Today is Summer Solstice...a most ancient Holy Day...what I call a Power Day! What signifies power better than the rising and setting sun...especially on this it's longest day to circle our humble heads!
The official day to kick off summer...and all its glorious memories and stories yet to unfold this summer of 2009...Summer Solstice and its dark-side twin...Winter Solstice are two of my favorite markers for my life.
This day is also Father's Day for those who are lucky enough to be called so (I am)...and even luckier to still have one around (which I don't). But everyone knows that Father's Day will never "stack-up" to Mother's Day. As much as we knuckle dragging, penis swinging, son of the great ape Adam try to hold onto power...we're no match for the endless mysterious of Mother Earth and her minions of spell weaving enchantresses!
Sir Dayvd made the pilgrimage to Stonehenge last year at this time, so I'm not sure if he has already welcomed the sun over the Stone like the billions of souls who have done so since it was built...but I like to think that our English Honorary Founding Father is representing the KMSA along with the Druids, New Age Air Heads, Curious Tourists, Loyal Fans, and Hung Over Mates!
We'll be walking these Sacred Grounds ourselves in just a few short weeks. It will be exactly 30 years since I last melded with the Stones...I can't wait for the return trip. I am grateful on this day as I write this blog while listening to Bono singing "Sunshine...Sunshine. Standing between midnight and a doorway. Speed dialing with no signal. Go and shout it out...escape yourself and gravity. On the edge of the known universe I wanted to be. Restart and reboot yourself. You're Free to GO!" From their song, Unknown Caller, on No Line On the Horizon.
So, I pack my bags in Columbus, OH...go work out...take a shower...and drive 5 hours back to begin the Summer with the Sunshine of My Love! Yes, I would like Cream with that!
Sir Hook the Rebooted Rock N Roll Druid of Warrick
Aye. This year was a bit different... as the Soltice was on a Sat/Sun morning...the expected crowd turnout at Stonehenge was going to be ridiculously high...giving no peace and meditation whatsoever....and indeed as I thought... 35,000 people showed up...So i am very glad i chose not to go...
ReplyDeleteBut the longest day of the year has quite a special meaning in this, the ancient island ....and instead i went a few miles north from my home to the 3000yr old megalithic Rollright Stones near Hook Norton..., a place I have meditated at, at dawn before.
http://www.rollrightstones.co.uk/index.php
I further chose, in keeping with the KMSA, to see the dawn in at the 5000 year old burial chamber close to the stones, called The Whispering Knights and very beautiful and timeless it was too.
The low cloud cover meant there wasn't a moment of sudden glare as the sun made it above the horizon... just a gradual lightening over half an hour...and then the sun cleared the cloud a while later, on the way back to the van.
I always call it the Earths Birthday....and it's always a good day to feel extra close to to the earth and say thanks for another year, on a planet in a Void.
Sir Dayvd ( who is now decorating his bedroom and being more prosaic ) of Oxfordshire.
That...my Ancient Island Friend...sounds like the perfect morning! It beats watching the sunrise over a parking lot outside the Hilton in Polaris!
ReplyDeleteSounds like that will be close enough to see while we're up at the Hook Norton Brewery?
Enjoy your day...I'm now off "On the Road Again".
Sir Hook...Proprietor of the Traveling Medicine Show...of Warrick
yup....i think we can manage to get the FF and femmes to try and count the stones... ( legend has it that you can't count the same number twice....and i never have...and no you can't cheat by putting numbers on them. )
ReplyDeleteSir D ( enjoying being off-road watching paint dry ) of oxfordshire...
What an excellent post - we really were sort of on the same page today. Must've been the Columbus air...
ReplyDeleteLady T. who prefers the real Stonehenge to an onstage monument that is in danger of being crushed by a dwarf.
p.s. - My word verification is 'menasms'. Just sayin'.
My father and I agree that the summer solstice makes us sad as the days start to get shorter.
ReplyDeleteSir James of long trip, mediocre "holiday" back from Vegas and now blurry eyed and off to work of Taylor.
Lady Suzanne and I took the time visit "ancient stones" in Cloverdale, In and Evansville, In.:
ReplyDeleteHeadstones of some of our family. Suzanne her Grandmother and Grandfather and other relatives; I went to visit my father and grandparents. We walked the cemetery as sunset.
I have to admit that I had not realized it was the Summer Solstice. Perhaps I will make it a conscious point to visit the stone next year at sunrise or sunset.
Sunset on the headstones are a beautiful reminder that all our days are getting shorter.
Sir Bowie of Greenbriar