Celebrating Summer Solstice

"See the sun! God's crest upon His azure shield, the Heavens." ~Phillip James Bailey

 "The great duties of life are written with a sunbeam. " ~John Jortin  

"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face." ~ Victor Hugo   

"When all you can feel are the shadows, turn your face towards the sun." ~ Helen Keller

"Methinks that what they call my shadow here on earth is my true substance. Methinks that in looking at things spiritual, we are too much like oysters observing the sun through the water, and thinking that thick water the thinnest of air." ~ Herman Melville, Moby Dick  

"May the sun shine warm upon your face. " ~Irish Blessing  

"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you." ~Maori Proverb   

"The sun does not shine upon this fair earth to meet frowning eyes, depend upon it." ~Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby    

"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face." ~ Victor Hugo

"Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you? " ~ Chris Knight, Real Genius

"I walk without flinching through the burning cathedral of the summer.  My bank of wild grass is majestic and full of music.  It is a fire that solitude presses against my lips."  ~Violette Leduc, Mad in Pursuit

"There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart. " ~Celia Thaxter

"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit.  A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world."  ~Ada Louise Huxtable

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time."  ~John Lubbock

"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth." ~ Buddha

"Even today, the spirit of Lugus (aka Lugh Lamhfada) pervades the Celtic world, second only to Brigit in significance and accessibility. Trickster, psychopomp, experimenter, mover between worlds, granter of success and wealth through intelligent manipulation, and granter of continuity through change, his many gifts remain at the disposal of those who trouble to seek him out." ~ Copyright © 1997 Alexei Kondratiev

"So, she leaning on her husband's arm, they turned homeward by a rosy path which the gracious sun struck out for them in its setting. And O there are days in this life, worth life and worth death. And O what a bright old song it is, that O 'tis love, 'tis love, 'tis love that makes the world go round!" ~Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend  

Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. The time when the Oak King passes the scepter to the Holly King, and the Wheel of Seasons turns. The Sun in various forms is revered upon this day, and gratitude expressed for it's life-giving warmth whether called Belenus, Lugh Lamfada, Apollo, Freyr, Ra, Veles, or simply a ball of incandescent gas. Love, healing, magic and all things Fae abound on this important day. Perhaps more than any aspect, I am reminded that through change and the turning of the Wheel continuity is maintained; all things are possible, especially when they seem beyond reach... No damage so severe that it won't heal with time and care, nor any goal set too high that the spear of the Sun cannot easily pierce it's very heart. Life is a forge through which we pass, and while not without its pains and shadows, it is the Light which purifies and  renews us. Joy caresses all of Life, like the gentle touch of Sunlight across the landscape, delicate yet undeniable even in the midst of tragedy.

"The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where hydrogen is built into helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees

Yo ho, it's hot, the sun is not
A place where we could live
But here on earth there'd be no life
Without the light it gives!" ~ They Might Be Giants' lyrics from Why Does The Sun Shine?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oyz7e8iQ6Uo

Wishing you laughter, my dear friends, and the very brightest of blessings from my family to yours...