Happy, happy glorious day gorgeous one! Solstice is coming, Solstice is coming! (Can you tell that I’m excited?) As I’m sure you know by now, I love celebrating most things – heck I will even celebrate a thunderstorm. However, I love, love, love Solstices and Equinoxes the mostest (and all the other celebrations).
Now you may be thinking – Jen what’s the big deal, what does it matter. Ahhh grasshopper it does matter, it matters very much. It’s one of the biggest celebrations on the Wheel of the Year. As we have been exploring for the last few weeks, we have been moving from Air (ideas) to Fire (Action and Passion) and Summer Solstice is the celebration of the sun, which is masculine and all about Passion, Action etc. Which if you think about it is kind of ironic as it also heralds what we know as the “hazy lazy days of summer”. Now if you have no clue about Summer Solstice or Litha as this celebration is called, as well as Midsummer’s Eve I will give you a quick and dirty and if you want to find out more, I have you totally covered. What is Litha (Summer Solstice) and how to celebrate it? (There are some yummy easy things to do to mark this glorious day).
Solstice comes from the Latin words sol, meaning Sun and sistere, meaning to come to a stop or stand still. On the day of the June solstice, the Sun reaches its northernmost position, as seen from the Earth. At that moment, its zenith does not move north or south as during most other days of the year, but it stands still at the Tropic of Cancer. It then reverses its direction and starts moving south again. The opposite happens during the December solstice. Then, the Sun reaches its southernmost position in the sky – Tropic of Capricorn – stands still, and then reverses its direction towards the north.
Summer Solstice (also known as Litha) is all about abundance, growth, expansion. It’s the celebration of the Sun! Think about it, the farmer plants the seeds in the cool of the Spring in the wet ground and as the Summer Solstice approaches things have sprouted and are reaching up as if they are doing a glorious sun salutation. It’s a time to watch the ripening and fruiting of the plants around us and our ideas. This is a delicious inner fire/power celebration that acknowledges the abundance that grows from tiny seeds.
It’s also a stupendous time for magick! I mean for goodness sakes even William Shakespeare wrote about it in 1596 in his play Midsummer Nights Dream (so that’s how long the magick has been around.) There is a line in the play that says “If we shadows have offended, think but this; and all is mended: that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear….” Midsummer’s eve was believed to be a time when the veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest – a time of powerful forces and magical happenings, when fairies were thought to be about and at their most powerful. This otherworldly sense underpins Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where the fairies use their magic and cause mayhem in the forest. The magic gets mixed and at one point, Titania, queen of the fairies, falls in love with Bottom, who is unwittingly sporting an ass’s head. But don’t fret – you won’t end up wearing an ass’s head (unless you really, really want to!)
So I was positively delighted to see two decks wanting to come play, which then in turn gave me an idea of doing a bit of a different reading, one that really marks this celebration. The decks that wanted to join in and bring their own glorious magick are The Oracle of the Dragonfae and The Faery Forest Oracle. So yes, this reading will probably be loaded with lots of magick, meaning and manifestation. Then it was time for the crystals and wow, wow, wow, so very cool to see who wanted to come. My large chunk of Citrine wanted to become a nest for moonstone, sunstone, chrysocolla and clear quartz (the crystals I am using in ritual on the morning of Summer Solstice) and then all the gorgeous smaller pieces of citrine and the clear quartz points wanted to come as well as the collection of rose petals that I had been drying for Thursday. So needless to say, this reading is going to be a tad longer than normal, which I think is totally appropriate.
I pondered a little more and received a glorious download for an amazing Summer Solstice guided visualisation. I do highly encourage you trying it out and if you feel inclined you might want to use it again on the morning of Solstice (Thursday).
If that doesn’t fit for you, that’s all good – just relax and start paying attention to your breathe and let your mind empty itself and be filled with glorious golden sunlight. Then when you are ready pick the card or cards that call to you, and of course you can pick more than one!
Did you remember to pick?
Ready to go have a look?
WU-WANG
In times of olde, they said that only those who were pure could connect with those like myself. That the virgin could connect with Unicorn. That the child could see the meaning of God. That the fae would truly see into your heart, and finding it corrupt, would never appear to you.
I am here to tell you that your heart is pure and wild and innocent. It is that you have forgotten how to see us, that you have been told that in order to see us, you must be perfect. That in order to see us, you must be mad, unclean, broken, and if you say you have seen us, you face being shunned.
