Celebrating the Summer Solstice on the Path to 2012

As the Winter Solstice of 2012 fast approaches, marking a time of great transition for humanity and our planet, each turn of the cosmic wheel becomes more significant. The summer and winter solstices, along with the spring and fall equinoxes, have been occasions for celebrations and rituals for thousands of years. The ancients looked to the heavens with awe and gratitude for the gifts of each season and built cosmic calendars on the Earth to mark the movements of the heavenly bodies. They were aware of early or late signs of spring to know when to plant their crops and noticed the changing angles of light as summer lengthened their shadows. They lived in harmony with the rhythms of the universe.

In the last century, as populations have become more urban than rural, many of us have lost our conscious connection to the natural world. We may note the change of seasons–warmer or cooler weather, longer days or nights–but have largely forgotten the significance of the Earth’s annual journey around the sun as it tilts on its axis.

This yearly orbit is linked with much larger cosmic movements, as Earth moves counterclockwise through the twelve signs of the Zodiac, each about 2160 years, and completes what is called the Precession of the Equinoxes about every 25, 950 years. All of these cycles, as well as the shorter lunar and solar cycles, were known to the ancients. The Mayan calendar gives evidence of this, and many monuments around the Earth similarly indicate that the movements of the heavens were well observed.

According to interpreters of the Mayan calendar’s long count, December 21, 2012 is the date when all of these cycles–short and long–complete, as Earth and Sun align with the dark rift at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Some plausibly argue for other dates, but the Winter Solstice of 2012 (Summer in the Southern Hemisphere) is now part of the collective consciousness of our time, as media focus on this date builds.

What precisely will happen then no one knows, but speculation ranges from Doomsday scenarios to the ushering in of the Aquarian Age of enlightenment and peace, with all species including the human living sustainably on the Earth. I am firmly in the latter camp, as those who have read my book, Spiritual Wisdom for a Planet in Peril: Preparing for 2012 and Beyond,” are aware. Our task is to bring about the most positive outcomes for ourselves and our planet.

The Summer Solstice on June 21 offered an opportunity to reconnect with the natural rhythms of Earth and to celebrate the time when the sun at its zenith appears to stand still in the heavens. Now light wins out once more over darkness, as the longest day of the year marks the beginning of summer. From this day forward to the December solstice, daylight diminishes again until darkness settles in and winter pulls us inward.

Summer is an expansive time, when all things seem possible. Now through the autumn equinox on September 21 is a time of great abundance, as Earth nourishes her species through growing plants, plentiful waters, and new generations of animals, birds, and insects. Our home garden produces a rich bounty of lettuces, tomatoes, squash, beans, and herbs, offering us fresh, nutritious meals through September. Last year one of our pumpkins, harvested in July, lived on our front porch through January, before the frost turned it rotten. Mocking birds nest in our yard, large bumblebees buzz around our purple ice plants, and the butterfly bushes in our side yard attract many beautiful species. Wild blackberries turn ripe and disappear quickly as the local deer population gobbles them up. Visual and edible symbols of Earth’s abundance are one of the great joys of summer.

Since ancient times, people have celebrated the Summer Solstice as the victory of light over darkness. Monuments like England’s Stonehenge are gigantic calendars marking the Earth’s turning toward the light and have become sites of annual festivals to give thanks to the Divine for the life-giving sun.

On a number of occasions, I have traveled to power points and sacred sites on the planet to participate in solstice or equinox celebrations: Stonehenge, Chitchen Itza in Mayan Mexico, Egypt’s Giza Plateau, Ireland’s Newgrange, and Chaco Canyon in New Mexico among them. In these and other locations, ancient astronomers and priests left solid evidence in stone of the path of the sun’s seasonal alignments so that their communities could anticipate and benefit from this knowledge. Ancient gods were worshiped as bringers and sustainers of life.

Now science confirms what spiritual people have always known intuitively: the interconnected web of life throughout the universe that flourishes, dies, and is reborn in new forms and patterns, as the process of creation continues to unfold throughout time. The evolution of human consciousness that 2012 is about is one significant culmination of a more than 16 billion year old cosmic process, and those alive today may experience this shift.

On last year’s summer solstice, I joined an annual ceremony in northern Michigan led by several generations of Ojibway women at the site of petroglyphs sacred to their people. The women hauled water in purifying copper buckets from a nearby stream to cleanse the large rock on which the ancient messages were written for our own time. Barefoot, grandmothers and their daughters and granddaughters scrubbed the rock with brooms, then offered a traditional feast representing Earth’s bounty to guests. It was a wonderful way to honor Mother Earth and ancestral wisdom.

This year I had intended to join a group of spiritual energy healers at another ancient sacred site, the Serpent Mounds of Ohio, to ground and amplify healing energy through the site, connecting with the Earth’s grids to bring a higher dimension of healing and harmony to the planet. Instead, I stayed home to be with visiting family. However, through the power of the internet, you don’t have to travel around the globe to join in a summer solstice celebration. At 8 p.m. EDT on June 21, I tuned into the Concert for the Living Water at www.liveh2o.org and joined millions around the world in sending love and healing through thought, intention, and chanting to the Earth’s oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams. I concentrated especially on the Great Lakes because of their importance and my own spiritual connection to these great bodies of water.

Feeling very aligned with the intention of this experimental gathering held around the planet and virtually through the internet, I was grateful to be able to contribute through this medium to cleansing and healing the waters. We know from the work of Japanese scientist Dr. Emoto, who was involved in this project, as well as from the science of energy healing, that water holds memory and vibration. As humans and invasive species have polluted the life-giving waters on which all life depends, their healthy vibrations have shifted and diminished. Through our collective intention, we can change that, and this concert held, appropriately, on the summer solstice was a way to focus and amplify our energy through the sound frequency of love. As the www.h2o.org website states, “love is the universal healer and water the universal solvent.” Bringing these together with amplified power can cleanse and heal us all.

The Concert for the Living Water is a great example of what is possible when each of us joins with others as one voice to raise the vibration of the planet and contribute to the transformation of consciousness that will bring about an era of peace and harmony on Earth. It was especially appropriate that it should happen on the most enlightened day of the year.

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