The Meaning of the Solstice
What we can learn from the sun about 'standing still.'
Today is the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.
It’s a day that always makes me homesick for Fairbanks, Alaska—where I grew up— (known as the Land of the Midnight Sun) because this day comes with nonstop celebrating by people who cherish the sunlight that is their constant, but fleeting, summer companion. Starting tomorrow, the days will begin to shorten until darkness blankets Fairbanks for the winter much the way the nearly 24 hour sunlight shimmers over summer life.
I think I am feeling this homesickness even more this year because I have prioritized connecting with the rhythm of nature in the past year. I am much more attuned to what is happening with the seasons, with the moon and with the sun, and growing in my understanding of how to best align with these energies. This is hard to do living in a city, which makes me pine for places where life is more consciously connected to nature.
The term “solstice” comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). Astrologically, the Summer Solstice ushers in Cancer season which is a time of restoration and healing or, put another way, “standing still.”
This moment of standing still invites us inward to also become still and fully present with where and who we are, with what the moment is asking of us, and to reintroduce ourselves to who we have become. Ask yourself, how have I changed since the March equinox, and where am I ready to go next?
If you are blessed with any Cancer’s in your life (I have many!) you know that their emotional wells run deep. They are symbolized by the crab and are known to retreat into their shells to nurture themselves when they need time away from the harshness of the world. They are naturally intuitive and sensitive, so this is a season to connect with your intuition and feel all your feelings.
We in the West are trained to ignore our intuition and make all our decisions based on the mind and logic. This unfortunately often leads us to do things that are not authentically aligned, but make sense on paper. A better way to make a decision that is true to your authentic or True Self, is to listen to your body and keep your brain out of it.
This is a radical idea, I know. But if you try it, you will surprised by how much easier life becomes. This is the perfect season to start playing with the idea of consistently listening to your intuition. We have sayings like “follow your heart” and “listen to your gut” for a reason. Your body knows. If you think about it for a few minutes, you can probably name off the top of your head a handful of times you ignored your intuition and regretted it.
[UPDATE: To be clear, I’m not talking about making decisions about what to believe or forming opinions about issues. We need to rely on our mind for a lot of things, but when making decisions about what is best for ourselves—what kind of career to pursue or who to date, for example, our body will often be the best guide and/or early warning system.]
Some questions to ask yourself:
How can I do a better job nurturing myself?
What emotions have I been stuffing that I need to sit with?
What new season of my life am I ready to usher in?
What would it look life if I listened to my body to make decisions instead of conforming to my societal or family conditioning?
You referenced your home town, sunlight, the feeling and not the hamster wheel of the brain. I realize that finding “the place” of your being is so important. When I was young it was riding motorcycles, now it’s trying to keep up with m y 5 year old grandson - yes - getting out of the mental noise is so important.
I’ve spent much of the last few weeks of our European vacation reading “The Enneagram” and I’m pretty sure I’m in the “mind” segment, probably a 6. I’ve probably overly suppressed my gut for years, so these are good questions for me. Spending time in a beautiful part of the Mediterranean (Tossa de Mar in Catalunya) has helped.