Ritual for SummerSolstice

Summer Solstice, Mercury Conjunct Sun, New Moon in Cancer

We’re dealing with three moments in this writeup - 1. The summer solstice, 2. Mercury conjunct Sun, and 3. The New Moon. All of these events are occurring in the sign of Cancer - sign of the home, the mother, emotional sensitivity and nurturance of all kinds. 

The solstice is pretty simple. It’s when the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky relative to the Earth’s orbit (remember that as it will come back in the ritual). It’s the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, and the start of the summer season. The Sun represents your center, your power, the core of your being. Sun as the center of self, moving into the sign of the mother, the home, the hearth, feels pretty fantastic. Who you are gets to recuperate a little by playing at home, wherever you may be. Cozying up to a fire, or heading to the beach, warming up, dunking in, feeling good. Cancer is a cardinal water sign, so it’s also a moment of deep feelings and emotional outpourings, and in general, the month of Sun in cancer makes emotions ride high. 

As the Sun shifts into Cancer, and the summer season, ask yourself, how does the start of summer make me want to nurture, nourish, and mother myself? Where inside of myself am I ready to give myself what I need, what nurtures me, what feels right and safe and secure?

Mercury is headier to be sure. As the innermost planet in the solar system it has the shortest orbit (except for the Moon), moving so quickly we can barely keep up. He rules the mind and thought, conversation, and ideas and exchanges of all kinds. Mercury is also the planet that rules Gemini, so it has a natural affinity with the sign.

When a planet moves through a sign it picks up the stank from that sign and carries it into the next. Both Mercury and the Sun will have moved through Gemini right before they enter Cancer on the 21st. But how does this manifest?

For me, Sun in Gemini (May 20-June 21) has had a very expansive, almost out of control effect. It felt so freeing it was borderline disorienting. Sun in Gemini absorbs information and expands its power effortlessly and without limit. SO MUCH INFO IS GATHERED. When Sun moves from Gemini into Cancer we go from expanding and quickening to cocooning and slowing down. In Gemini, we learn about what shape we want our cocoon to be and in Cancer we get to the actual cocooning.

Mercury through Gemini just adds so much more insight and information to the picture. Mercury will be tailing the Sun, going over the territory it’s just crossed, further observing, calculating, gathering, analyzing and integrating all the the material the Sun has just covered as it learns what it needs. When Mercury follows the sun into Cancer it becomes clear: we were gathering information about WHAT WE NEED TO BE/FEEL COMFORTABLE. 

That’s my explanation for Sun entering Cancer, followed by Sun conjunct Mercury. Sun gathers info, moves into a safe space where it can apply that info. Mercury follows and downloads a kind of instant replay/highlight reel into the Sun (and therefore into US).

When we get to the New Moon on Friday the 23rd at 10:30PM ET, we add the Moon (also in Cancer) to the mix. This brings it all home in a nice, manageable way.

When the Moon is new the sky is dark. It’s a blank slate. A big ole chalk board you can write (or draw or paint or spit) on. It’s a time to start fresh for a cycle. It’s a moment of silence, a pause, a rest in a musical measure, or more aptly, the moment in between songs where the conductor taps his baton and raises his hands to ready the orchestra. The New Moon is both the end of the last song, the moment of pregnant anticipation when he raises his hands, and the rush of that first note sounding in a new song, a new cycle. 

This month’s New Moon is getting ALL THE JUICE from the solstice and the information download from Mercury and its journey through Gemini. Some questions to consider with New Moon in Cancer: How do you want to nurture yourself? How do you want to nourish yourself? How’s your home doing?  Do you need new sheets? Clean socks and underwear? How’s your heart doing? Do you need new energy? New love? Clear relationships and support systems?

For me this is about considering what you need to do what you need to do. How are you feathering your actual nest, your emotional nest (your heart) your mental nest (your mind and behaviors) and your spiritual nest, aka HOW IS YOUR LIFE?

