Today marks the longest day of the year, and with the coming of the Summer Solstice our inner witches are being brought to the surface, ready to usher in a new season. Whether you believe your one of the Charmed Ones (aren’t we all?) or you’re just excited that IT’S FINALLY SUMMER, the Summer Solstice has more impact on your life than you would think.
Technically, the summer solstice occurs when the Earth’s axis is most greatly inclined toward the sun- subsequently making today the longest day of the year. While some travel to Stonehenge to watch the sunrise and celebrate the first day of summer, members of the Druid and Pagan communities use the site to perform rituals in line with the summer solstice.
So, connecting to our most spiritual selves, what does the summer solstice actually mean for our everyday lives? Well, the occasion has special significance, and not just because it’s time to spread that spf 50 beyond just our face…
1. The solstice kicks of cancer season
According to the AstroTwins, astrologers to the stars, the solstice kicks off cancer season. ‘At the solstice, the Sun appears to pass directly over the Tropic of Cancer’, they wrote on their website, Astrostyle, ‘This is the moment when astrologers say that the Sun has “entered” Cancer, meaning that it’s now traveling through the part of the zodiac band represented by Cancer.’
Lasting 30 days, cancer season means we will start to feel the astrological energy of the zodiac sign, Cancer. That means we may all become more sensitive, emotional but comforting towards each other. Symbolised by a crab, cancers are home birds and so this season marks the perfect time to spruce up your abode. Maybe that itch you have to re-decorate with Soho House’s latest home collection was the summer solstice after all? Or maybe it’s just because it’s all so pretty…
2. You’ll be ushering in feminine energy
The word solstice is derived from sol (sun) and sister (standing still), and so the summer solstice got its name because the sun appears to stop in time. While this is just a three-day long illusion, it has significant meaning in astrology.
With the sun associated with masculinity (Lord knows why, surely men represent the DARKNESS that ruins our happy bright spirit? Just cynical single me?), and the cancer zodiac sign representing femininity, the summer solstice appears to show the sun stopping to make way for a new solar cycle. Essentially, masculine energy is diminished while feminine energy is ushered in for a cancer season.
So, what does this mean for our lives? Since both are social constructs, it seems archaic to insinuate we should all be embracing our femininity as if it somehow defines our self-worth. However, it is a good time for self-reflection, to think about the different qualities we possess and how we view them.
Femininity has a bad reputation. It’s either associated with weakness or pushed upon women as something they SHOULD be. Neither of those things are right, just as we shouldn’t feel the need to be overly polite or docile to appear feminine and so less threatening to men, we shouldn’t necessarily bash feminine qualities like being amiable just because they have historically been taken advantage of by the power hungry.
Perhaps, in the current climate of exposing gender inequality in the workplace, you’ve been considering how to best behave to address the imbalance? Well, this season is the perfect time to reflect on that, how do we know what parts of our personality we’ve been socialized to be versus who we actually are?
3. It’s a time to create balance in your life
Just as we’re ushering in new energy with cancer season, the summer solstice is a spiritual checkpoint that marks the middle of the year. That means it’s a time for re-addressing your priorities and ensuring your giving equal time to each goal your setting. Have you dropped off from your social circle, now realizing you have a bunch of girls holidays you said you’d go on and no money for them? Have you been so busy thinking of excuses for why you’re such a shit mate that you’ve forgotten an important meeting?
Basically, it’s time to get our shit together and realise we’re already half way through 2018. Whether that means writing down your goals and having a visual guide to success or just taking a moment to consider whether you’re fully reaching your potential, self-reflection is key.
4. It’s an opportunity to start a new endeavour
The start of a new season means reinvigorated energy to achieve the goals we set out at the start of the year. ‘It’s not easy to focus when we’re rapidly expanding our awareness, being provoked by our life circumstances falling and piling into our life, causing a lot of change to happen quickly, ‘says Victor Oddo, a life coach who helps people find their spiritual awakening, ‘It’s very easy to get swept away with the chaotic current of life, but it’s important to stay focused, not wait for things to settle down before we continue to do what we want to do in life.’
Essentially, that new job you wanted? Maybe don’t wait until you’ve saved for your holiday before just going for it. The new book you’ve been meaning to read? Delete Instagram and you may find you have time to actually finish it.
5. It’s a time to be bold
With a new season of new energy, a time to re-address our goals, a new endeavor on the horizon, the epitome of all of this is the need to be outrageous in achieving what we want. Guilt is a very real problem we all deal with. Whether we’re not spending enough time on the right priority, not making enough time for ourselves, not achieving our goals fast enough, we’re feeling guilty.
Now is the time to stop worrying about whether we’re doing it right, and just forge ahead with what we want. Have you got a standing date you can never be bothered to go on? Sack it off for good. Do you want to make a career jump you’re worried you’re not ready for? Take the plunge. If the summer solstice tells us anything, it’s that there’s no time to waste limiting ourselves out of fear or guilt. We have more daylight than ever today to get things done, which means taking an hour out of your regular scheduled programming to think boundlessly about what you want and how to get it.
It's cancer season guys, if we upset a few people in the process they’ll be over it by Leo season...