SUMMER

Date: June 21
Direction: South
Element: Fire
Season: Litha
Sabbat: Lammas

Related Motifs:
Vacation
Picnic
Luau
Independence Day
Memorial Day
Labor Day

Gay Pride
Cinqo de Mayo
Dehaluyi
Father's Day

St. John's Eve
Dog Days
Busk
Sun Dance
Niman Kachina
Midsummer
Lughnasadh
Natsu
Geshi

Spring: Vernal Equinox

Summer: Estival Solstice

Fall: Autumnal Equinox

Winter: Hibernal Solstice

Description:
Longest day of the year Shortest night

Zodiac:
Cancer the Crab
Leo the Lion
Virgo the Virgin

Symbols:
Sun, Seashells, Sand,

Beach, Ocean, Waves,

Fish, Fireworks, Dragonfly, Mosquito, Locust

Themes:
Growth, Healing, Work, Productivity, Energy,
Passion, Success

Deities/Personas:
Mercury, Neptune, Mother Nature, Mermaid, Apollo, Damia, Freyr, Aton, Lugh, Jimmy Buffett
 

Science of Seasons
Seasons Explained

Four Seasons

What Causes the Seasons
Seasons of Life
Nat Geo: The Seasons
EarthSky: Summer Solstice

Cultural/Ethnic Motifs:
Hawaiian, Tropical, Tiki, Caribbean, Mexican, African

Beverages/Drinks:
Margarita, Daiquiri,

Fuzzy Navel, Cape Codder,
Pina Colada, Sangria, Lemonade, Iced Tea

Foods:
Fruit, Citrus, Watermelon, Strawberry, Blueberry, Banana, Pineapple, Peaches, Barbeque, Seafood,
Fruit or Berry Pie

Spices/Scents:
Coconut, Jasmine,

Lemon, Honeysuckle,
Fresh Cut Grass

Flowers:
Sunflower, Petunia, Daylily, Zinnias, Hydrangea,
Magnolia, Poppy,

Gladiolus, Heather

Stones:
Pearl, Ruby, Onyx

Music:
Jamaican Reggae, Cajun Zydeco, Mexican Mariachi, Hawaiian/Hula Music, Beach/Surf Music

Venue:
Beach or Lake,

Draped with Leis

Seasons Dates & Times
Year on Planet Earth
EarthSky: Vernal Equinox
Transformation & Change
One Year in Nature
Equinox Explained
Seasons of the Year

Summer Solstice

Explained

The summer solstice (or estival solstice), also known as midsummer, occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is when the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky and is the day with the longest period of daylight.

The summer solstice occurs during the hemisphere's summer. This is the June solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the December solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the summer solstice occurs sometime between June 20 and June 22 in the Northern Hemisphere[ and between December 20 and December 23 in the Southern Hemisphere.

Since prehistory, the summer solstice has been seen as a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals. Traditionally, in many temperate regions (especially Europe), the summer solstice is seen as the middle of summer and referred to as midsummer. Today, however, in some countries and calendars it is seen as the beginning of summer.”

(Wikipedia)

Beautiful Nature: Seasons
EarthSky: Autumnal Equinox
Seasons of Change
Solstice Explained
Celebrating the Seasons
Animation: Four Seasons
EarthSky: Winter Solstice

Season of Beauty

In the Northern Hemisphere, Summer is usually warmest season of the year, occurring between spring and autumn and constituting June, July, and August. Summer is the season extending from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox. It is a period of fruition, fulfillment, and beauty. It represents the period of greatest development, happiness, and perfection.

(Free Dictionary)

Cosmic Truths

The Summer Solstice reveals the sun in all her glory. She will never be higher in the sky nor grant more daylight than at the moment she stills above the Tropic of Cancer, just before earth’s angling pushes her south to her winter rendezvous with the Tropic of Capricorn. This is the range of expression of life on earth. Everything that has evolved over billions of years comes alive, creates, and expires within this measured frame. Without the sun (at its precise distance from us) there would be no life on earth. Without the tilt of our axis, there would be no seasons. These are the cosmic truths within which we have our life, our breath, our being. Her waxing warms the leaf out of its winter home in spring, her fullness swells the fruits of summer, and her waning drains the grass of its green in the fall.

