Happy Summer Solstice

I love love love the Summer Solstice! It is my firm and unassailable opinion that no one loves the solstice like we northerners. The sun decided to come out and play for the celebrations yesterday and we are having a beautiful solstice today. I walked down to the nearby lake last night and just watched the sun and the birds and the trees. I felt so at peace and this morning’s ride was giddy and joyful. I am just happy.

I am really coming to love my women’s ritual group. Even though our Solstice celebration was rained out on Saturday we had a lovely time as one of us opened her home. It was a small part of what was said and done, but one passage stuck with me. As glorious as it is, Solstice highlights impermanence for us. When summer is at its zenith, it begins to wane again. I usually try not to think about that and focus on all the glorious night we have left all summer long. But the reason this day is so joyous is because I know winter is coming. Those long dark nights make this day so much sweeter, but I am sure I wouldn’t care about it if I lived near the equator.

I love it when my interests in Paganism and Buddhism overlap like that. This day reminds me to savor every sweet and wonderful thing I see without begrudging its eventual loss. Without impermanence, it wouldn’t be so beautiful. I hope I can hang on to this lesson this winter and remember that it is OK to lose something, because that means that I once had it.

Making Beltane Memories

I haven't written in a few days because we are having the most amazing and gorgeous May weekend I can ever remember. The lure of frolicking and yard work in the sun is just way too strong to even consider coming inside to turn on the computer. I have always gotten a special high from sunshine that can't be beat. I have more energy and joy in a sunbeam than anywhere else. Sometimes I think I must be photosynthesizing.

Saturday was my first public Beltane celebration with the local CUUPS group. The weather was so amazing we brought chairs out and held our ritual outside like it ought to be. The heat was around 70 degrees. I have lived in Alaska for 33 years and I never, NEVER remember it being 70 degrees in May, much less early May. This unexpectedly gorgeous day truly made it seem like the first day of summer that Beltane is meant to be. Everyone was playful and the whole evening was fun.

Sometimes I think northern Pagans need to adjust the wheel of the year to fit our actual cycles. Often the meaning of the celebration doesn't fit what is acutally going on around us. We still have snow at Ostara and winter has usually already begun at Samhain. This makes it harder to apply the natural cycles to my spiritual life. This was a glorious exception and I can't think of a better setting for my first Beltane. I'm still happy thinking about it. We got through a dismal summer and a nasty winter last year, so this summer-like weekend is like medicine for our shivering souls. I can't wait for summer solstice.