Midsummer/Summer Solstice (around June 21st) also known as: Feill-Sheathain , Alban Hefin Midsummer, is that point when the Sun strength is at its apex. It is the longest day of the year. From the moment of Midsummer, the Sun begin immediately to wane. The journey into the harvest season has begun. It is at Midsummer that the Holly King, God of the Waning Year, has encountered and succeeded in usurping reign of the year. In Celtic Mythology the Young God withdraws into the Wheel of the Stars and it is here he waits and learn before his rebirth at Winter Solstice. Midsummer is the time when all is flourishing. Flower smell their sweetest, trees are their greenest, faeries are their most playful, it is the time that nature's lavishness is most acutely perceived. The passion at Midsummer has escalated from the playfulness of Beltane to a more fervent intensity. Couples who handfasted the year before at Beltane, tend to marry in a more formal handfasting at Midsummer or Lughnasadh. The moon of Midsummer is the is known as the Honey Moon, thus we can observe the roots of modern day marriage practices, in their Pagan soil. The fire of Midsummer is traditionally kindled from the friction of two sacred woods, fir and oak. Nine different types of herbs are thrown upon the Midsummer fire. These consist of mistletoe, vervain, St. John's Wort, heartsease, lavender, and a choice of four others chosen from herbs typical of this season. The herds were driven through the embers, in days long ago to purge disease and illness from the herds. This being the season of passion, Midsummer is the perfect time to understand our passions, for they ever so evident in the height of the summer heat. It is though understanding and acknowledging our deep pounding passions can we utilize the correctly. For passion will take us to heights unseen, will fuel our creativity, and bring us into realms unrealized in the logical mind. It is through this season, we can see the bounty of life, the intensity of being, the rapture of love, the exhilaration of awareness, and the possibilities of creation. For it is passion and love that has driven humankind to realize some of its greatest treasures and its most extreme violations. It is only through awareness and conscious action can passion bring us to the zenith of existence. This is the time to experience our passions and the force within, to be conscious of how we use them and the gifts they can bring and experience true power. |