SKYE stephenson

Summer solstice falls on Friday, June 20^th. This date when the day is the longest, and night the shortest of the year, is a powerful moment of annual shift. In many spiritual traditions, the summer solstice is associated with the element of fire.

Of the four elements (fire, water, earth, air), fire is the one that can bring about the fastest transformation. A piece of paper, for instance, will become ash in a minute when put to fire. For paper to transform in water takes much longer, and if buried in earth, even more. In air, a piece of paper might blow away – but it still remains a piece of paper.

Think of what fire can do even to a whole forest of trees and various life forms of plants and animals. Or to a human body on a pyre.

Such that fire is often associated with both the powers of creativity and transcendence; and also destruction and the ensuing transmutation to something else.

I do not know about you, but this year – 2025 – has felt very fiery to me, in an elemental way. Since we are in the second year of the 20-year Chinese calendar cycle #9 of Fire, this energy of fire seems even more potent than ever in the news, in the events going on around us, etc. Fast changes. Rapid and unexpected. Blazing high, burning fast. A lot of destruction. Ashes.

So if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the flames of change; if you are feeling ungrounded and a bit disoriented, and maybe even more unbalanced than in previous years – then perhaps doing a ceremony or ritual for the summer solstice might be helpful.

And fun!

Quite a few years ago, a Chilean indigenous man shared with me the story of his two healing stones. He had found at a remote beach, following his very traditional grandmother’s instructions. These two stones – one white, one black – he told me were his protection stones. I knew that he had been a political prisoner for some years during the Pinochet dictatorship. He said the stone had helped him greatly.

“But,” he said, “do not think that the stones give me an invisible kind of protection like a shield. Of course, a stone can’t do that. Or anything, really. What my protection stones do is reinforce my energia mayor, my interior energy. So that no matter what happens to me, I stay strong inside. In my soul.”

Getting back to the summer solstice, this pivotal moment in calendar year, you may want to consider what will help you reinforce your energia mayor. What can help you come back to greater balance, rooting, and internal agency. Often, a ritual or ceremony of some type can be helpful.

Here are two suggestions. At sunrise, salute the sun and thank its energies. Ask it to increase all that is in your good character and highest destiny, and to help burn away what no longer serves your highest self. You could do this for yourself, or more broadly for your family, community, the USA, the world.

You could also use this fiery time to reconnect more deeply with the opposite element of water by swimming, bathing, making an offering to water, etc. Ask to help you find the balance between the polarities of fire and water, yang and yin, dry and wet, hot and cool.

There are many other summer solstice rituals. The internet is full of suggestions. Let your heart guide you.

May you find some time and space on the day of the summer solstice to slow down, and honor this important day in the year.

Wishing you a blessed summer solstice.

Article in The Monadnock Shopper News, June 18-June 24, 2025