A few weeks ago, one of my co-workers asked, what exactly do you do for the Summer Solstice? And while I had any number of answers for her, about typical Midsummer traditions and rituals, all of them boiled down to: enjoy your life and all the pleasures that life brings.
Turning to the Summer Solstice, feeling the power of the Sun and standing on an awakened Earth, when all that lives is busy photosynthesizing, eating, mating—the wonders and gifts of being embodied are so evident. There is joy in stretching our muscles, feeling the Sun on our skin, eating that first juicy peach, smelling cut grass and flowers. Summer Solstice is a moment to revel in all our senses, to take in all the sensations of the season. But this beauty and pleasure is not just for the Solstice Day itself, but permeates the whole Season. The magick of Summer is not bound up in the moment when the Earth is closest to the Sun, although that is a profound and magickal moment. Summer's magick is bound in passion and pleasure and experience.
If we truly believe that the divine is immanent in all of nature, in all things that live and grow, our senses are the means by which we gain access to the Divine. The Charge of the Goddess states that “all acts of love and pleasure are My rituals.” It invites us to engage with the world, through our senses, through our actions and emotions. And through that, to come into a deeper intimacy with what is divine. The world of the Spirit, the divine and loving intelligence that animates the material world, exists within and around the physical environment that we live in. They reflect and inform each other. Through engaging with the physical realm through our senses, we can also sharpen and refine our senses, and focus our awareness, so that we can begin to access that spiritual realm. My first lesson in Witchcraft, decades ago, was to create an altar to my five senses, and to focus on each one in turn. I would close my eyes and ring a Tibetan bell once, and focus on the sound, the pressure and vibration, I would taste a strawberry or a piece of good bread, really focusing n the taste and texture on my tongue. I would light up incense or pour a little Florida water on my hands. I would contemplate an image evocative of the divine, and run my fingers over a large shell or stone. Over time I was able to deepen my focus on those sensations, and to become aware of other information that started coming through. Each object elicited deeper responses from me, and I began to access psychic information about them.
Summer is the perfect time for this type of exploration. Life force abounds right now, in the outside world and in ourselves as well. It's a perfect time to engage more deeply into every aspect of our life, and to let then thongs we love, whatever they are, lead and instruct us in the magick all around us every day.