Creating Abundance at the Summer Solstice
Contrary to how modern society is structured, the summer season is not for rest or slowing down, it’s for productivity! Summer is a season of abundance, thriving, and tending the seeds we sowed in the spring (whether they were vegetable seeds or seeds of intention). The Western paradigm of taking time off during the summer and languishing beside swimming pools is another way in which we’ve become disconnected from nature. Working hard during the winter and resting during the summer is the exact opposite of what humans are designed to do. Flowing with nature’s rhythms means letting go of resistance and easing into a more natural pace which, at the Summer Solstice, we’re reminded means harnessing the Sun’s energy of productivity and devoting ourselves to the realization of our dreams, intentions, and goals.
What is Litha?
The Summer Solstice goes by many names depending on what tradition we subscribe to. Those who follow the neo-pagan Wheel of the Year may call it the festival of Litha while others use the older term Midsummer which nods to the ancient treatment of nature as being two seasons only, summer and winter. Regardless of what you call it, we experience the Summer Solstice when the earth’s hemisphere that we live in is tilted closest to the Sun resulting in the longest day of the year. Each day prior to the Solstice grows in length while each subsequent day gradually decreases in length. This solar phenomenon marks the first day of the summer season.
I acquired a new book (or five) in May while visiting my favorite bookstore in the world, Topping & Co., in Edinburgh called Slow Seasons: A Creative Guide for Reconnecting with Nature the Celtic Way by Rosie Steer. In it, the author shares a sweet insight into how the event evolved into a festival, and of course, how so many of our modern traditions derive from ancient and occasionally pagan paradigms:
“The Summer Solstice was a holiday of sorts, as it came between sowing and harvesting, meaning those who worked the land had time to slow down during the growing season. For this reason, many weddings took place around this time, the word ‘honeymoon’ originating from the Honey Moon, the full moon of June, so called because people believe it was the best time to harvest honey.”
While the cross-quarter festivals (see illustration below) observe seasonal peaks and are perhaps more laden with folklore and magical and/or religious/spiritual associations, the Equinoxes and Solstices initiate us into new seasons and collective Life, Death, and Rebirth cycles.
The Wheel of the Year illustration by Kelly Louise Judd (used with the artist’s permission)
Creating Abundance by Flowing with Nature
The Sun is associated with yang-energy: activity, doing, making, persistence, thriving. This is the season of the Sun! Children get summers off not to waste away in front of screens but to help tend the fields and eventually, in August, to harvest! The whole purpose of daylight savings was to provide more hours for labor in the early mornings and late evenings when the heat was its most bearable.
On the other hand, The Moon is associated with yin-energy: receiving, creating, patience, resting. The winter is the season of the Moon, a time when resources are scarce and we should be slowing down in order to conserve energy. The way society is set up asks us to channel Sun and Moon energy when they’re at their weakest resulting in a model in which we cram all our R&R into the energetic summer months and force ourselves to be most productive when we’re designed to be hibernating. What we’re left with is a life that is totally out of sync with what is most natural to us and we wonder why we’re so anxious, depressed, and unhealthy?
This is a life of resistance, not flow. It’s very difficult to thrive and feel abundant when we’re pushing against the current. I’m sure we can all think of at least one time in our lives when we gave up trying to make something happen and then almost immediately poof! it happened. This wasn’t a miracle, it was nature. Resistance is draining; it creates blockages and disharmony mentally, physically, and spiritually. The moment we stop resisting what is and start to flow with what is is when we notice that things become a bit easier. Things fall into place, our health improves, we feel more in alignment.
Harnessing the Energy of Productivity
Notice the naturally occurring abundance of the summer season and work with it. Harness it. Wake up earlier with the Sun instead of drawing black-out curtains the night before and waking to a jolting alarm. Use the extra time to work on your dreams. Want to start a business? Try getting up at 5am when the Sun is bright and spend a couple of hours building a website. Want to change careers? Use the extra hours of light to study a new subject. Want to improve your health and fitness? It goes without saying that the day is long enough to get in an early morning or late evening walk or swim. Go tend a garden of home-grown vegetables. Learn a new skill. Sit outside with a notebook and outline the process for how you will get from here to there.
Nature provides us with all the resources we need during this season to make our dreams and goals reality, it’s entirely our choice whether we seize or waste the opportunity by resisting the natural flow of things. Instead of taking your holidays during the optimal months, can you save them up and go away during the cold months instead? Let’s use the summer to create a life from which we don’t need holidays to escape from.
“I’ve learnt that the magic really is in the small moments: the taste of the first Scottish strawberry of the season; a haphazard bunch of flowers grown by someone you love; the green of the landscape after rain; the sound of the tide at the seashore. Small moments of Summer magic. The Solstice is here.”
-Rosie Steer, Slow Seasons: A Creative Guide for Reconnecting with Nature the Celtic Way