It’s ok to go for comfort. Comfort in your body and space, comfort in your emotional state (self care and giving yourself what you need), comfort in your mental space/mind - creating a safe space, free of unwanted thoughts, ideas, relationships, behaviors and beliefs, so that your overall spiritual space, your whole life and being, is also comfortable… Comfortable enough for you to respond to your calling and do what you need to do.

So the New Moon is the cherry on top. It acts as an anchor which can receive this beautiful inflow of good information about where we are at, and what we need to keep going comfortably. This is not just to make us happy little hens ruling the roost. The point is to establish so much comfort and security that we are able to amass large reserves of love and energy which can then be re-directed to comforting and bringing comfort and security to others. We are supposed to give ourselves what we need so we can ultimately facilitate the same in others. We nourish ourselves until we are strong enough to nourish others. 

Just remember: Mercury is trying to tell you something. Mercury is bringing in a download. Mercury is helping you to find the best solution to whatever problem you’re mulling over. And because Mercury is conjunct Sun and Moon, Mercury is bringing in information about you, what you want, how you get it, and how to do so in a way which is most comfortable for you, providing nurturance and nourishment in all facets of your experience - physical, emotional, mental and spiritual

RECAP: 

Sun gathers info, then enters space of comfort and nest feathering - 6/21 @12:24 AM ET
Mercury comes in with information about Gemini - 6/21 5:57 AM
Mercury Downloads said info to the Sun when they meet up - 6/21 6:14 AM ET
Sun is aligned with comfort and security, goes to GET what it needs to be comfortable, based on info from Mercury

Moon meets up and RECEIVES whatever Sun gets - New Moon in Cancer 6/23 10:31 PM ET
This helps Sun/Self to gain strength and self love which gives it more energy to continue feathering… and ultimately to contribute whatever you can to the comfort of others.

The following ritual is a way to align all of your bodies with the above mentioned energetic opportunity. The ritual only needs to be done once, on the day of the solstice or whatever day around it works for you. It can, however, be done again on the 23rd, the day of the New Moon, just to drive the point home and get all that information out of Mercury, and into the nest of your space. 

This is NOT a technical, astrological ritual, but it is designed to help you soak up the most astro mojo possible. Go with it!

Solstice Ritual

What you’ll need:

A flat surface
An altar cloth or paper
Some salt to sprinkle
A candle and matches or lighter
Something to burn safely (sage, incense, camphor, palo santo)
A cup of water
Paper and writing implement
Sea salt for a bath

