Summer Solstice-Litha
Tips and Events to Balance the Energy of the Season
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Litha
The Wheel of the Year makes its way to the southern bend at summer solstice in a standoff with winter. At the sun's highest point, its light peaks here each year, now still a warm and building Yang energy that encourages attention outward.
This is the summer fire of spiritual transformation through the vital joys of the body.
At this time the Sun's light peaks each year as hot, masculine, fiery, direct and active energy. Simultaneously, we call on the element of water to balance this potent energy, easing our bodies through the next few months as we look to the South where the alchemy happens.
In the South we connect with nature by weaving our way through the sensual world. From here we can experience and merge the simultaneous experiences of daily life in the East with the wisdom of sprit in the West.
Now the great Song of Life resounds through the airwaves—cascading sounds of the water falling; entrancing us with its music to create shifts in our consciousness. Like provocative smells, the sound of the water opens a gateway between our conscious and subconscious minds to awaken us to our own mythic memories.
These are brilliant moments akin to the spaces between waking and dreaming— nature's portal from the body into the world of spirit where the light of inspiration and creativity burns eternal with the heat and enthusiastic passion of our true state.
Open that gate and dive into the cool summer waters. As the dark comes to light—though expansive and expressive, transformation isn’t always painless. Be willing to feel, come what may. Maybe comfort, maybe discomfort.
Whatever presents, experience the ease and the hurdles; feel the flow and the moments of resistance to your own stagnancy.
.Tips for the Season
Conscious Breath & Meditation: Sitting in Self
The 6th chakra is a sanctuary space to rest as a spirit in a body. It beckons from the center of your head, behind the forehead and between the ears.
Stuck in survival energy in the first chakra or overwhelming emotions in the second?
Hop on your inner elevator and rise up to the neutral space of the 6th chakra. Call your awareness here so you can see the bigger picture.
Gently touch the middle of your forehead with your index finger a few times to become aware of this place where your inner sight resides. Breathe in and imagine filling it with your own energy.
Breathing out, release anything that takes you out of the peacefulness of this sanctuary space. Let go, let go, let go. Repeat as much as needed.
Keep breathing. Be amused.
More information about transformational breathing.
Feng Shui for your Insides: Mirrors
Mirrors are an energetic amplifier, and one of the most important adjustments in Feng Shui.
Hanging a mirror in the right place can encourage balance, prosperity, and tranquility in your home. They move energy around the room to create flow, and stimulate positive energy by expanding the light in a dark room.
Pay attention to the placement of mirrors, being certain the reflected image is clear—not cloudy or fragmented. Choose a placement that reflects beauty, abundance, and elements you wish to enhance, rather than clutter, a toilet, or any other inauspicious view.
It is important not to hang a mirror too low or too high—best to hang it at eye level or approximately 60 inches from the floor so it reflects the entire head of those looking into the mirror.
A couple wonderful examples for great mirror placement are: 1) on a wall that reflects your dining room table, doubling the abundance of the food; and 2) reflecting an outside garden will bring more light and energy into the room, connecting your outer world to your inner world.
In the summertime, mirrors can be used to enhance and balance the elements—for example: calming the fire of the season with a reflection of a fountain or cooling colors.
Be creative and flow with the season!
More information about Feng Shui for your Insides
Herbal Healing: Calendula
Calendula is often called the sunshine flower because its bright orange petals resemble the rays of the sun. In many cultures, garlands of calendula are used in celebrations and ceremonies – their brightness bringing joy and light.
Visualize and call on the spirit of calendula to heal old emotional wounds and unresolved traumas that are ready to come out of the dark and into the light. Let calendula show you how to shine your own light into those places that are calling for healing, so you shine more of your own light and radiance into the world.
Herbalist Matthew Wood refers to calendula as a remedy for the places where “the sun doesn’t shine,” particularly the hidden places of the lymphatic system.
Topically, calendula is an excellent wound healer, and is often used in salves and skin care products. Rosemary Gladstar’s book “Medicinal Herbs – A Beginners Guide” is an excellent resource if you would like to explore making your own salve. Always be sure to use the herbal expertise of someone who knows when making any remedy or food.
