This week it’s the SUMMER SOLSTICE, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, where I’m writing this from. In the Southern Hemisphere it’s the WINTER SOLSTICE, so basically this thing is happening everywhere, in some form. The thing I mean is that here it’s the point in the year when there is the most light and the least dark, the most day and the least night, and in the south it is the least light and the most dark, the least day and the least night. Since December 21, 2017, each day in this hemisphere has been getting longer, meaning this hemisphere has been tilting toward the Sun, and the day of the solstice is when this tilt is at its maximum. The yin and yang of this phenomena! The incredible symmetry and comfort of this routine of rotation! The truth is the movement is happening all the time, toward and away from the light of the Sun, but these moments where it shifts are powerful metaphors, and powerful real experiences that take place in all life on earth, regardless of our awareness of it. This movement takes place in our bodies, our bodies and all of life perceive this movement. So we can use our minds to take note of this, to reconnect with our own wisdom about what the seasons mean, what the light and dark mean, and how we can use this wisdom to help ourselves live in alignment with the way things are.
What has happened in the last six months for you? What do you want and need in the coming six months? How can you use this natural law to help plan in a new way for the next six months? The time of the Winter Solstice in December is often one of overwhelm and too much holiday obligation, a lot of work output, etc, when we need to be resting and restoring. So how can you harness the energy of summer right now to build in some rest when winter comes?
What can you appreciate about the offerings of the light, of the illumination of this time? How does your appreciation shape your life?
ARIES | March 21-April 19
Question - What is lighting your energy fire lately?
Meditation - letting yourself be on fire.
Assignment - Let yourself follow what gives you energy! Let yourself fully be an Aries this week. Let this light bath bathe you, let yourself be. Find a time to be outside, to be with the sun. If the sun isn’t available, still, be outside for a bit of time. Remember you are an animal, you are alive, you are a person, you are subject to the seasons, and this is a very good thing.
TAURUS | April 20-May 20
Question - What foods are you eating as we enter summer and how are they serving your body?
Meditation - food rituals.
Assignment - Bring food and ritual together this week. In whatever way feels good to you. Eat food that is important to you with someone important to you. Mark the Solstice, the season, with nourishing your body. Let it be simple and easy and alive and good.
GEMINI | May 21-June 20
Question - What are your movement patterns?
Meditation - stillness while moving.
Assignment - Pay close attention to the happenings this week, the Solstice itself, and then the Sun moving from Gemini to Cancer. Do you notice any sensations or sensitivities that arise in this passing? I don’t necessarily expect you to, but it’s beneficial to hone this kind of intuitive attention, which gets you out of your thinking mind and into your emotional and spiritual awareness. Breathing and moving, and attuning to the stillness that exists within these.
CANCER | June 21-July 22
Question - What has happened for you during the last five birthdays?
Meditation - moving around the sun!
Assignment - Reflect on your past birthdays this week, and remember what happened, how they felt, what your expectations for them were, what you did and what people wanted you to do. Let this reflection help you make conscious decisions about what you want to do this year! It can be a time of reflection and renewal, if you let yourself do what you want, give yourself permission. But you have to express it!
LEO | July 23-August 22
Question - Are you doing enough summer activities?
Meditation - Summer / Sun / Vitality.
Assignment - You were born of the Sun, ruled by the Sun. You don’t have to be in the sun if it doesn’t feel good to you but you need to make sure you are attending to the season in your own way. That you are making room for play and creativity and nonproductive time. Remember being a kid and how summer seemed so long? You can make it long again by doing things that don’t involve knowing what time it is, even for a few hours this week. Turn off your phone and your time machines and do pointless, creative things.
VIRGO | August 23-September 22
Question - When are you outside for sunrise or sunset?
Meditation - earth rhythms
Assignment - Get outside for sunrise or sunset or both this week. This doesn’t have to be outside in a fancy way. It can be outside on your stoop, walking on the sidewalk, sitting on a bench. Don’t look at your phone. Don’t talk to others. If you are with someone, ask them if they will be quiet with you for 10 minutes. Just to exist, outside, during this special week where there is a lot of light. During this special, everyday moment of the sunrise or sunset. Drink it. Give your thinking mind a break. Experience: this is the opportunity of summer.
LIBRA | September 23-October 22
Question - When do you let yourself dance?
Meditation - dancing.
Assignment - Dancing is a medium that can be so nourishing for air signs, bringing together the breath and the body. And especially for Libras, who understand the principle of balance so well! I’m not talking about the metaphor of dancing here, although that is good too, but I’m talking about literal dance. Even if it’s in private - getting your blood circulating, energetically matching the season will help your system regulate if you’re feeling depleted, or even if you’re not.
SCORPIO | October 23-November 21
Question - What do you already know heals you?
Meditation - healing remedies.
Assignment - What ritual, remedy, food, drink, heals you, that you already know about, and can re-introduce into your life this week. Perhaps it’s something you used to know but forgot. Maybe it’s a tea, maybe it’s an iced tea. Maybe it’s getting in water, observing something that gives you visual pleasure, letting yourself work your own magic. Ask yourself about what needs to be healed and let yourself heal in the simplest, most pleasurable way.
SAGITTARIUS | November 22-December 21
Question - What music enlivens you?
Meditation - music for spirit
Assignment - GIve yourself music this week, listen with intention. Let it do the work of connecting you to source, whatever that means to you. Choose the music that brings you to a place of ease with yourself. Consciously note that you are feeding yourself with this nourishment as you do it. Let music breathe new life into your life.
CAPRICORN | December 22-January 19
Question - Who in your life supports your permission to express?
Meditation - free to express.
Assignment - Take stock of who supports your freedom of expression. Not based on who thinks they do, but who you FEEL does this. Give yourself time and space this week to be with people who support this permission for you. If those people are not in your vicinity, find them in books, in film, in other forms. These people can also be trees. Notice what happens when you are in this company, and notice what happens when you are not. Act accordingly.
AQUARIUS | January 20 to February 18
Question - What is lightning doing when it is not striking?
Meditation - doing nothing.
Assignment - Aquarius you can be like lightning, your energy is electric. It’s easy for you to get buzzed up in some way. So this strange question, what is lightning doing when it is not striking? What does rest look like, what does lightning do when it chills out? It’s kind of like a zen koan, but I mean it as a way to contemplate your own energetic makeup, notice when you feel buzzed, and what helps you discharge. What might doing nothing look like to you? What contributes to your calm?
PISCES | February 19 to March 20
Question - What is slippery in your life and in your consciousness?
Meditation - gliding.
Assignment - Fish are slippery on land but gliding in the water. When you try to hold onto something, even / especially when it’s a dream verson of something, a fantasy or false idea of someone, it can feel so slippery and impossible to hold. But when you let it be in its element, be real, be itself, it glides. This is true for ideas of yourself as well. I say this because it’s easy for you to idealize. So practice letting things be as they are, even / especially others when you notice that they don’t match up to your fantasy of them! Look for the moments when you are wanting to believe some fantasy about others and the evidence you are receiving is contrary to this. It doesn’t mean they aren’t still amazing, it just means that you were carrying a delusion that you can notice and let slip away. Your relationships will feel better because of it.