Breckenridge