Today is Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, the lightest moment in the earth’s orbit around the sun. We are basking in her glow.
It is the day of Litha, the Celtic goddess of abundance, and the first day of Cancer, the sign most associated with family, nurturing, our homes. It is also the sign under which this country was birthed.
On most midsummers, I recommend cleaning your house, decorating with flowers, burning sage, and lighting candles. I recommend rituals celebrating abundance, creativity, and prosperity.
All this still applies.
But today, I also offer a prayer for America.
I pray that we honor the Earth as well as the Sun. That we honor all that the two create together–trees and skies and the sweet soil beneath our feet. The food we eat, the flowers that bloom, the salt water that cures us all. That we thank Mother Ocean, Mother Moon–o yes, all mothers.
That we honor our personal cycles and how they match the cycles of the heavens.
That we honor the children we carry, the children we eternally are, children everywhere.
Today we are midway through the year, and whatever goals we have not yet met, may we roll up our sleeves and recommit to their achievement. Today we have the beautiful light of the Sun beaming us into her dreams. I pray that we lean into her. Labor for her. Live her. Love her, and love each other.
May we all be brighter, braver, bolder. May we all be better.
This country requires it. This light requires it. And the blood that connects us all requires it, for beneath Mother Sun’s rays we are all cousins.
I pray for the magic of this day to recharge us so we may better serve love and light in this second half of the year. I pray that we eclipse the darkness that has seized this land.
I pray that we protect each baby as if they were our own.
Art credit: Carole Byard (left) and Javaka Steptoe (right).