Solstice Ritual

It's officially Summer!  Yesterday, to celebrate the Solstice, I got out of the house before 7 AM and drew a spiral path in the intersection near our house.  Mark wondered why I hadn't drawn it somewhere else, like in a dead end, and at the time I didn't think to chime up, "because magic has to be done at a cross road!"  

At solar noon, I focused sunlight onto a candle, and kept the flame going until the evening.  Then I managed to carry the candle in a small copper cauldron through the spiral.  I quietly hummed "Center of the Sun," to myself as I travelled the spiral (I do miss working with a group and singing songs).  There's typically not much traffic on our street--I had just exited the spiral when a car drove up, which I took as a good sign.  

Afterward, I carried the flame around to the back yard circle and proceeded to have a solitary ritual.  It was more a self-guided meditation and journalling session than actual full-blown ritual, and what I got out of it were some insights,  some affirmations, and cognitive triggers to try to use for when I'm feeling stuck creatively.  

Last February was a particularly dark place, and I fret that the Summer Light hasn't restored me to my regular, energetic, creative place -- and that now that the sun has reached its maximum and I no longer have a smothering oppression wrapped around my chest, there's a nagging feeling that I'm going to plunge back into that numb, misty unworld where stories die on scanty word trails that dribble into bogs.  (I am hoping that a regular work schedule and a return to campus next fall will help.)

During ritual, I asked for the strength and endurance to keep going through the dark part of the year (which seems a little premature, as things typically don't get bad until January and February; but start good habits now, I guess.)   I wrote down the strategies and insights that came to me -- mostly along the lines of "when you recognize situation X, take action Y" (instead muttering "let's pretend to be happy" to myself or just wanting to fall asleep forever).

Then I thanked the powers, opened the circle, and enjoyed the candlelight in the starry evening.