The radiant sun is the source of all human life. The cycle of human life revolves around it. People come and go but the sun remains shining day after day. It never fails us. Steadfast symbol of perpetual life and vibrant energy, we take the sun for granted rarely pausing to appreciate its unceasing life-giving nature and live by its example. The Summer Solstice event is always an opportunity for us to honor and harness the energy of the sun and its aspects and to become part of and expand our consciousness by way of this energetic solar event.
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Sunrise on the Summer solstice occurs every year on June 20 or 21. This day is the peak of yang energy ushered in by energetic Summer and the Fire element.
We’ll want to harness this peak of yang energy at this time since the lively energy of yang will begin declining when energetic Fall and the Metal element arrive August 7 and we decline even more profoundly through energetic Winter and the Water element.
We can harness the Summer Solstice peak of yang energy by acknowledging it exists and opening our hearts to it—the heart being one of Fire’s organs according to traditional Chinese medicine. Place your focus on the heart during energetic Summer by 1) feeding the body heart nourishing foods(1) and 2) staying active—a yang energy—so that the heart will receive positive energy and support like improved blood circulation.
When summertime and the Summer Solstice arrives it is very important and integral to your body to remain active. (Please read our recent blog on increasing yang energy here. The article can help you harness this peak of yang energy.)
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On the Summer Solstice the sun is at its highest point in the sky and marks the longest day and shortest night of the year. This day marks the start of astronomical summer and the tipping point at which days start to become shorter and nights longer. The Summer Solstice calls for introspection and presence unto ourselves—a hallmark moment in time calling us to creatively and profoundly experience the spirituality, meaning and vibratory frequency of the solstice energies. This event can be extremely powerful in helping to take us to new heights spiritually and vibrationally.
The word solstice comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and stitium (still or stopped). The ancients, even as early as the Stone Age, noticed that as Summer progressed, the sun stopped moving northward in the sky as it began to track southward again as Summer advanced to Fall.
Our forebears from all over the world, undistracted from the rigors of modern daily life and who lived in greater harmony with nature than we do today, noticed there was something very special about the Summer Solstice.
Approximately 800 years ago, Wyoming plains native Americans built the famed 80-foot wide Bighorn stone Medicine Wheel. It was built with 28 spokes one of which pointed to Summer solstice sunrise and another to the Summer solstice sunset.
Chumash Indians of California bored carefully placed holes in walls and ceilings of caves through which only the Summer Solstice light would shine.
Anazazi Indians of New Mexico painted two spirals on a rock in Chaco Canyon. At noon on the Summer Solstice a beam of light pointed to the center of one of the spirals.
In Central America, the Aztecs, Mayans and Toltecs built great temples aligned to the moment of the Summer Solstice sunrise.
In the Mayan city of Chichén Itza in Mexico, the Spiral Tower is built with windows and doors that are oriented to the rising and setting sun at both solstices and equinoxes.
At the ancient Mayan observatory Uaxactún in the Guatemalan rainforest, present day viewers can welcome the Summer on a viewing platform to see the sun rise over a series of small pyramids, an astronomy cluster of four structures, built in exact alignment with the great solar event.
The Summer solstice was the most important day of the year in ancient Egypt when the waters of the Nile would begin to rise at this time. From the view of the Sphinx, the sun sets squarely between the Great Pyramids of Khufu and Khafre on Egypt’s Giza plateau on the Summer solstice.
The solstice was joyfully celebrated in ancient Europe with flower head wreaths, games and bonfires. It was believed that bonfires would boost the sun’s energy for the rest of the growing season and guarantee a good harvest for the Fall. And while the actual purpose, function and origins of Stonehenge, the neolithic megalith monument in the south of England, has been long debated by archeologists, the site happens to be aligned with the direction of the Summer Solstice sunrise.
In ancient China, the Summer Solstice was associated with yin, the feminine force, which is balanced by the yang masculine energy of the Winter Solstice. Festivities celebrated the earth, femininity, and the yin force. The ancient Chinese saw the sun prevailing in Summer with yin energies beginning to wax as yang energies began to wane.
According to some ancient Greek calendars, the Summer Solstice marked the start of the New Year and also marked the one-month countdown to the opening of the Olympic games.
In the days leading up to the Summer Solstice, the ancient Romans celebrated Vestalia to honor Vesta, goddess of the hearth. At this time married women left offerings in the temple of Vesta as pleas and prayers for blessings for their families.
Midsummer was a pivotal time of year for the Vikings, who would meet to discuss legal matters and resolve disputes around this auspicious time.
Cultures around the world still celebrate the day with feasts, bonfires, picnics and song. Today, people dance around bonfires that blaze on hilltops in Cornwall, Wales and Ireland. Yoga centers and spiritual circles around the world usher in the solstice with drumming and chanting.
Each one of us has the individual opportunity to dive deeper into life and the Summer season by becoming more deeply acquainted with the Summer Solstice. One way is by intimately experiencing the darkness of the evening preceding the solstice to assist us to know and appreciate the light of the Summer Solstice sun the next morning more fully.
Here is a list of simple yet powerful practices to help us usher in the Summer Solstice more consciously while embracing the peak of yang energy.
Eat simply throughout the day leading up to evening.
In the evening, turn out all the lights in your home.
Unplug your television, computer, and all electrical devices.
Light candles.
Go outside, outstretch your arms and breathe in the night air.
Take a long walk during this evening. Take note of the stars and the clouds.
Light a fire outside, if possible. If you don’t have a firepit, use a portable grill.
Play an instrument fireside if you can.
Sing or chant quietly and reverentially.
Bake potatoes in the fire you built.
Lay down on a blanket near the fire and doze.
Go back inside and read a book by candlelight.
Take time to sit in silence.
Wake up before dawn that day to be ready to greet the rising sun.
Feel the energy and the presence of your ancestors.
Relish the power of the rising sun.
Sing a song or whisper a prayer in honor of the dawn.
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Endnotes:
Red fruits and vegetables, (red being the yang color associated with energetic Summer and the Fire element) are considered by traditional Chinese medicine to be beneficial to a warm heart with a healthy chi.
Sources:
“Chinese Summer Solstice Features Feminine Energy and Cold Noodles.” eChineseLearning Blog Chinese Summer Solstice Features Feminine Energy and Cold Noodles Comments, www.echineselearning.com/blog/chinese-summer-solstice-features-feminine-energy-and-cold-noodles#:~:text=Ancient%20Chinese%20saw%20the%20summer,Yang%20energies%20begin%20to%20wane. Accessed 2 June 2023.
“The Vestalia: Celebrating Vesta and Purifying Rome.” History and Archeology Online, https://historyandarchaeologyonline.com/the-vestalia-celebrating-vesta-and-purifying-rome, 6 June 2019
“History of Summer Solstice Traditions.” National Trust United Kingdom, https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/history-of-summer-solstice-traditions