summer solstice

tomorrow at dawn I will be in the beautiful Rocky Mountains watching the sunrise while facilitating a solstice ceremony. I love marking the touchstones of the yearly cycle with ritual and intention. I was thinking this morning that time moves forward just like a spiral - marching onward year after year, yet within each year moving full circle. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I move forward like a spiral through my arbitrary experience of time - guess it depends on which model of the universe we are subscribing to at the moment.

In any case, I wanted to share some of the ceremony with you here, so you can join us virtually from wherever you happen to be if you wish.



At 4:45 am, we will gather together in a circle at the trailhead. I will mist a blend of purifying essential oils, sound a resonating chime, and offer a short prayer and blessing to attune us to the reason we have gathered, and help each of us clear our minds and hearts and become fully present to experience of the moment.

We will then hike in silence to a location high on a hill, where the eastern horizon is visible, immersing ourselves fully in the quiet stillness of the early early morning, before most people have woken up and started rushing around and thinking too much, while the earth is still fresh and cool and clean from the purification of the night. It is likely that we will encounter some deer grazing, and even possibly catch a glimpse of a mountain lion, for this is their finest hunting hour. We will most certainly be enveloped in birdsong.

When we reach the vantage point, we will each look around for a patch of ground that calls to us and make ourselves comfortable there.

Sitting in silence, we will internally prepare some personal intentions for the coming season, knowing that at solstice, the intensity of the sun is at its zenith, and that we can use intention to symbolically harness that power and link it to our will, thus infusing us with energy and focus to help us powerfully manifest our intentions.

After the sun is risen, we will invite the light of the sun to illuminate the pages of our journals as we record our sacred intentions. We will then gather together in a circle to share a light breakfast, and to tell the others what we plan to make manifest in the coming season, thus also harnessing the exponential power of two or more gathered in support of each other, joining their hearts and minds in a singular purpose.

We will then hike back in the full glory of a hot and sunny morning, laughing and talking and playing along the way, reveling in the joy of being human on this bountiful planet.

so there you go! join us in your mind - we will hold space in our circle for you.