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The sun reaches its zenith at the Summer Solstice
marking the strength and power of summer's light - the peak of summer. The land
expresses this fullness; trees are covered with great canopies of green, summer
meadows are full of wild flowers, garden flowers are in full bloom, and the
crops planted earlier in the year are reaching the peak of their growth. This
is a time of abundance, of life force at its height. And this is reflected
within in an inner sense of fullness and maturity that follow the earlier
periods of fast growth and expansion. This is a time of vitality and
confidence, of taking our place out in the world, for the Maiden Goddess has
now passed through a transition and assumed the mantle of the Mother. There is
a sense of accomplishment and achievement having taken place, and of maturation
and the stability which arises from this, but we can still use this strength
and self confidence to continue to develop our creative projects before the
inevitable decline which follows this peak of the sun's powers. Lammas tide
follows in early August and marks the beginning of the harvest season. Days
begin to shorten, the weather is still hot but trees and leaves have lost their
earlier freshness and flowers are now beginning to seed. There is a languorous
quality to this period of summer as the power of growth begins to subside
whilst the days remain still and hot. The crops now are ripening in the fields
and it is time to begin cutting the fields of barley and wheat - of gathering
in the harvest. And within, we too begin to reap the fruits of the creative
cycle of the year. This is the time then to begin to harvest in the results of
those projects and plans which were dreamed into life at
midwinter. |
Cycles of the Heavens |
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The Sun enters the sign of The Lion on the
22nd July and the mythic nature of the heavenly landscape shifts from the
imaginative, nurturing, watery terrain of the Crab ruled by Luna, the Lady of
the Night, into the bright realm of Sol, the Divine King, Lord of Light and
Summer. The imaginal tone now becomes one of power, stability and kingship, as
the focussed power and light of fixed fire radiates out across the land. The
energy of fire is the creative energy of life, which in Leo confers a vitality
and warmth, as Leo enriches life with the power, illumination and light of the
Sun. Fire, whose light brings insight and vision, is naturally attuned to the
realm of archetypes and symbols and looks to the spiritual heights both without
and within to discover pattern and meaning, in order to infuse life with
insight and understanding. It is this perception which bestows an
openheartedness and a generosity of spirit in this sign. This is the time of
the sustained strength of the sun's power and light which generates a warm
languorous mood in the summer landscape and which swells the crops and sweetens
the fruits for the first harvest at Lammas tide. Here we expand both our hearts
and our visions as we stretch out on a warm summer's day replenishing our
spirit in the summer's light.
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Zodiac images © Koninklijke
Bibliotheek National Library of the Netherlands www.kb.nl Shelfmark
= The Hague, KB, KA 16, Iconclass = 23021, 23022, 23023, 23031, 23032, 23033,
23041, 23042, 23043, 23011, 23012, 23013 |
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