I am here to say to you that we appear to those who have looked into their hearts and have seen beyond the woundings….because within you there is a wild and untrammelled heart space which is free of any taint. In that space we can enter and therefore, we can and we will be seen again. You were not born into this world wrong or sinful. There may be karmic markings, but you are no sinner, nor are you corrupt or unworthy. Foster that which is wild and pure and good with you, and we will begin to appear and come forth. You will feel us on the wind, in the water, see us in the fire and hear our voices emanating from the heart of our mother, the Earth.
You are a child of the Mother, call her what you will, and at your core you are one of the wild ones. That is my message for you.
AWEN
“Awen” translates to “divine inspiration” or “flowing breath”. It is a mystical force that offers us a moment where there is a sudden surge in newfound knowledge, inspired thought, the ability to awaken our dormant talents and a sense that before we were given the gift of Awen , we were like sleepwalkers.
Awen is a moment where life is forever changed, and once we drink of Awen, or feel it as a beam of divine light entering us and changing us, we can never return to who we were, and the world is never the same again. So having experienced what has taken place, you cannot pretend life can ever be the same. You have lifted the veil and you have seen the face of the Divine. You have drunk the elixir of the gods, and the faeries have offered you their greatest gift.
Awen does not stay – but the knowledge of what we have experienced in that moment changes us forever. So, now that you have had this life-changing experience and been given this incredible moment of inspiration, you can either pretend to yourself that life is without magick, or you can continue to embrace the magick in the enchantment of every moment. Now if you choose, you can become more fully alive – and while this is no easy path, it is one that is full of deep, joyful moments, true connections, and poetic, blindingly beautiful experiences.
Awen will come, from time to time, and you are so blessed for having had this most sublime and life-changing of all mystical experiences.
THE TIME GUARDIAN
The feelings you have, of time contracting and expanding, are real insights, not simply your imagination. Time is a living dimensional being, whose powers include the ability to devote more time to those of us who require it, and for time to speed up or slow down then it may be necessary, too. It is in this way that we are able to divine and travel through the threads and weavings of time, and move forward into seeing our future…in truth, we are already there. And much of who we truly are remains an echo. The time beings of the Dragonfae, of whom I am one, know this, and guard and protect you from confusion. Similarly, they can assist you when you require time to be created. If you feel you are short of time, send a thought message to me, the Guardian of Time, and I will send you all the help you need to meet your goals within the time you feel you have. Know that time is available to work for and with you; you need only tune into it as a dimensional reality, and connect with the time beings. Know that you are a timeless being. Know that you are dimensionally vast, that you are protected, cherished and loved.
If you work with time rather than trying to compartmentalise, control and define it, if we return to the lunar and solar and astronomical ways, if we celebrate the time changes apparent in nature all around us with the Wheel of the Year, then the time span we have will be richer and more joyful, our vocations will be discovered and we will no longer struggle to cram so much into our days. Because changing our perceptions is such a mammoth task, the Time Guardian is sometimes very tired, as the prevailing human mindset now is of time needing to be constrained and watched. He encourages us all to experience the natural flow of the energy we call time, and experience its multi-dimensionality. There is one simple way to work with him. Be in the present moment, more often.
THE TRICKSTER
Let me be a reminder to be true to yourself, to your own personal truths, to the code within your soul. Truly, at this time it is essential for you to let your conscience be your guide, and to live according to your own creed, with open eyes. Do not fool yourself into believing another person’s vision and ideas are more important than your own – question agendas, and be aware of people’s history. For at this time, there is one about you who is attempting to persuade you to their cause, to join them in what they see is a great task, but which in truth is simply a harnessing of your power to their agenda, which is not for your highest good.
All tricksters are charming and know exactly what to say to persuade you – but this is mere language. Their deeds will not match their words, and what you are agreeing to by joining with them will be a loss of your own personal dreams for the furthering of theirs. If you allow yourself to be coerced, cajoled, and manipulated at this time, it will weigh heavily on your very soul.
Be more wary than is natural for you at this time. Do not betray yourself, or ignore the warning signs, which are all about you. Do not foolishly give away your power, but exercise it, and weave a future that is truly the one you wish to create – one, which will provide you with honour, plenty, and the satisfaction of having been true to yourself.
DRAGONFAE OF REBIRTH
We are the ones who have seen you in those moments you humans describe as dark – the ones you so often wish to run and hide from, the ones you fear because you misunderstand their purpose, the ones you shun. Your loathing of your shadow has sometimes driven you to seek and ending. But a literal ending is not necessary. In every culture on this planet, old and new, there has been a ritual that lets you die to your old self, one in which the wise man or woman is guided through a journey to their own underworld. We too know of this underworld, as we dwell there from time to time, and here we are now, in this underworld, waiting for you to descend in order to be reborn.
