Wishing You a Glorious Summer Solstice & a Happy Father’s Day!

With the summer solstice, the long hot days of summer have officially arrived and it is certainly a symbolic day for us to also be celebrating and honoring all fathers everywhere. The summer solstice, also known as the longest day of the year, celebrates the sun, and its masculine energy that fosters growth, activation and creation. This same masculine energy is also present within each of our fathers. For example, fathers play an active role in creating, fostering and sustaining life from the act of conception, to the years of protecting and raising their children, to the wisdom shared with their adult children and extended family. Like fathers, the summer season and its abundance of sun-filled days are essential for all life to expand and reach its full potential. During summertime, also known as pitta season in Ayurveda, plants receive abundant amounts of sunlight which enables photosynthesis to occur. Through the process of photosynthesis, plants transform the elements of fire (sun), water, earth, air and ether into nutrients they need to grow. The food which plants grow nourishes both humans and animals while the sun itself directly sustains life on earth by offering its warming energy and Vitamin D. Through the gift of the sun, all sentient beings have the opportunity to reproduce and keep the circle of life flowing. Like the sun, a father’s warm embrace is essential to all life on earth and we are blessed to be celebrating and honoring the masculine energy today as we celebrate the summer solstice and father’s day. 

As Ayurveda teaches, the sun and males are not the only ones that contain masculine energy. According to ancient Ayurvedic philosophy, we all contain masculine and feminine energies within ourselves and, like the 3 doshas- vata, pitta and kapha- our unique blend of the masculine and feminine energies are what make us truly one-of-a-kind. Whether you identify as male, female, bigender, agender or gender fluid, we invite you to think of this classical Ayurvedic concept from the perspective of what the masculine and feminine energies contain. The masculine or sun energy activates, awakens, strengthens and provides heat while the feminine or moon energy softens, restores, nourishes, contains, cools and soothes. All human beings need both sun and moon energies to support and sustain themselves throughout their lifetime. 

Which energy or energies are you inviting in today on this summer solstice? Do you need the motivating energy of the sun to start or finish an important project or do you need the compassionate energy of the moon to take on a little less and make time for self-care? Today, we hope that you can sit outside in nature and reflect on what your body and mind are calling in at this moment so that you may feel happy and at ease. 

Wishing you a glorious summer solstice and a happy Father’s Day!

It’s the midsummer’s evening, the shortest of nights,

Where our planet is blessed with the greatest of light.

The sun at its power, sharing its wealth,

With the earth glowing in abundance and health.

The trees’ leaves are green, the birds are in song.

The days are as warm as they are long.

We honor the animals, the plants and all living things,

The sun and the water and for the life that they bring.

May you find well-being and may you find peace, 

In the days after the solstice, as the light does decrease.

May the blessings of the solstice be yours we pray,

And the light warm your heart and soul every day.

-Pagan blessing