Every summer on June 21st when I was growing up, we’d have a sleepover Summer Solstice party. We’d often pitch a tent in the backyard, play flashlight tag, and stay up late.

We honored the rhythms of Mother Earth with simple acknowledgment and celebration rather than super elaborate rituals. In this way the honoring became like breathing, a unity between us and the cosmos. Because we’re all made of the same stuff anyway, as it turns out.

I have tremendous resistance to rituals that sound complicated. If it requires a meditation, special candles, an altar, prayer, some dancing, incantations, journaling, crystals, and pulling cards, I’m just not going to do it.

I like to keep things simple because it increases the likelihood that I’ll actually do them. 

Probably my resistance has to do with my continued difficulty with slowing down (thank you, motherhood, for tirelessly presenting me with this lesson). And it probably has to do with the fact that I don’t think you need a lot of accessories to connect with the “all that there is.”

So, if you’re like me and you like to keep your spiritual practice quick and simple, I thought I’d share what I like to do at the Summer Solstice to honor the light and the longest day of the year. (If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, that’s tomorrow, Thursday, June 21st. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s actually the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, and I wrote about how to honor it at the very bottom of this post under the heading Release.)

The Summer Solstice coincides with the same energy as the full moon in the lunar cycle and ovulation in the menstrual cycle. In terms of the cycle of creativity and the way projects manifest, I call this energy Visibility.

It’s a time of peak fertility (energetically), manifestation, magnetism, and really being out there. (That doesn’t mean if you don’t feel this way right now there’s anything wrong with you. We all have our own cycles and seasons that speak to us in different ways. We talk a lot about how to navigate and plan for this in Origin™.)

I’ve got two little girls under 3, and I’m still on maternity leave. Plus, in general, my approach to life is to do less whenever possible.

Here’s what I’m planning on doing tomorrow to celebrate the Summer Solstice:

• Acknowledging that it’s the longest day of the year by simply being aware of it
• Having some friends over to grill outside and enjoy nourishment and good company al fresco
• Taking a few minutes to talk with my husband Mike about what has come to pass since the Winter Solstice on December 21st when we set intentions for what we’d like to manifest as the light returns (I may even write it down in a journal if I’m feeling ambitious!)
• Noting anything that we need to let go of in order to live out the rest of this solar cycle (a.k.a. year) in alignment with what we really want and who we really are
• Enjoying the hell out of the fact that it’s finally summer in Maine and we wait all freaking year for this delicious season of heaven
• Putting my attention on pleasure and savoring what feels good

If you want to add feathers and crystals and an altar and prayer and meditation and a special dance to your ritual, go for it. You do you. What’s most important about ritual is that it’s meaningful to us, so I give you carte blanche to make it up and make it feel good!

I’ll be over here keeping things simple and delicious.

Here’s to the light!

OVER TO YOU:

What are you doing to acknowledge the solstice? Which of the ideas I threw out resonates with you? What other kinds of rituals do you like to do? Tell me in the comments!