(Hope Horton)

Seasons & Sabbats

Auld Lang Syne

Seasonal Traditions

Months and Weeks

Astronomical Perspective

Spring: Vernal Equinox

Summer: Estival Solstice

Fall: Autumnal Equinox

Winter: Hibernal Solstice

“Shall I compare thee

to a summer’s day?”
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

“With the Summer we feel the maximum power of the sun as it gives its fullest offering to the earth. The time of rigorous outward manifestation is here. Everywhere are the energies of doing. The garden image of summer applies to whatever we undertake; if we continue to give them our energies -- sun, water, care, love -- our dreams will grow and prosper. If we do not continue to nourish our dreams, they may wilt and perish.”
(Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon)

“Summer's lease hath all too short a date.”
(William Shakespeare)

“As the sun spirals its longest dance, cleanse us!
As nature shows bounty and fertility, bless us!
Let all things live with loving intent
And to fulfill their truest destiny.”
(Wiccan Summer Blessing)

“O mother ocean, welcome me in your arms, bathe me in your waves, and keep me safe so that I may return to land once more. Your tides move with the pull of the moon, as do my own cycles. I am drawn to you, and honor you under the sun's fiery gaze.”
(Prayer for the Beach)

“Warm air throbbing with locust songs. Warm clouds screening the heaven's blue rifts. Warm sun shadowing overhead cloud drifts. Warm sky straining earth tethered at her cloud thongs. Far away a thrushes' choir trills. Far away the murmur of a river's rills. Drumming of the thunder fist. Coming of the rain mist. Peeping, creeping, leaping, sweeping o'er the weeping hot hills.”
(E.E. Cummings)

“Summer is coming, summer is coming. I know it, I know it, I know it. Light again, leaf again, life again, love again, Yes, my wild little poet.”
(Alfred Lord Tennyson)

“Today the Summer has come to my window with its sighs and murmurs; and the bees are plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowering grove. I sing dedication to life in this silent and overflowing leisure.”
(Rabindranath Tagore)

“The sun is high above us
shining down upon the land and sea,
making things grow and bloom.
Great and powerful sun,
we honor you this day
and thank you for your gifts.
Ra, Helios, Sol Invictus, Aten, Svarog,
you are known by many names.
You are the light over the crops,
the heat that warms the earth,
the hope that springs eternal,
the bringer of life.
We welcome you, and we honor you this day,
celebrating your light,
as we begin our journey once more
into the darkness.”
(Litha Prayer to the Sun)

“Tis wealth enough of joy for me In summertime to simply be.”
(Paul Laurence Dunbar)

Celebrating the Summer Solstice

Farmer's Almanac: Seasons Dates & Times
A Year on Planet Earth: Four Seasons
Earth & Sky: Vernal Equinox
Seasons: Transformation & Change
One Year in Nature
Wikipedia: Equinox Explained
Celebrating the Seasons of the Year

WELCOME SUMMER

“Summer Solstice happens about June 21. All things move in spirals, and I watch the year move in a spiral, right now spiraling up to the sun's climax. I celebrate summer and the heat of the gods.”
(Francesca De Grandis)

"Welcome the summer with open arms and bare feet! The time of intense heat and humidity, tropical themes, and midsummer madness is here! Don your Hawaiian shirts, leis, shorts, and sandals! From Memorial Day to Independence Day, From Pride Month to Labor Day, the Summer Solstice is honored and celebrated with picnics, luaus, cookouts, parades, fireworks, and trips to the beach. Perhaps you'll find yourself surfing or sailing or just sipping pina coladas. This is the season of leisure, relaxation, and recreation. It is a time for reflection, recovery, and restoration. A time to regain our energy and refuel our passions."

(Michael Lebeau)

“My guardian, bear me on thy downy wing to some cool shade where infant flowers spring; Where on the trees sweet honeysuckle blow and ruddy daisies paint the ground below; Where the shrill linnet charms the solemn shade and zephyrs pant long the cooler glade; Or shake the bullrush by the river side while the gay sunbeams sparkle on the tide; Where roses spread their unaffected charms and the curled vine extends her clasping arms; Where happy silence lulls the quiet soul and makes it calm as summer waters roll.”
(Mary Leapor)

“Summer has always been my favorite season. I feel happier.”
(Zooey Deschanel)

“Summertime and the living is easy. Fish are jumping and cotton is high. One of these mornings you're going to rise up singing. Then you'll spread your wings and take to the sky.”
(Heyward & Gershwin)

“The summer's flower is to the summer sweet.”
(William Shakespeare)

“With summer sweat and passions seething,

the primal dance of earth's deep breathing,

We welcome you, sweet Summer's muse,

with wild abandon and kicked-off shoes.

