Summer Solstice 2025

I wonder how many summer solstices are, in fact, cloudless sunrise days?

The day I began this blog it was pissing down… quite the opposite to the long, bright, warm and cloudless days I often imagine at summer solstice and the forecasters predicted this year. I had intended to make the most of a long day and get some gardening done early before the rain came in… but no sooner had I grabbed a fork and thick gloves to move some brash did the heavens open.

So I retreated, in the knowledge that this rain is much needed for fruit and grain to swell and reach a fuller potential. I wondered if there were any goals I had for this year that needed a bit ‘watering’.

One of the things I notice at Summer Solstice every year is if the Elder blossom is still blooming… usually it’s past it’s best by a week or two - but this year there seems to be a few more flowers around than usual.

How is it near you? What do you look out for every year at this time as a mark of the season?

Nettles are at their tallest now, and in flower. The St John’s wort is in bloom. Blackbirds may be on their second clutch of eggs, longhorn beetles on hogweed flowers, berries ripening and cherries dropping from the trees…and mice scurry away as they sense approaching footsteps. Just outside the door of my home there is a wren’s nest plushly lined with moss… the chicks hush every time I pass or try to sneak a peek - they will be gone in a day or two at most.

My youngest’s A levels are done… school is finished. She is as tall as she will be, like a stem of barley… full of possibility and potential, at the next threshold of becoming, on her journey into the adulting world.

As the sun scribes its highest arc across the northern skies, the shadows at midday are the shortest in the year. Looking at the sun at midday, the South is infront of you, and thus the north is behind you.

It is a time of orientation, alignment and taking stock. A moment for looking up and around and back at the detail.

Did you set dreams or goals for this year? Were they ‘spring flowers’ and now they’ve gone to seed like the cow parsley? Or maybe they are ‘nuts’ and beginning to grow now? Or perhaps part of a much longer term goal…

Are your actions now an expression of them? Are you keeping time and punctual with what you said you would do?

If not, what do you need to do to keep your aim, agreements or trajectory true?

Do you need to give anything an intense burst of energy to push it ‘over the line?’

Reflecting on the sun at its zenith…How do you focus best, and stream the light of your intention on a project? Do you need short bursts or to get into a longer moment of flow?

With the sun’s power at its fullest, now is an also good time to make use of that energy and make fire from the piercing light of the midday sun, focusing the beams of light onto tinder, a dry King Alfred's Cake or charcloth with a lens. In a safe environment you could try this - it’s a great metaphor and reminder of knowing you can achieve great things and transformation with the power of intent.

And after all the focussed attention of midsummer there is need for a break. We cannot continue focussed attention, work and growth indefinitely. 

It's a good time to ask yourself "Do I take the breaks I need to restore my energy?"

Thankfully, the ‘siesta time’ of the summer holidays will be here soon. It's the time of year when things slow down, birds sing less and days become hazy. Life becomes a little dreamy, grain ripens.

So it’s time rest a while soon, before the harvests and gathering begins.

I look forward to connecting with you then.

Chris