Sunlight and Sage: Welcoming the Summer Solstice

By Beth Schreibman Gehring

Long before calendars and clocks, before schedules and spreadsheets, there were the sun and the stars and those of us who watched them closely—gardeners, healers, farmers, mothers. The summer solstice, the longest day of the year, was a sacred moment. A time of warmth and waiting, of ripening berries and blooming roses, of hands deep in the soil and hearts lifted to the sun.

For me, this day has always held a special kind of magic.

On Being a Druid and Walking a Druid Path – A Druid’s Garden Guide and Free Online Book on Druidry

Can a price be put on the life in a forest?

Druidry today has both ancient and modern roots. Druids today seek spiritual connection with nature, using nature to guide, inspire, and ground us. Nature has always been a source of everything to humanity, and those of us who pick up the druid tradition work to reconnect with nature in a multitude of ways. The modern Druid tradition has many branches and paths, and I try to be comprehensive in my coverage of this vibrant and growing tradition. The modern druid tradition is inspired by the Ancient Druids, wise sages who kept history and traditions, and guided the spiritual life of their people. The ancient Druids had three branches of study: the bard (a keeper of history, stories, and songs), the ovate (a sage of nature or shaman), and the druid (the keeper of the traditions, leader of spiritual practices, and keeper of the law). Much of what we know about the Ancient Druids today comes through their surviving legends, stories, mythology, and the writings of Roman authors: the druids themselves had a prohibition against writing anything down that was sacred, and so, we have only fragments. The modern druid movement–from which all present druid traditions descend–started in the 1700-1800’s as one response to industrialization. Today, Druidry is a global and vital tradition. I’ve been walking the path of druidry for almost 20 years and currently serve as the head of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (www.aoda.org). As such, I’ve been sharing a great deal about druidry for a long time on this blog. The ecological crisis is a spiritual crisis as much as it is a crisis of culture. Druidry is us finding our way “home”; back into a deep connection with the living earth. Many people today are drawn to the druid tradition, there is “something” missing for them and it is that connection to nature. Continue reading.

Druidry 202: A Guide to Deepening the Druid Path

Druidry 202: A Guide to Deepening the Druid Path

Solace Stones: Retreating into Stone Spirit Medicine ~ Krista Mitchell

There is a solstice occurring tomorrow, Saturday Dec. 21st.

In the northern hemisphere at dawn this will herald the rebirth of the sun and the return of the light.

In the southern hemisphere at sunset there will be a gala of light meant to raise us to ascendency.

Both are rites of passage and devotion that were once held sacred by the wise ones of old.

They would gather or retreat within stone circle and dolmen. They would purify and pray. And then they would prepare to commune with their higher powers, receive the Earth’s song, and heal from the geomagnetic energy that poured through the stones themselves.

While in our modern times this no longer occurs, the stones still stand, and they remember.

I can feel within our own community here an increased desire for fellowship, communion, and to have a genuine experience of the sacred. This is understandable in a world that feels increasingly unsafe, uncertain, disconnected, and cruel.

But it’s also something in our blood: I firmly believe that all of us here walking the spiritual path now have walked it before, in lives past, and we remember the circles and rites of old.

We remember the stones, too.

It’s why we feel a pull to crystal and stone, water and trees, the sun and stars, and each other.

Crystals for deep listening: Nuummite, Moonstone, Labradorite, Amethyst

When I feel lost I know now to retreat into Spirit. I take hold of a crystal that sings to me, close my eyes, and listen for its voice. I drop down deep within, and I listen for my soul’s voice, too.The collective crystalline consciousness that I channel teaches us that Spirit finds us in silence. That all we need to do to reconnect with the Sacred is to simply go quiet, let ourselves have some peace, and listen.Tomorrow there will be plenty of circles (you can join the replay of mine, here), and ritual ideas and tips, but for some of you it may be the simple act of finding your own inner sacred that will bring you the greatest healing, or peace, or revelation.Spirit and consciousness is in all things, which means it’s in you, too.If you can tomorrow, or any time leading up to the end of the year, see if you can carve out some time for quiet for yourself. To sit simply with a crystal, and listen. To let the Earth’s song rise up through and around you, and remember your magic. Wishing you all the best of the season. ~ Krista Mitchell