Solstice is coming soon, arriving on June 21st as Summer Solstice north of the equator and Winter Solstice south of the equator.
One of my favourite Solstice traditions is celebrating with family and friends, and joining together to give gratitude in this simple Candle Circle Ritual. I like to use white candles but you may prefer red, orange or yellow to represent the fire of Father Sun. Each person can customize and decorate their own candle, or leave it unadorned. This ritual can be done indoors or outside, around a bonfire. During Covid lockdown, we did it online!
You can begin and end with any of your traditional ritual elements, such as creating sacred space, creating intention, calling in the directions / quarters, calling on your allies, and then closing sacred space and thanking one’s spiriutal allies.
Or, follow these simple steps:
At Solstice sunset, dim the lights (or light the bonfire!) and gather together. If you can’t gather together physically, consider using an online option such as Zoom, FaceTime, Teams, etc.
Choose the first person begin to begin the ritual, to lead all gathered in a moment of meditation or a blessing for Solstice. It could be a volunteer, or the “head” of the family or group present.
That person begins by lighting their candle, to represent the Solstice Fire, and offers a meditation or blessing for the group. They then share a story, wish, gratitude or memories from the past year or from the previous solstice six months earlier. They may also choose to share who has guided them in the year, from their family of spiritual allies (ancestor, spirit guide, element, etc).
With their lit candle, the first person then ignites the candle of the person next to them (you can also choose randomly or folks can volunteer to speak), and that second person then offers their thoughts.
Continue in that way until all have lit their candles and each person present has shared somthing, even if it is just a word. Be sure to thank your spiritual allies, and ask for their continued support.
When all have participated, extinguish the candles in the order they were lit, with each participant making a wish (silently or out loud) or affirmation for the following year or six months.
The volunteer / first person can then say a final blessing for all before extinguishing their candle, and turning the lights back on.