Fear not your “dark” moments. For in the dark are the shadows, easeful rest and the deep knowledge of the heart and the soul. In this place the seeds you need to plant can flourish and what you feel are dark and “bad” thoughts are in fact manifestations of the desire to die to the self that no longer feels its true self to be captured in its outside form.
You are remaking your own soulself, and in this magick and ritual endarkenment lie the seeds of your reawakening and your own rebirth. We are with you, circling you and clearing and cleansing your energy. There is no beginning and no end, just the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Now, it feels like death…but it is a death to the old self…not a literal death. Do not fear. You are about to be reborn. Take heart and know that soon you will feel whole again.
SHE WHO LAUGHS
There is within your life now a great heaviness, an earnestness, and a sense of great gravity to nearly every situation unfolding. Yes, this is of great importance, and yes, there are consequences to consider. But it is time for you to receive the healing power of laughter, the power that lifts the darkness and releases energy that is stagnant, cold, and heavy from our energy field, indeed from our limbs and cells and hearts.
For you, this laughter is as necessary as surgery at this moment, as it will shake loose the cords strapping you tightly to burdens you no longer need to carry.
Let the light break through, and laugh – as without laughter, there can be no perspective, without laughter, there can be no movement forward, without laughter, there can be a sense of deep abiding resentment. Life this!! Let She Who Laughs begin to help you seek out moments, people, and situations that stir the sense of the ridiculousness within you, and let the healing and the release of laughter roll through you and lift away the pain at the centre of your being. Its time is passing. It will melt away with tears of laughter that fall and cleanse and free you from the past….For now, the sun breaks through, and your eyes shine once again with mirth and joy.
Welcome back to the world of delight, friend. It’s time.
THE PENDRAGON
I am He who is the hunter, the sage, the father, the provider, the protector. I am he who watches over his people and does his best for his family. I am He: your brother, your father, your husband, your son. I am sheer powerful masculine energy and I am the lover of the Goddess of the Dragonfae. Together we create wholeness, apart we wander alone and are more easily wounded, even destroyed. I have a role: to care for others, to use my physical strength and to use my attributes to fight for those I love. And I will do that. I am King and Emperor and God…and I care for you. Do not fear me: i would not hesitate to sweep you into my arms and hold you.
I love you, but know that my role here takes me away many times from all the love and playfulness that still lives inside of me. Trust in my actions. See the truth and choose a partner who is in action a strong and caring manly man. Think of some of your positive experiences with men this lifetime: from moments with your father, to times when a man has acted honourably. Now, from those examples, begin to allow more of that version of masculine energy into your life.
Gradually, let’s change your ingrained and sometimes negative beliefs about men…and when Pendragon walks in, he demands that you treat the men he sends your way with respect and honour….just as he will treat you in return. You will notice that ignoble men no longer have a place in your life and that you are no longer attracting them. Indeed, Pendragon wonders why you would waste your time with people who do not behave in a noble fashion, and he does not want you to be involved with men who behave deceitfully, who are fearful of their own power, or who take advantage of members of their own family or their partners.
THE FAERY NORN
It is time to be careful, precise, and considered about what you do and what you say. It is time to share wisely, to look around, very carefully, and to consider what patterns of your life will be going forward. It is time to do small and very precise things each day that will increase the stability in your world. It is time for the small, the everyday to be cared for, observed, and known, and for all the loose ends of life to be tied up, neatly, one by one.
There is clutter and some chaos about you. There is no blame in that, the Faery Norn knows, for all lives when well lived hold such things. But your job now is to begin to tidy up your life – to shape it and make it into a form that is more contained, more organised, and somehow for all of this control, more free.
For when you introduce the order, the chaos can no longer eat away at precious reserves of time, emotions are not squandered in the petty dramas that humans love to dally with, and you know what must be done, carefully, precisely, and with clear intent, to bring the next shape into your life.
Do this, and watch your fate simultaneously reveal and transform itself.
Wow! The cards really knew they were showing up for Litha in a big way! So gorgeous lovely, I hope you enjoyed and remember to take some time on Thursday to celebrate, it doesn’t have to be big, but mark the day and watch how your soul soars and your inner wise self giggles when you do. I personally will be by a wild ocean with glorious big waves and some of my most favourite people in the world. After this reading was done I had a little spark and so I packed up little bags of crystals and rose petals to give to the lovelies I will be spending the day with and they are free to do with them what they will. Offer them to the ocean, bless them in the sun or whatever works for them. So remember to laugh, enjoy and to get outside. Oh yes, someone asked me if it was okay for them to share the reading – of course. So again, thank you for all your lovely comments and stories, I truly treasure them. There will not be a reading next Monday as I will be driving for 14 hours! So see you in two weeks! Huge hugs and squeezes!
