Tending to our Human Spirit - a Solstice care package delivery
“With the change, there comes something particularly needed by the human spirit — an affirmation of that eternal change in nature which rules out stagnancy, and the appearance of the entirely new within the pattern of the old… I suspect that in human existence our problem is the finding of some like harmony between what is fixed and of the pattern and what is untried and eager to be born”
Dear Friends
As our world slowly reopens and the Great Wheel turns towards the Solstice Season we are reminded of our relationship to our home here on Earth and to the ultimate luminous source - the Sun.
2020 has been a baptism of fire set to burn away all that no longer serves us. So far we have endured Bushfires in Australia, an Impeachment trial of the US President, COVID19, a global pandemic, lockdown, quarantine and a series of cultural, social, political, health and economic systemic crises followed by what many are calling the "Great Awakening". And we are only half way through….
Evolution is a messy business.
We are now invited to re-emerge from lockdown out into the light and to reconnect with the web of life. We have been through an initiation and life will never be the same. We are witnessing a time of great personal and collective awakening and our core human wounds are exposed across many cultural fault lines from power to privilege, identity, race, class, immigration and increasing polarisation. We are being called as global social witnesses to show up for these times.
The Great Wheel
The Summer Solstice heralds the annual zenith of the Sun over the Tropics. Here in the Northern Hemisphere we are about to experience the culmination of the light of the sun on June 20 and a solstice celestial special Ring of Fire Eclipse on June 21. This is the maximum peak of the light that began to grow in luminosity after the Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year. The Summer Solstice marks a time of celebration and many cultures host festivals to honour this holiday of fire.
“Our ancestors built huge bonfires on this day to celebrate their tangible connection to the vital power of the immense burning star that keeps our planet bright, warm and alive. It is the time to invite fire into our lives to burn away all that we have outgrown and all that no longer serves us; fire that makes the wild things grow in us, for which our inner selves have longed.””
This ‘peak‘ moment is a sacred gateway - an opportunity to reflect, practice ritual and set some intentions about the kind of world we want to co-create as ‘ancestors-in-training’.
In 2019 we marked the Summer and Winter Solstice by hosting a series of immersive rewilding experiences in the heart of the Dublin Mountains. We brought people together to participate with nature, conversation, movement, music, food, meditation, ritual, ceremony and other creative experiences.
This year we decided to forge a different path through the wilderness.
We felt called to find new ways to serve our communities and connect with the spirit of our times as they unfolded. As so many threads came undone we were inspired to weave human connection and belonging in a online collective learning experience. We became curious about the golden threads that bind us together. The ancient symbol of the labyrinth, being both the spiral and the circle wrapped into one, has long since represented wholeness. As we travel through the labyrinths in our lives, these archetypal strands of golden thread can help us to connect us to our true selves, to each other, and to home. We are just completing our second learning Spiral at HedgeSchool and it has exceeded our wildest dreams.
As the Great Wheel turns I am committed to continuing to follow these golden threads and to offer you resources to follow them with us as our world continues to crack open.
My intention is that these care packages will serve us as move through these times. This is for the long haul, so it is paramount that each of us can understand and honour our capacities and limits, tend to our hearts so we can tend to what matters most in the world that we are trying to co-create together.
Care package
There are many resources available for those of you who want to learn more about what is unfolding in our world. This is a time to learn, listen, share and act.
Here’s a reading list compiled by Dr. Ibrahim X Kendi, author of How To Be Anti-Racist.
And here’s a brilliant article by one of our great writers, Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Indigenous author of Braiding Sweetgrass and Gathering Moss.
Heather Cox Richardson’s . : For updates on what’s happening in the U.S., read Heather Cox Richardson’s daily newsletter. She’s a historian who offers a clear and unbiased perspective on the political and socio-economic movements of the day.
Pocket Project: Learn more about individual, collective and intergenerational trauma healing with one of my teachers Thomas Hübl. I studied and trained with him in 2017 and am a member of The Pocket Project initiative.
On Being : Listen to this interview with Therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem and Krista Tippett.
Cultural Somatics: Enrol in this Free Racialized Trauma Course with Resmaa Menakam
Unlocking Us: Listen to Brené Brown with Austin Channing Brown on I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
Jon Hopkins Quiet : Listen to this 177-track 24 hour plus Spotify playlist is one that Hopkins was sharing with friends until the lockdown happened and he decided to share it with the wider world. Hopkins uses it for meditations and psychedelic journeys.
Freedom is a burning issue on the world stage as we strive to reclaim our humanity in complex times. SAOIRSE | FREEDOM was a flagship cultural event curated and produced by The Trailblazery at the historic national monument Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, Ireland. Saoirse is the Irish word for Freedom. So, we set out to explore what freedom means to us as individuals, as families, as nations and as world citizens living in extreme times. So we invited a host of artists, musicians, performers, activists and thinkers to decode the questions and answers at the heart of cultural (r)evolution. These trailblazers are pioneers of the human spirit who gathered together to share their stories of sovereignty, sing their songs of freedom and ultimately reveal what lies beneath our shared human-being-ness. You can watch the full playlist here.
Solstice Blessings wherever you are on our planet
until soon
Kathy xo
Images + Artwork Source
+ Reubenwu.com
+ MysticMamma.com
