Midsummer Solstice And A Full Strawberry Moon!

This year, the Summer Solstice will happen on Monday, June 20, at 3:34 pm, Pacific Daylight Time. The Solstice means the time that the sun literally stands still, at the northernmost zenith as seen from the Earth, and it's the longest day of the year. If that wasn't enough, we also get a bonus full moon on the same day! We haven't had a Solstice with a full moon in 70 years, so it's a rare occasion.

June's full moon is traditionally referred to as the Strawberry Moon. Not because it's pink, but because that was its Native American name. It's also called the Rose Moon in some cultures. I can't think of a more romantic thing to do than pick sweet, ripe strawberries under a beautiful full moon, can you?

To have the Solstice and a full moon together on the same day is auspicious, as the full moon amplifies the attributes of the Solstice, just like a Quartz crystal will amplify other stones' beneficial properties. During our last post, we urged you to be cautious with your words and ideas. This month, because the full moon is again in exuberant Sagittarius (but just barely, it slips into Capricorn just an hour later), we think that you still need to be cautious, but if you work very hard, you can turn those ideas into reality. The Solstice itself, however, adds a mixed layer of masculine and feminine energy - the full moon is the Goddesses time, and the Summer Solstice is the time of the Sun God. This is the time for complete harmony. This is a potent mixture of yin and yang and it's more than likely that we'll all stand revealed in the light.

It's time now to be fully authentic - to be your highest you - and to completely let go of the weight you've been carrying around that no longer needs carrying. Cast out the baggage, June is a time of rebirth, of reawakening. This moon is a light upon our path, and if we are aware of our surroundings and constructs, we can negotiate our path with success. Listen to your spirit, your intuition, they're your guideposts along with the light. We liked astrologer Rick Levine's admonishment to Sun Sign Leo for the month (which can apply to all other signs), "Wisdom is knowing which road is the right one. Integrity is taking it."

We're hosting a Midsummer Solstice Celebration tonight at Hoopla! Emporium, featuring Shaman Carol Woodliff; Tarot reader Sonia Chernobieff; Doreen Virtue certified Fairy Oracle reader Alyse Korn; and a pop-up appearance by Kristen Urlacher of ArtCrush Gallery! Festivities start at 6:30 pm - Carol will lead us all in a short, earth-based blessing ceremony, and there will be tasty food and drinks available. Come join us and have a bit of fun! We plan to walk up the street around 9:00 pm and celebrate Pizza Of Venice's third anniversary with more food and their own craft beer!


Light and love to all our readers!

Happy May Day, Or, The Magic Of Beltane!

All of us remember the Maypole, right? As a child, I was always fascinated by pictures of this festive event. Pictures of bucolic, fair-haired ladies dancing barefoot, weaving brightly colored ribbons around an upright pole, while the men of the village looked on. Turns out, this May Day is an ancient Celtic pagan tradition that was cleaned up by the Christians hundreds of years ago, much like Oestre traditions became Easter traditions.

According to the Elephant Journal, Beltane "is a holiday of union, between man and woman, God and Goddess—a celebration of the divine balance in the union of Divine masculine and feminine. Because once upon a time, the two were honored as sacred parts of the one Divine balance." In Celtic, Beltane means "bright fire". Pagans acknowledge Beltane as the time the God and Goddess reunite, after a long, cold winter apart. I think you can guess where "fire" comes in, and the Beltane rituals have long been a celebration of symbolic totems and rituals honoring sex, fire, fertility, and abundance.  

The Maypole is, in itself, a symbol of the God - the divine Male - and the women, weaving those ribbons around it, symbolize the Divine Female, or Goddess, wrapping themselves around him. As Spring blossoms, the world comes alive in color to celebrate their love. Flowers bloom, trees grow and animals return. This was once the full acknowledgment and celebration of the fertility of Spring. From The Elephant Journal, "Fire jumping took place over the town fire—for the unmarried men in the town who would leap the fire to wish for a wife, the women leaped for blessings of fertility, couples jump for luck and fertility in their marriages. The May Queen and King of the Forest, or Green Man, would be chosen from among the unmarried young adults in the community, to embody the original God and Goddess, and they were the leaders of the celebrations and fun. Their entourage would follow the couple in service, everyone dressed in costumes and adorned with flowers, leaves, antlers and other nature adornment, until the couple retreated to the forest to take part in their sacred sexual union underneath the night sky." It's also said that those who were conceived during Beltane have the ability to see fairies!

In Irish Gaelic Bealtaine is the name of the month of May, while in Scottish Gaelic Bealtuinn is  May Day. Historically, Beltane is associated with the Celtic God Bel, also known as Balor or Belenus—The God of Light and Fire who was also associated with the Sun (akin to the Greek Apollo). I think it's fascinating that this tradition almost exactly matches the Indo-European/Iranian tradition of fire jumping at their Spring celebration, or Chaharshanbe Suri. This is a ritual performed during their New Year, which coincides with the Vernal, or Spring, Equinox.

What can you do to bring this special celebration into your home? Make a Maypole! Construct a small one from common household items and decorate it with colored ribbons and snippets of fabric, or, if you have a large backyard and don't care what the neighbors think, make a full-sized one! This is also a great time to clean your home - this is where the tradition of "spring cleaning" came to be! You can burn lilac and frankincense incense, or use a sage smudge stick, to cleanse, too. This an ideal time to set intentions, especially if you're looking for love, a child, or abundance in your life. Find a quiet place to meditate, and visualize your life as a garden that you populate with what you're intending. Think about what you need to do to bring these visions to reality. This is the time when the womb of the Universe is fertile and ready for your intentions to take root, like the soils of Earth are ripe for planting, the powers in charge are waiting for you to take action on your path to your own Highest Good. 

As you celebrate this day, be inspired by Nature - Beltane was honored by the ancients as a way to remember that even time stops to make space for lovers to find each other again after the long, cold night of winter. Here's a fun video showing The Circle Sanctuary's Beltane celebration: for video click here. Remember, if you need any celebratory products, such as sage bundles, crystals, incense, essential oils, or flower crowns, Hoopla! Emporium can help. Blessings to you as you celebrate the coming of Summer!