Through glaring sun and tropic rains,

our spirits soar free and unrestrained.

Naked across the fields traverse,

immodest souls in glee perverse

Regale the steamy season's air

and lay our inhibitions bare.

The heaving waves of roaring ocean,

the bustling streets of raw emotion,

Nature's sensuous ebb and flow,

the cabaret and striptease show

Join the raucous celebration,

fraught with zeal and titillation.”
(Michael Lebeau)

“Oh, the summer night, Has a smile of light, And she sits on a sapphire throne.”
(Bryan Procter)

Vivaldi Four Seasons: Summer1
Summer Music Mix: Tropical1
Vivaldi Four Seasons: Summer2
Summer Music Mix: Tropical2

“Oh Great Spirit of the South, spirit of all that is warm and gentle and refreshing, we ask you to give us this spirit of growth, of fertility, of gentleness. Caress us with a cool breeze when the days are hot. Give us seeds that the flowers, trees and fruits of the earth may grow. Give us the warmth of good friendships. Oh Spirit of the South, send the warmth and the growth of your blessings.”
(Diann Neu)

“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.”
(Sam Keen)

“Summer breeze makes me feel fine, blowing with the jasmine in my mind... Sweet days of summer, the jasmine's in bloom. July is dressed up and playing her tune.”
(Seals & Croft)

“Now the roses are coming into bloom; the azalea, wild honeysuckle, is sweetening the roadsides, the laurels are beginning to blow; the white lilies are getting ready to open; the fireflies are seen now and then, flitting across the darkness; the katydids, the grasshoppers, the crickets make themselves heard; the bullfrogs utter their tremendous voices, and the full chorus of birds make the air vocal with its melody.”
(Oliver Wendell Holmes)

“For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.”
(William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet)

“Rich music breathes in summer's every sound And in her harmony of varied greens Woods meadows hedgerows cornfields all around Much beauty intervenes Filling with harmony the ear and eye While over the mighty scenes Far spreads the laughing sky.”
(John Clare)

Deities of the Summer Solstice

Seasons: Meteorological & Astronomical
Wikipedia: Seasons Explained

Autumn Winter Spring Summer

Live Science: What Causes the Seasons
Seasons of Life
National Geographic: The Seasons
Earth & Sky: Summer Solstice
 

SPIRIT OF THE SOUTH

“Summertime is always the best of what might be.”
(Charles Bowden)

“I honor the Sun's high days, and all the pleasures of summer nights. This is a time for celebrations, when daylight lingers long into evenings. And we shall enjoy the sensual summer evenings for many weeks yet, as we savor the freedom of the easy summer season.”
(Janina Renee)

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
(Albert Camus)

“Delicate, uncertain spring is past. Hot, lush grass bursts forth. Heat presses cheeks. Licking humid limbs. Fern uncurls. Slow opening up. Reach to touch. Rush of sap. Pop. Opening lily bud. Pistils dangle, quaking. Pollen dusting, sticking, smearing. Drowsy bees sup nectar drops. Fat, guiltless summer spills abundant seeds. And sated, sleeps beneath the leafy trees.”
(Author Unknown)

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
(William Shakespeare)

“One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.”
(Henry David Thoreau)

“Tis raging noon and vertical, the sun directs its forceful rays; a dazzling and inextinguishable blaze o'er parched vegetation and cleaving fields. As hot steam ascends, slippery lawns and arid hues disclose fancy blooms and humid hay with flowers perfumed. Through the unsheltered glade, impatient, distressful and languid, nature pants.”
(James Thomson)

“The summer night is like a perfection of thought.”
(Wallace Stevens)

“Summer set lip to earth's bosom bare;
And left the flushed print in a poppy there:
Like a yawn of fire from the grass it came,
And the fanning wind puffed it to flapping flame.”
(Francis Thompson, The Poppy)

“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
(Henry James)

“At the Summer Solstice, all is green and growing, potential coming into being, the miracle of manifestation painted large on the canvas of awareness.”
(Gary Zukav)

“It was a splendid summer morning and it seemed as if nothing could go wrong.”
(John Cheever)

“In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different.”
(John Steinbeck, Winter of Our Discontent)

“Summer Solstice, or Midsummer, marks the longest day of the year. Midsummer is a classic time for magic of all kinds. Believed that whatever is dreamt of on this night will come true for the dreamer. A celebration of passion and success.”
(Wheel of the Year)

