New Moon on June 17 @ 9:37 pm PDT / June 18 @ 04:37 UTC Solstice on June 21 @ 7:57 am PDT, 14:57 UTC
The New Moon on June 17th arrives just a few days before the Solstice of June 21st, both signifying a threshold, a new beginning, each powering up the other.
If you live south of the equator, that threshold is the start of astronomical winter aka midwinter in Celtic and other spiritualities. Those of us north of the equator welcome the astronomical start of summer, which some celebrate as midsummer.
Many cultures celebrate midsummer (such as Sweden where they celebrate Midsommar as a national holiday) a few days later, around the 24th. This is also the date assigned by the Catholic/Christian church as the birthdate of St John the Baptist, to complement the midwinter / winter solstice celebrations assigned as Christ’s birth and celebrated on December 25th as Christmas.
Click here for some worldwide midsummer traditions from almanac.com.
I typically align and entrain with the energy of solstice, pausing like the sun (solstice means “sun standing still”, as it appears to pause in its journey, rising in the same spot for a few days) on my journey through the year.
Some time ago this inspired me to begin an annual tradition at each solstice, winter and summer: taking roughly a week off (including social media!) to Pause and Reflect.
You may have heard me refer to this pause in the past as my “cauldron time”, a time to let things simmer, infuse, and bubble up! I first heard that expression from Molly Remer of Brigid’s Grove and it resonated so very strongly with my feelings about this time of year that I immediately adopted it!
Gemini New Moon Energies
This new moon heralds the third month in our current astrological season, represented by a mutable sign, which some consider a “disruptor” as we prepare to begin a new three-month cycle.
Gemini brings its own influences to that mutable disruptive energy, raising our awareness to our inner duality, the push-pull of conflicting energies within us. That conflict is a disruptor too!
This can happen when we are in transition — growing, transforming, blossoming — or when our inner self is in conflict with how we present our Self to the outer world (or when who we are is judged by others). Other dualities may also be at play such as intuition vs reasoning, right brain vs left brain, endings and beginnings, etc.
Gemini is said to act as a bridge between the spiritual realms of Land and Sky, but what if we considered it to be a bridge between those dualities? How might you move forward by finding a way through those conflicts, bridging the seemingly opposite energies to find a commonality between them?
Perhaps we all need that disruptor energy to deeply reflect at this time.
Soul Work for the Solstice New Moon
Summer and winter solstices are sacred times, when both the Light and the Dark are birthed in opposing hemispheres, when we can pause like Father Sun and consider our journey, when we can shift course or create a new path, perhaps even end an old story and begin a new story.
Many of us consider the Winter Solstice a time of deep reflection and rest, but that also applies to the Summer Solstice. As Father Sun pauses in his journey, as he shifts from waxing to waning and from waning to waxing, so can we. At this time of the Solstice and New Moon, I invite you to stand still like Grandfather Sun, and Pause . . . reflect . . . shift . . . change.
Reflect on where you have journeyed and what you have accomplished (or began, ended, changed) in the six months since the December Solstice, or the 12 months since the previous June Solstice.
Then reflect on where you are going and what is left to accomplish until the next Solstice in December or the next June Solstice a year from now.
Deepening the Experience
Consider using all your senses (physical senses and/or “clair” senses) as you meditate and reflect. Notice what you hear… sense… feel… see… smell…taste… and touch
Try not to label the experience. But do try to recognize it, sink into it, connect to it, know it, and note your reaction to it. For each experience, ask, “What wisdom does this hold for me?”
Be sure to journal your thoughts. Or, get creative and capture your experience(s) in a drawing, poem, song or some other creative activity.