When the Sun Pauses
The invitation of Summer Solstice
Looking back through the Smaller and Deeper archives, it seems it’s a habit to share reflections on the Summer Solstice on the Sunday closest to the Solstice. I like to share reflections and reminders of nature’s gentle spiritual direction. The Solstice is a timely invitation to pause as the sun pauses this week. I’ve shared these ideas and quotes before, but they feel new to me. I hope they will for you, too.
“Allow the sun’s energy to illuminate your being by taking some time to really appreciate all that is positive and joyful in your life right now. Becoming aware that this time too will pass reminds us of the importance of stopping now and then simply to enjoy the good things that we have created in our lives.”
― Danu Forest, The Magic of the Summer Solstice
Friday (June 20th) marked the summer solstice (in the western hemisphere). On Friday, one of the Earth’s poles reached its maximum tilt toward the sun -the longest day of the year for those in the Western Hemisphere.
For three days after the solstice, it is as if time stands still—during these three days, the human eye can’t detect any change in the length of the days. It’s as if there is a pause before we begin a long, slow journey toward the darkness of the winter solstice. We are entering a week in which, to our eyes, the sun and length of days will appear to pause. Also, radiance—the sun’s light is at its peak.
"Solstice is taken from two Latin words, sol which means sun, and stitium, to stand still. The summer solstice is the time of year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the equator, a time when it appears that the sun has stopped moving higher in the sky. On this day, the length of time with sunlight is the longest."
-Joyce Rupp & Marina Wiederkehr The Circle of Life: The Heart's Journey Through the Seasons
The solstice is a time when the sun appears to stand still. Reading about sol and stitium invites me to pause and consider what this solstice might illuminate for me. What parts of my life are in the sun for light and growth, and what places are standing still? Both sun, growth, ripening, and standing still are part of the natural rhythm of the year, which feels like a grace worth remembering.
Pausing to notice something as simple as daylight and the lengthening, pausing, and receding is an easy entrance to living with a contemplative posture. This week's summer solstice is an invitation to pause and reflect on the deeper events and meanings.
What does the length of days mean to your soul?
What does the pause at this turning point invite you to this week and beyond?
What is the season of your heart?
Over weeks and months, the days will slowly grow shorter. If we notice and pause for reflection, the ebb and flow of light can serve as a reminder of the ebbs and flows of life. Light and darkness, heat and coolness, lengthening and shortening—all things are changing all the time. Sometimes, it’s apparent, and most of the time, it’s so subtle it’s hard to detect unless we pause and really look.
The flow of one season to another brings new physical realities (Longer days, shorter days, warmer days, cooler days, greener days, and browner days). It also carries more subtle "heart invitations." The contemplative life pauses to notice deeper invitations in the small moments; one might say it’s a smaller and deeper invitation.
Summer is a season filled with the sun’s radiance.
What is radiant and shining in your life?
Summer is a season of growth.
Where are you experiencing growth?
Summer is a season of beauty.
Where is beauty blooming in your life?
Summer is when roots grow deeper.
Where are you feeling an invitation to deepen your roots?
Summer is a season of energy.
How can you harness the season's energy for your growth and benefit?
Summer is a season when the tilt of the Earth starts to shift. One journey ends, and another journey begins.
Where are you experiencing a tilt, an ending, and a beginning?
Summer is a season of ripening.
What is ripening in your life?
The rhythms of the earth and seasons invite us to slow down, notice, and consider how we might join the dance of radiance, growth, grounding, abundance, rooting, and blooming happening all around us.
Where are you being invited to join what is happening all around you?
A Blessing For Summer Solstice
May you fully experience the sun's radiance. May the light of the longest day of the year be an invitation to light, potency, growth, rootedness, and abundance. As the sun seems to pause for a few days in the sky, may you, too, pause to feel summer's abundance. May you be surprised by light and radiance when we have the sun's fullness and carry that light forward.
Pause in the next few days and notice the sun and the length of the day.
Notice the tilt of your heart—the invitation of energy.
Enter the season of summer with intention and purpose.
Some {SMALL} ideas:
Draw, write, paint, or create something to mark the beginning of the summer season.
Summer is a season of growth, deepening, and abundance. Look for growth, deepening, and abundance in your own life.
Get up early and watch the sunrise.
Watch the sunset.
Eat a piece of fruit and appreciate the present moment.
Some {DEEP} ideas:
Reflection Questions (from The Circle of Life-Summer Solstice Celebration Ritual)
What is your life’s passion at this point in your journey?
Is it still hidden, or has it made itself known to you?
Is it waiting in the wings?
Is it alive and active?
How would you name it?
How do you feel about it?
Are you living it?
What is your approach to it?
What do you need to do to have the flame in your soul leap with life?
I try to notice words or phrases that stand out in my reading and listening. A spiritual practice called Florliledgium collects short, interesting pieces of words that “sparkle” up and puts them together. This is kind of like that. Watching for things that sparkle. Gathering them and seeing how they work together and what message, mantra, or new idea might arise.
A Practice:
Read slowly.
Notice if a word or phrase stands out to you.
How do the words make you feel?
Is there an invitation?
Both the Winter and the Summer Solstices are expressions of love. They show us the opposition of light and dark, expansion and contraction, that characterize our experiences in the Earth school so that we can recognize our options as we move through our lives.
Gary Zukav
Allow the sun’s energy to illuminate your being by taking some time to really appreciate all that is positive and joyful in your life right now. Becoming aware that this time too will pass reminds us of the importance of stopping now and then simply to enjoy the good things that we have created in our lives.”
Danu Forest, The Magic of the Summer Solstice
The Sun
by Mary Oliver
Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful
than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone--
and how it slides again
out of the blackness,
every morning,
on the other side of the world,
like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance--
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love--
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure
that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you
as you stand there,
empty-handed--
or have you too
turned from this world--
or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?
“Sometimes I wish I could photosynthesize so that just by being, just by shimmering at the meadow's edge or floating lazily on a pond, I could be doing the work of the world while standing silent in the sun.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