Beautiful Nature: Four Seasons
Earth & Sky: Autumnal Equinox
Seasons of Change: Transition Map
Wikipedia: Solstice Explained
Circle Sanctuary: Celebrating the Seasons
Animation: Four Seasons
Earth & Sky: Winter Solstice

SUMMER FESTIVAL

“Why this is very midsummer madness.”
(William Shakespeare / Twelfth Night)

"As one of the four natural cycles, summer follows spring and foreshadows autumn. In this time of the year, we have a brief window of opportunity when days become hot and long, while nights are short and sweet. The sun shines its brightest and most intense and everything around is urging you to go outdoors. It is the best time to go on vacation, spend time near the sea, eat watermelon, and drink daiquiris. We find ourselves playing outdoor sports, partying with families and friends, going on picnics, and sunbathing. It is the season for watching baseball and fireworks and attending outdoor concerts under the stars. Nature is full of bright colors, the birds are singing, and everything around you is flourishing. Plants and trees are giving fruits, flowers are blooming, and you can smell amazing aromas in the air. And everyone seems to feel happier during the summer."
(Michael Lebeau)

“Summers had a logic all their own and they always brought something out in me. Summer was supposed to be about freedom and youth and no school and possibilities and adventure and exploration. Summer was a book of hope. That's why I loved and hated summers. Because they made me want to believe.”
(Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe)

“Silently the morning mist is lying on the water, captive moonlight waiting for the dawn. Softly like a baby's breath a breeze begins to whisper. The sun is coming, quick you must be gone. Smiling like a superstar the morning comes in singing the promise of another sunny day. And all the flowers open up to gather in the sunshine. I do believe that summer's here to stay. Oh I love the life within me. I feel a part of everything I see. And oh I love the life around me. A part of everything is here in me.”
(John Denver)

“Everything good, everything magical, happens between the months of June and August.”
(Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty)

Vivaldi Four Seasons: Summer1
Summer Music Mix: Tropical1
Vivaldi Four Seasons: Summer2
Summer Music Mix: Tropical2

“One way of celebrating the Solstice is to consider it a sacred time of reflection, release, restoration, and renewal.”
(Sarah Ban Breathnach)

“Spring flew swiftly by, and summer came; and if the village had been beautiful at first, it was now in the full glow and luxuriance of its richness. The great trees, which had looked shrunken and bare in the earlier months, had now burst into strong life and health; and stretching forth their green arms over the thirsty ground, converted open and naked spots into choice nooks, where was a deep and pleasant shade from which to look upon the wide prospect, steeped in sunshine, which lay stretched out beyond. The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green; and shed her richest perfumes abroad. It was the prime and vigor of the year; all things were glad and flourishing.”
(Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist)

“The summer solstice is a time for strength and vitality for action and movement.”
(Carole Carlton)

“O Great Spirit of the South, Protector of the fruitful land, And of all green and growing things, The noble trees and grasses, Grandmother Earth, Soul of Nature. Great power of the receptive, Of nurturance and endurance, Power to grow and bring forth Flowers of the field, Fruits of the garden. We pray that we may be aligned with you, So that your powers may flow through us, And be expressed by us, For the good of the Earth, And all living beings upon it.”
(Ralph Metzner)
 

Summer Songs: Country Beach Party
 

Zac Brown & Jimmy Buffett
Kenny Chesney
Jake Owen
Dierks Bentley
Little Big Town
Florida Georgia Line
Rascal Flatts
Thomas Rhett
Keith Urban
Kenny Chesney
Luke Bryan

SEASON OF PASSION

“Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full dazzling.”
(Walt Whitman)

“This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year's threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath.”
(Margaret Atwood)

“Green was the silence, wet was the light, the month of June trembled like a butterfly.”
(Pablo Neruda)

“It is Summer, it is the solstice the crowd is cheering, the crowd is laughing in detail permanently, seriously without thought.”
(William Carlos Williams)

“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.”
(Maud Hart Lovelace)

“Not only is it Summer Solstice, there is a Full Moon. May love surround you like sunshine on a sunny day.”
(William Shakespeare)

“Summer is the annual permission slip to be lazy. To do nothing and have it count for something. To lie in the grass and count the stars. To sit on a branch and study the clouds.”
(Regina Brett)

“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.”
(St. Francis of Assisi)

“I love how summer just wraps its arms around you like a warm blanket.”
(Kellie Elmore)

“Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun.”
(Kahlil Gibran)

Spring: Vernal Equinox

Summer: Estival Solstice

Fall: Autumnal Equinox

Winter: Hibernal Solstice