Celebrate this Summer Solstice season by adding calendula’s edible petals to a salad, or brew a cup of tea from the dried flowers—it’s almost like drinking a cup of liquid sunshine!
Calendula is easy to grow, and Strictly Medicinal is a great source for organic, high quality seeds if you want to add it to your herb garden.
Enjoy playing with calendula this summer!
More information about herbal healing
Pathworking Tools: Four Winds—The Wind that Transforms
Face southward and feel the heat of the noonday sun overhead, warming you like a blazing fire. When you are aware, your body naturally opens to the golden light of spirit. When you are open, you relax and feel its brilliance more deeply, filling every cell of your body.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Now imagine you are standing at the crossroads in center, receiving the incredible abundance of the four directions as they meet in center and merge with your body—as within, so without, as above, so below.
Connect to the Earth, calling the divine feminine energies up from Earth’s center into to the soles of your feet. Connect to the Heavens, calling the divine masculine energies down from above into your crown.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Feel the energy running through you, knowing your body is a conduit and sacred vessel for the abundance of all things.
Now, turn to the south where the fires of summer burn under the heat of the sun's highest point. Feel its warmth as you turn your face upward. Visualize a bundle of sticks at your feet representing old agreements related to your transformation and openness to the energy of spirit.
Break the sticks, releasing the programs, beliefs, conditioning, and anything else that blocks you from moving forward as a sovereign soul embodied.
Breathe in, filling yourself with the golden energy of the sun and its sacred element of fire. Breathe out to feel its warmth moving from overhead, down though your crown, into the central channel and your spinal column, though your body and all the chakras.
Breathe in again, feeling it expanding outward into every cell in your body. Place the broken sticks in a pile at the center of the crossroads, breathing out the warmth of summer, bowing deeply to the south.
The fires of the season will burn them, leaving the entropy to feed the earth. Your body and soul are transformed by the fiery wand of spirit!
Audio Companion:
The Four Winds: full version
More information about pathworking tools
Special Events During Litha
July
Aura Healings—Tuesday, July 1, 5:30 - 7 pm. Experience an aura healing to clear blocks and restore your personal energy. Donations accepted. Text 505-603-7137 for information.
Feng Shui Tips for Health & Home—Tuesday, July 8, 5:30 - 7 pm. Learn tips to create flow in your environment. Donations accepted. Text 505 -919-9611 for information.
Psychic Readings —Saturday, July 12, 11 am - 2 pm. Drop in with a question; 20-minute readings for $25. Text 505-603-7137 for information.
Readings and Guidance
Summer is a wonderful time to recharge and open to new possibilities! Would you like a spiritual hello about your next step and intentions, or maybe some guidance? Our vision as a team is to serve the community by acknowledging and supporting your unique contribution! Each of us at Sacred Gateways offers intuitive readings and healings as part of our personal soul intention. Click on our About Section or Readings & Healings for more information.
Summer has always been the most challenging season of the year for me, even as a child. I had an aha moment as I reread this post. I've spent my life preferring to hide, to disappear, to not shine my light...of course the expansive and expressive energies of summer are going to 'light me up' and be uncomfortable! My own resistance to actually coming alive.
I love the visual of diving into the cool summer waters for balance, and embracing all of what I find - ease and resistance - without judgement. Breaking these old patterns of hiding. Letting go, letting go, letting go. I appreciate these reminders in the tips. And I'm excited to play a bit with mirrors to create more positive energy and light in my life.
Thank you!
As a Leo, summer is my favorite time of the year. That said -I can overdo and burn out. It was helpful for me to read and have an awareness about the balance of the masculine energy, the active Sun, balanced by the cool summer waters.
I am doing my best to stay out of overwhelming emotions in the second chakra. I like the tip of touching the middle of my forehead to remind me to get out of my emotions.
My calendula plaint showed its first bud today. I will definitely try this summer salad. It looks beautiful.