Can it be here already? Happy SUNday everyone! Today, the sun rules for the most time that it will in the entire year, giving us a masculine strength and the warmth of the Protector’s cloak all around us. It’s so appropriate that today was actually Father’s Day when we are able to honor those special men who love and protect us in our lives. I was so fortunate to find, under the most unusual of circumstances, the man who I feel I have loved for my entire life and will love for many lives to come.
It’s hard enough to find a great dad, but how hard is it to find a great stepdad? My dear husband was loving and generous enough to take the children of other men into his home and into his heart to love, protect and teach them. Whether a child of mine was his own or not, he treated them with the same kindness, thoughtfulness and generosity of spirit. The relationship he has with each of my six children is individual and very special and I am so grateful to have found him and I thank the Goddess that they have the blessing of not just knowing him, but having his protection over them.
Likewise, he has protected me, just as The Protector guards The Goddess while she grows our harvest in her womb each year. He carries me around on a little satin pillow and feels me chocolates all day. He makes certain that I feel cherished and respected and valued as a person. He is my very best friend, above all others, and he is my rock. In October, it will have been a magical 13 years since we met and I each year, each day and each moment, I love him and appreciate him more.
When the Moon’s power is at its height in December, we light a candle and turn introspectively into ourselves, embracing the feminine mystique in all of us, our intuitive natures and the watery depths of emotion. When the Sun rules at Midsummer, however, it’s time to be outside in the heat, enjoying the physicalities of life.
One group I worked with used this day to have competitions amongst the men, young and old, to see who would be the Sun King for the year. Their trials would be physical as they competed for the Warrior King title, throwing spears into haystacks, hurling large weights and running races. They would be insightful and wisdom-based as they would competed for the title of Sage King. Next, their level of cool with ladies would be tested as they vied for the title of Lover King. All of the guys who were competing had to go through each category, amassing points in each one. The minor three titles went to the fellow who got the most points in their individual category, but the manly man who collected the most points in all three competitions combined won the title of Sun King. If there was tie, we let them battle it out with the battle sticks until one man had lost or broken his stick or was down.
Of course, the women cooed and cheered and batted their eyes appropriately as all of this commenced.
One of my favorite things about Midsummer is the communion with the Fairies. I was never much about Fairies until we moved to Grizzly Flats. Up here in the mountains, they will not be denied. They were here before us and will be here after us. They play all around our Earth Labyrinth and especially on Eric’s balcony outside our bedroom - his Man Cave.
The first summer we were here was 2004 and after arriving in March, I knew that for the first time in my magical life, I would be working with the fairies at Midsummer. We made a fairy ring inside of our circle area and inside it put an assortment of shiny items, pretty buttons, tiny mirrors, glass marbles and the tiniest little wine glasses filled with sweetened milk, along with some crumbled cookies. We called them in and welcomed them to be with us until they chose to go, wishing them well and asking for their protection and kindness in return. I’d always heard that Fairies were a mischievous lot, but we are on our 5th year with them and have never had a problem.
The day after we called in the Fairies in 2004, we went back out to the circle and saw that all of the little glasses were knocked over, some of the items we’d left were gone and there was a tiny pair of bright pink shoes in the ring. I picked them up and put them on our indoor altar until the next Midsummer.
As I was putting them on the altar, my son, who was 6 at the time, said, “Mom, did you see the Fairies?” I said, “Fairies, where?” He said, “They’re outside! They look like dragonflies unless you see them out of the sides of your eyes and then you can see that they are really Fairies!”
Sure enough, from the day after Solstice that year on, we had lots and lots of dragonflies. Each year after that, regardless of whether our Midsummer Celebration is early, late or right on time, the very day after we have circle, the dragonflies come in.
At Winter Solstice, the Summer Fairies leave and the Winter Fairies come in. They have a very different feel. They are much more work and much less play, very serious little guys who don’t intermingle much. The Summer Fairies, however, are frivolous and joyful and love to party and play.
The next Midsummer, we again set up the fairy circle for their welcoming and this time, I placed the pink shoes in the circle. The next morning, they were gone. I hated giving them up, but they were not mine to keep. Each year now, I try to find a tiny pair of doll shoes of some kind to leave for the fairies.
Our Earth Labyrinth has a special Fairy area with a lot of playthings and little Fairy statues. Tonight, we will welcome them again and tomorrow, there will be dragonflies. Oh yes, there will be dragonflies.
Jennifer has a special gift for them this year:
A stepping stone:
In CUSP tradition, at this time of the year, you can see your crops in the field and have a pretty good idea of how the harvest is going to go, barring catastrophic disasters. Your goals are not quite ready and just like those tiny little corns you find on the salad bars, if you try to pick them early and eat them, you aren’t going to get much of a reward.
Midsummer is a time of patience and putting your back into the projects you are pursuing. Now, like the Protector and the Mother Goddess, we are in the mode of nurturing and keeping our new life safe.
Any time we grow these crops in our life or manifest a different way of being, we are growing a new life: our own. We change ourselves with every act of magic and with every step on the Spiral of the Year.
At Winter Solstice, we vision ourselves as we are and as we wish to be by the end of the next harvest season. Over the coming weeks and months, we put that vision into proactive magical creation. At Winter Solstice, the feminine mystique shows us inside our mind’s eye how we can be. At Summer Solstice, the male energies bring our vision into reality and we see our crops growing strong and vital in the fields.
How are the crops that you planted at Spring Equinox growing? Are you seeing the beginning of how your harvest will manifest?
I planted a healthy weight loss and so far, I have lost 26 pounds. It’s about 1/4 of what I would ultimately like to achieve, but I am happy with that progress and feel wonderful.
Eric planted that he would like to manifest his own passion in life and be able to earn money from it. He has been successful in the construction field, even owning his own company, but it is not his passion. It’s just a job.
He loves gold mining and owns many claims here on the Consumnes River and has a friend with a claim on the American River. Since dredging season began, they have been working the rivers aggressively and that he really does love.
He also has applied to join the California Highway Patrol, an idea that has popped up for him many times but he never chose to pursue. When he joined the Air Force at the age of 17, his dream was to be a pilot. His vision, however, was so bad that he was rejected as a pilot and went into telecommunications instead. That career field has served him well, but again, was not his passion.
At the time of the planting, he learned that if he joins the Highway Patrol and puts in a year in a car, he can apply to be a helicopter pilot, a spy in the sky. That is his real dream. Since then, he has passed three major competitions: the written exam, the physical challenge and the board interview. (Sounds sort of like that Sun King competition, doesn’t it?)
He will learn of his results around the time of Lammas and if he receives a letter of acceptance at that time based on the previous 3 criteria, they will do a thorough background investigation and then he is in. His academy training would begin in December and last for 6 months. It will be tough being away from him for that time. He can come home on Wednesday nights and for weekends. We will all miss him tremendously, but we will give that time with great love for him to be able to pursue his dream.
This would mean so much for our family. We have not had medical insurance in 9 years now. Due to the incredible instability in the construction and telecommunications industries, he has rarely had stable employment since he left the Air Force in 2000. We live very, very frugally and have learned how to get by on very little. The pay is good, the benefits are good and he would be doing a job that he expects to love.
I want this very much for a man who has given so much to so many people. My older sons love and respect him as I have never seen men feel about a stepfather. My younger kids, including Delena (the 16-year-old), idolize him. He is a bigger than life play toy to them.
To me, he’s my sweet baboo and I have never known a man more deserving of waking up in the morning smiling because he knows he’s going to spend the day doing something he loves rather than something he tolerates at best and hates at worst.
I trust that The Universe sees it the same way.
Happy Midsummer to all of you.
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