This post originally appeared in my June 2024 newsletter.
Confession time: I’m one of those witches that will take a day-long celebration and turn it into a week. Birthdays, holidays, Impromptu Excitement such as…Yay! I got my manuscript done! Or, Yay! It’s Tuesday! Tuesdays, after all, can be quite lovely days…the joy of them deserve to be savored. As for Halloween? It’s a SEASON that runs 365 days a year, but you already know that about me.
I’ll let you in on another little secret: Even in the heart of winter, the Summer Solstice is always with me. I’ve been marinating on this fact as I’ve celebrated the longest day of the year, not just on Wednesday but in the days leading up to it, and will do so in the days that follow.
I extend my celebrations because I think it’s important not to be finite with our joy. I also think that, in light of the pandemic, it’s more necessary than ever to find happiness when and where we can, in each moment of the day. It can be easy to close off and shut down after the seemingly endless trauma of the past few years, but it’s important to remember that life goes on, and while we might not want to blithely return to normal, we do want to find a way forward, a way to harmony and—dare I say it?—exuberance to greet each day as a new adventure.
I’m reminded of the Sun card in the tarot, which is the epitome of Big Summer Solstice Energy. It comes to us when we need hope, to remember that joy is an incredible healer. Upright or Reversed, it’s always a good card to get. In fact, it’s considered the most positive card in the deck, and for good reason.
It tells you to lighten up!
Relax, it says, know that the hard times are over. It’s also an important reminder that you are magic—this light luscious feeling of the Summer Solstice? It’s always inside you, even when you’re experiencing the darkest part of winter.
So when I find myself fighting waves of winter—the heaviness, disorientation, stagnation that comes with finding my way in the world again—the Sun calls to me and reminds me that there is an eternal fire inside me.
The Sun does the deeper work, too, of casting light on the shadows—of our minds, of our hearts, of the things in our lives that need to be brought to light so that we can work through them and move forward with lighter hearts. Sometimes, we need a loving gaze to show us that we are strong enough to face what we need to, wise enough to learn from these revelations, and
I’ve been marinating on the Sun card as I’m relearning the art of joy this summer.
I’m allowing myself to move at a slower place…which means I might be as productive as I’d planned, but, as I’ve learned from years of teaching and writing, the important stuff always gets done. In the summer, I have the luxury of prioritizing all the things that fall to the wayside come mid-semester, and it’s important to savor that ability, as anyone who lives by the academic calendar can relate to.
So instead of pushing myself to squeeze in more work or crank out one more project—more heavy winter energy I’m working through as I allow my mind and heart to be more expansive post-pandemic—I throw open the windows and doors to let the fresh air and light in. I light beeswax candles and harvest lemon balm and lemon verbena from my garden, both of which are the ultimate happiness herbs.
On the solstice, I cleaned my home and washed my floors down with vinegar and lemongrass essential oils. I set my bed with lilac-scented sheets and swept the dust from my bookshelves and mind. I chatted with my plants as I watered and pruned them. Then I went to converse with my tarot and see what the Sun had to tell me—the card before it is what I need to leave to the past, the card after, my future.
Today, I puttered in the kitchen and played with herbs, filling a mason jar with wildflowers for my kitchen table and writing desk. I pickled fennel. I steeped lemon balm and tulsi in cold water for a refreshing and soothing beverage. I listened to stories that made me feel bold and magical.
I lingered with my own stories.
I let them whisper their secrets to me so that I may better know myself and live their epiphanies out in my daily life.
Now, I let the honeyed balm of the season coat my skin and my thoughts. I surrender to the long, light-filled days, to the uncertainty, to the soft, yielding yes energy of summer.
And, in all this, I let the sun warm my body, my mind, my heart, a soft, sweet reminder that life can be joyful if we only, like sunflowers, turn our gaze to the sky.
Image of a blue sky with a radiant sun. In the center is The Sun card of the tarot with the Wheel of Fortune and The World cards behind it.
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