Summer Solstice

“We are all
We are all the children of
A brilliant colored flower,
A flaming flower.
And there is no one,
There is no one,
Who regrets who we are.”
- song from the native Huichol people of western Mexico

Cycles are circles. But they aren't cold or static—they allow for transitions, for change. They are meant for change, really. For though there is always a return to a point in time or in space or in state, that return is anything but tangential. A cycle is dynamic because it requires a traveler. Some one or some thing must experience the cycle, must engage in the constant act of returning, and in doing so, themselves close the circle at every moment.
    

For us in the northern hemisphere, it is summer solstice. This is when our planet bows in reverence to the Sun, the day Earth lingers the longest at Her radiant feet. And for us who live on this Earth, our return to this point along our shared orbit is an opportunity to remember that we are children of light, scientifically speaking, mythologically speaking, spiritually speaking. All of our traditions, all of our innovations, were worked out along this sunlit path. On a day such as this, all the "isms" and "-ologies" we've either discovered or created stand still at a common point, to pause and acknowledge, each with their particular vision, a moment in a cycle, even as the Sun (sol) stands still (sistere), as She pauses between Her breath of seasons. May we pause today and ourselves acknowledge this moment, acknowledge what has changed as we close this circle. And may we neither forget nor regret who we really are.

Wishing everyone a happy and blessed Summer Solstice!