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Dear WSF community,
This year the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere occurs at 10:41 pm EDT on June 20. This is the precise moment when the earth's tilt toward the sun is at a maximum. We celebrate both the fullness of the light -- and the return of the darkness as days immediately begin to get shorter.
In the Ceile De Celtic tradition, Summer Solstice is celebrated with a lovely, simple - and deeply personal - ritual. We are each invited to allow a small stone to come to us on the Solstice. We are to carry this 'stone of restoration' with us until the Autumn Equinox in September. We work with the stone to clear anything that stands in the way of our spiritual wholeness. Along the way, we name the stone We pay attention to where any fear and resistance live in our bodies and release them into the stone. If we encounter memories of personal injuries or offenses that hold us back, we forgive them and gently release them into the stone. We work with the stone each day in this way -- and then at the Autumn Equinox we will fling the stone away from us so that the Earth can clear and cleanse all the stone has absorbed.
(We will remind you about this opportunity for closure and healing in our Autumn Equinox Newsletter.)
Just as the sun reaches its fullness at this Solstice, so too are we being asked to step up to the fullness of our spiritual leadership and sovereignty at this time. The world needs the healing medicine of the Sacred Feminine. Humanity needs us to shine brightly with hope and joy, love and compassion. The Earth herself desperately needs us to remember and reclaim the fullness of our spiritual gifts.
I have recently been enchanted and inspired by a new novel, A Moon in All Things (https://www.jennifercomeau.com/a-moon-in-all-things) by our friend Jennifer Elwell Comeau. It's hard to put down this book which tells a compelling story of a young woman, Morrigan Lane, who lives by the sea in 1820's Ireland. Morrigan is called by the land and the sea, by the ancestors and the spirits, by the standing stones and the animal kingdom to remember and reclaim the fullness of her spiritual gifts. She is asked to listen deeply to the messages and wisdom in all living things - the plants and trees, the animals and birds. She comes to realize "there is an old knowing I must know in a new way".
As I read the final words of the story, a sob rose up in my chest and I cried for a good long time. I cried out of joy for what Morrigan was remembering about her true Self and I cried out of grief for what so many women have forgotten that the world now needs.
There are so many reasons why women have distanced themselves from their own spiritual power and their capacity to create magic. For thousands of years it has not been safe to KNOW things, to HEAL things, to COMMUNICATE with Spirit, to COLLABORATE with Source. Horrific things have been done to such women; there is no single stone large enough to absorb and release all of that collective injury.
Yet we stand now in a breakthrough moment when the future of humanity and this precious planet depend on our ability to restore and re-animate the fullness of the Sacred Feminine. This work requires of each of us a deeply personal commitment to re-membering the ancient knowing in a new way. It will take all of us to awaken a new pattern of deep feminine wisdom across the planet.
Let's keep feeding each other, supporting each other and working together for the Good.
Kathe Schaaf
Kay Lindahl
Anne Fitzgerald
Ginny Matthews
Adelia Sandoval
Mohini Mundy
Alison Fast
Alisa Roadcup Bhachu
Julia Jameson
Amy Jones
Erin Erickson
Kate Twomey
Alyssa Bishop
Aliyah Middleton
Noelle Schendzielos
Bianca Garcia
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