A ritual for the summer solstice

Ritual has been featuring more and more in my work lately. They are a way to remember and feel connected again. A way to find your centre again. Bringing you back to your body, your breath and the simple and quiet rhythms of life. A way to recognise the reality of where you are and to make sense of change. 

My favourite resource is the beautiful book ‘Hello, Goodbye by Day Schildkret’. His description of ritual is beautiful and I’ve shared it with you below. If you’d like, I’ll also share a copy of the ritual I’ll be doing for the summer solstice next week. Drop me a note and I’ll send it over. 

I found out today that the solstice isn’t actually a day, it’s a specific moment in time. The moment when the sun is most tilted towards the sun. This year it is on Wednesday 21st June at 15:58 pm. 

“Rituals can’t be thought; they must be done. 

With your whole body - your hands, your feet, your mouth, your belly. With fire, earth, wind, or water. Alone or with witnesses. Doing them is the only way to keep them alive. 

Especially during threshold moment, a ritual can slow us down and gather us in, to all that has been scattered by the speed and business of our days, re-collecting that time into some semblance of understanding and meaning.  

When the season shifts, a ritual can align us with the greater cycles, marking and remembering what it is we’re leaving behind and where we’re arriving.”

- Day Schildkret