Joyous June

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather,always bring your own sunshine.

~Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book

Greetings to our friends and community,

In this Joyous month of June, we celebrate the summer solstice (6-21), give love and thanks to all fathers fulfilling their sacred duty to provide for the physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual needs of their children and/or the planet (6-19), and shout out a hip, hip, hooray to those completing a cycle of cognitive development and study.

We are entering into a time of blossoming and balance. Solstice is also referred to as Midsummer; it falls between planting and harvesting and marks a time to celebrate the union/marriage/balance of the feminine (mother/earth/moon) and masculine (father/sky/sun) energies.

Needless to say, the movements of that big, yellow, life-giving orb up in the sky have been tracked by cultures across time and space, each culture reflecting both its own uniqueness and universality.

The Taoist see the Solstice as the balance of the masculine yang energy with the feminine yin energy. “When the world began, there was heaven (yang) and earth (yin). Heaven mated with the earth and gave birth to everything in the world. Heaven is Qian-gua, and the Earth is Kun-gua. The remaining six gua are their sons and daughters”. Indigenous cultures see it as the marriage of Father Sky with Mother Earth which creates all life.

Some sacred symbols of this union are: the Sri Yantra from Hinduism, with intersecting male (upward/heaven) and female (downward/earth) triangles; the Flower of Life, seven circles of the Seed of Life blossom to become the Flower of Life revealing thirteen interlocking circles representing feminine energy and the cycles of the moon; and the Merkaba, which represents the joining of the masculine and feminine energies in the heart chakra.

What’s your Summer Solstice archetypal myth or symbol? In Santa Barbara, I do believe mine includes a certain fun and festive parade!

Teresa, Thule, Tucker and all at Paradise Found