1. Prepare the altar. Lay out the cloth. Place the candle, cup of water, and incense at the center of the altar. Sprinkle a circle of salt around all of the implements.
2. Imagine a 3-dimensional protective shell around yourself, or state aloud 3x, “I am perfectly protected now.” Ask Mother Earth to ground you perfectly, or imagine a big cord of white light that connects you to the center of the Earth, or state aloud, 3x “I am perfectly grounded now.”
3. Bring your hands to your heart center and bow, 7 times, saying, “I acknowledge and honor the space before me (BOW), behind me (BOW), to my right (BOW), to my left (BOW), above me (BOW), below me (BOW), and in the center (BOW). You are acknowledging the 7 directions and establishing yourself in the center.
4. State your intention. “This is a ritual to honor the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, and the point in the solar cycle when the sun’s rays are strongest.”
5. Invoke the elements and your higher power. “I call upon the energies of EARTH.” Touch the salt with your thumb. “WATER.” Touch the water with your thumb. “FIRE” Light the candle. “AIR” Light the incense. “And ETHER.” Make a swan dive kind of motion, circling your arms around and joining hands overhead, then drawing your hands to the heart center.
6. State aloud “I Invoke God and Goddess, All That Is, Father Sky, Mother Earth, and all of my guides, guardians, angels, ancestors and masters, and I ask for their support in this working. Please allow me to receive the full insight available to me in this present moment. Thank you.”
7. Now, the visualization and meditation process which seals the deal: Imagine yourself sitting on top of a blue orb. If you have trouble visualizing talk yourself through it, “I am sitting on a big blue orb which represents the Earth.” See the blazing sun across from you, visualizing the moment of the solstice when the Sun is at its highest, blasting Earth with so much mojo. Breathe in Golden, radiant light from the sun. Breath out Golden radiant light to the sun, do this for 9 breaths, really establishing that exchange. Intend that this exchange will continue as you move on to the next visualization.
8. Imagine yourself sitting on a big yellow orb/planet. Talk yourself through it, “I am ALSO sitting on a big yellow orb which represents Mercury." See yourself sitting on the blue orb somewhere beneath you, and see the Golden energy being breathed between your Earth self and the sun. Set the intention that when you breathe a big exhale, you will be sending a gigantic plume of yellow colored stardust down to your Earth self sitting on the blue orb. Set that intention, hold it dearly, and when you’re ready take a deep breath in, filling yourself with that intention, and on the exhale see those giant yellow plumes of stardust blowing out of yourself, and down to your Earth self sitting on the blue orb. Do this for 9 breaths, focusing on the exhale, and the visualization of the yellow stardust traveling towards yourself sitting on the Earth. Intend that this exchange will also continue as you move onto the next visualization
9. Imagine yourself sitting on the Moon. See her as a silvery orb. “I am ALSO sitting on a silver orb which represents the moon.” If you look up you can see yourself sitting on the blue Earth breathing in and out with the Sun. If you look beyond, there you are breathing big plumes of yellow stardust down onto yourself on the Earth. The idea here is to focus on INHALING those yellow plumes into your moon self. Feel the warmth of the sun behind you. Feel the cool of the moon beneath your butt. Look at yourself exhaling the yellow stardust to you, and now INHALE the yellow stardust deep into your lungs. Feel the quicksilvery mercuric energy sparkling in your lungs. EXHALE that energy towards the self that is sitting on the Earth. See them surrounded in the plumes of yellow stardust and do this for 9 breaths. Intend that this exchange will continue.
10. Now back up. Feel yourself floating in a big black cosmic void of space and ether. Just float in this space and get a birds-eye-view of the whole scene. See your Earth self sitting on the blue orb, breathing in and out golden light from the sun. See your Mercury self sitting on top of the yellow orb, EXHALING sparkling yellow light down over your Earth self, and your silvery moon self INHALING that yellow light and exhaling it onto your Earth self. See that whole system, hold this visualization and enjoy it for as long as you like and remember: IF YOU DONT LIKE VISUALIZATIONS just go through this and read it out loud and do the best you can. Your mind doing this processing is much more important than you doing it “right” or “perfectly.”
11. When you don’t want to hold it anymore, let it go. Pause for a moment to receive anything that comes to you. Now come back to yourself and the space you’re in. Open your eyes. Feel all the different cosmic energies dancing in your bodies, Sun, Mercury, Moon. Say aloud, “Thank you Sun, Thank you Mercury, Thank you Moon.” MAKE ANY NOTES you have about what you’ve experienced, what you’ve learned, what you need to feel safe, secure, and comfortable, and any insight into how you might secure that security in the coming months.
12. Say aloud, “Thank you ETHER, thank you AIR, thank you FIRE, thank you WATER, thank you EARTH.” “Thank you God and Goddess, All that Is, Father Sky, Mother Earth, and all of my guides, guardians, angels, ancestors and masters. Thank you for your support in this working, and for your continued presence and influence in my life. Thank you for this present moment. Thank you.
13. Bow again to the 7 directions in closing. “I acknowledge and honor the space before me (BOW), behind me (BOW), to my right (BOW), to my left (BOW), above me (BOW), below me (BOW), and in the center (BOW).” You are acknowledging the 7 directions and thanking them for their support.
14. Your ritual is basically done. You can let your candle burn out, or leave up your altar for however long you like. If you’re up for, draw yourself a bath with lots of sea salt in it. Go float. Rest. Chill. Receive. Be like a crab in the light of the new moon and surrender yourself to the natural cycles of the tides, sun, moon, and planets by floating, just floating. 

With love and sunny summer light,
Mikey D.