Summer Solstice
Scientifically, it is the day when the sun reaches its northernmost point on the earth, the Tropic of Cancer. The "sol" part of the word refers to the sun, and "stice" means "standing" (from Latin solstitium, from sol ‘sun’ + stit ‘stopped, stationary’) because the sun briefly appears to "stand still," changing from a northward journey to a southward direction again. Of course, it is the Earth doing the moving that causes this phenomenon, not the sun, but we humans often tend to describe things from our limited perspective.
Midsummer's Day
Traditionally, it is the day when the ancient peoples celebrated the midpoint of the warm season on the calendar. It marked the time when many herbs, beneficial to healing as well as cooking, came into their prime and romps were made through the woods and fields to collect them. It marked the time when wild berries and fresh vegetables were plentiful. It marked the time when the fae (known in various cultures as sidhe, faeries, or "little people") most prominently flitted about, mostly by night, weaving their magic and entrapping the unwary human with their power and wonder.If you believe in angels, then don't laugh at the notion of faeries, for they are likely cousins, cut of the same cloth.
If you don't believe in angels, then surely you will at least concede the "fey" quality that some of us humans have — those of us who dance to the beat of our own drummers... those of us who celebrate the wild, untamed aspects of ourselves... those of us who walk between worlds... those of us who seem ancient and young, all at once... those of us who immerse ourselves into Life with reckless abandon... those of us humans who have those fey qualities can be your faeries.
And if you look closely, and at the right time, we faeries will be drumming and dancing under that beautiful, wild, also-untamed Mother Moon.
• SELF-PORTRAIT ON A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT •
MIDSUMMER'S DANCE
an original poem © by meThe Earth, She lies in stillness
And the sky is painted black
Scattered stars are shining bright
Cool breeze is on my back
The silhouettes of trees, they stand
Like sentinels all around
Guarding my silent passage,
Feet gently graze the ground
The grove provides protection,
The Night provides the way
To watch the faeries flit about
And frolick as they play
To them, I am a kindred soul
They do not flee from me,
But lead me deep into their world
My soul shall be set free
We celebrate Earth and Spirit;
The Mesh connects them still
With silver threads of Moonlight,
To see them is a thrill
We dance upon the strands
That shimmer just like glass
A dance profound, yet simple
As dewdrops on the grass
Not till the Night is over
And the Dawn begins to break
Do we part our ways with kisses
And our way home we make
Retreating deep into the cleft
Of dreams and blessed sleep,
The Solstice of our lives belie
The secrets of the Deep
😊
