Summer Solstice, Cosmic Convergence Supreme!

Today, the 21 of June, is one my favorite moments and cosmic celebrations.  The sun is in the highest point in the sky and therefore gives forth the longest day of the year.  Unfortunately as I write this, the sky over Paris is dark with rivers of rains and thunder giving way to lightning.

Earlier today I hopped over to the church of Saint Sulpice in hopes of catching some rays of the midday sunshine piercing through the thick gray cloud cover, to no avail.  If so, the beams would cross a copper meridian that goes north south running through the altar connecting an obelisk and  a marble plaque .  This is not the Greenwich meridian which runs just a little east of the church.                                                                                                                       Chartres Notre Dame Cathedral is oriented towards the summer solstice, and not surprisingly was built on an ancient druidic worship site.   The summer solstice sun shines thought  the window of Saint Apollinaire and lands in the center of a square in the floor of the church, which has the beautiful labyrinth .                                                                     The cathedral of Amiens also has a labyrinth that is bisected by the summer solstice sun.  Sacred geometry governed the building of cathedrals in France over sites of telluric”currents” or geomagnetically induced currents.  There are many mysteries surrounding the building of these cathedrals which I love to ponder.

Here in France , it is celebrated as Fete de la Musique.  On every street corner in Paris and everywhere else in France , music of all sorts can be heard into the wee hours of the morning.  I love strolling around and reveling to the festivities that remind me of Mardi Gras back home.  The rest of Europe celebrates it as Saint John’s day, except for the Scandinavian countries where Midsummers Eve prevails with many traditions and rituals.

Summer solstice celebrations have been going on since times of ancient men, whose lives clearly revolved around the seasons and nature, whereas modern man has turned away in attempt to tame what they cannot control.  We know of the Druids, Celts and Vikings as celebrating Midsummer by lighting bonfires, dancing around them, with flower garland draped women trying to entice the sun into staying.  It was seen as a time for the heavenly marriage between earth and heaven, between the Goddess and the Godhead, to ensure fecundity and fertility of their crops.

In alchemical terms it is the time of the Hieros Gamos, the royal wedding between the White Queen and the Red KIng.  Their symbol is the rose, which proliferates fully in the month of June. The dark velvet rose marries the virginal white to give forth myriads  shades of perfumed pinks.  Not surprisingly tradition filtered down through to June being the most popular month of weddings.

From a psychological perspective, it is a time to converge the energies of the male(sun, animus) with the energies of the female(moon, anima).  As the Chinese say to balance the Yin with the Yang., the passive with the active!  It is a time to merge our earthy desires to the realm of the divine will.  For the unconscious to bring forth into the conscious.

We all have seeds of thoughts and desires that need to be brought to buds .  I often see this in patients who because of strife and loss, have been painfully pruned away with useless ways of thinking and believing that left intact would no longer bring fruit.  We, like roses and grapes, flower and bring fruit only to new shoots of growth.  We are a mere reflection of the cosmos and nature.

So take your dreams, desires and ideas, and with courage give them the needed nourishment to sprout anew.  Your soul knows the way.

May Aurial, or Uriel who is the archangel presiding over the summer solstice enlighten you with the Light of God, give you clear vision and may the Spirit of God energize and vitalize your being.