The Solstice and Food & Wine kick off summer
“Summertime and the livin’ is easy.” Or… is it?
Summer in Aspen totally overwhelms me. It’s the best and the worst. As my great-grandmother used to say, “Damnit to hell,” there’s just too much going on. Forced choices in a river of “I want to do it all.” These are acutely first-world, “oh-I’m-from-Aspen-and-there’s-too-many-cool-free-things-to-do-thanks-to-all-the-wealth-we-have-here,” problems. I blame the Paepckes.
Whether you spent the weekend recovering from too much Food & Wine overindulgence or your own summer festivities, I’ll bet a number of you agree with me today — nodding your throbbing heads while you grip your gassy bellies. I’m a total lightweight. One Grand Tasting and I’m ruined.
Summer’s just getting rolling, ushered in by yesterday’s solstice and our annual Food & Wine drink-heavy-and-overeat weekend. It’s official, on-season has turned on.
I adore an early evening stroll through the mall, seeing all the looks, shapes, and sizes of visitors and locals alike. The gang’s all here! Time to shine. It’s the solstice after all.
The solar light is at its peak right now. Long, hot days and wind — so much wind. Hopefully, summer will persuade the monsoons to arrive shortly.
The solstice marks the midpoint of the sun’s yearly traverse across the sky. At its high point now, the sun spends its maximum hours above the horizon. For a few days, our star will stand still where it rises and sets. The pendulum hangs suspended briefly before migrating south for the winter.
If you haven’t taken note of where the sun sweeps across your horizon line, today’s your day. I find it incredibly centering, like some deep ancestral DNA grounding, to know where we are in the solar cycle simply by watching the sunset from my backyard. No devices needed. My people did this, yours too, for all of time, until very recently. We’re able to reconnect. We have the power.
The summer solstice encourages a solar check-in from the new year that commenced at the winter solstice. Remember those intentions you set way back then? Now’s the moment to take a personal inventory and ask yourself how you’re doing with those goals and plans.
The sun is how we see. Our vision and the light we shine into the world. Where would you like to focus your light by the winter solstice? Do you want to arrive at winter unintentionally, still much the same as you are today, or do you have specific dreams you want to forge instead?
If we don’t know where we’re headed, we get lost. Our internal GPS needs us to drop a pin to steer toward. Otherwise, we’re just flotsam and jetsam — destination unknown.
Goals don’t have to be “doing.” They can be being-oriented, like stretching, breathing, reading more, and scrolling less. Likewise, you could choose whopping objectives like finishing your book, getting a different job, or stopping drinking (post-Food & Wine inspired).
I center my solstice intentions on a few key areas of life: health, relationships, work, creativity, and money. Ideally, where do I want to be by the winter solstice? Add your own, like fun, adventure, purpose, contribution, or anything that strikes your fancy.
It helps me to narrow my goals to six months only. Otherwise, my vision gets too big, too far off, and I easily lose sight of where I want to go. I write my plans down and keep them in immediate view. Then, each new moon, I bite off a portion to concentrate on for that one month.
By winter, I’d love to hear how this solstice-to-solstice practice worked for you.
Happy summer!
Sheridan 💫
Moon Sisters Circle, Astrologer and Life Coach