Happy Summer Solstice readers! Hooray for the longest day of the year! We had some lovely and long over due sunshine in my part of the world today. And I spent it on shopping for Summer Solstice fairy gifts (more on that in a minute) and a new bike. I’m back again!
It sure has been a long while, 6 months to be exact, since my last post. Sometimes the path gets bumpy and at other times it’s downright rocky. At least this is the way my travels along the path of the goddess has gone. It has been a crazy and busy half a year in my household. Normally this is OK and we manage alright; not so this year, unfortunately. I have not blogged in 6 months and I haven’t done many rituals, if any. We missed Imbolic completely, and almost missed Beltaine. Every Sabbat celebration I have done has been last minute ‘oh crap’. I’m pulling it off, so my kids are none the wiser, but it is stressing me out, burning me out, and not the fulfilling experience it is supposed to be. All the books I’ve read say it’s perfectly normal to wander off the pagan path, or stop and camp on the side for sometime. I’m guessing they are pretty accurate. If Christians have lapses in dedication and faith and they have organized religion and specific days and times to gather and bolster each others faith and dedication, it’s a wonder us pagan don’t go wandering all over the place all the time! I’m not off the path completely, and have never had that kind of crisis of faith, for which I am very thankful. But I do seem to spending an awful lot of time sitting on the side in the grass. I live my beliefs everyday, but I don’t honour them with spirit replenishing activities. It can be hard to maintain monthly religious activities when it’s just a church of you (or you and littles!). Life has a much easier time of getting in the way, as you can ‘always do that… ritual, reading, dinner, craft, blog, ect…. later’. Nobody is going to mind: but you. And the truth is you will mind. Maybe not right away, but you will, eventually. It seems to me that is builds and the more it builds the more I seem to miss.The most frustrating part for me is, I know how forgetful I am so I do write Moons and Sabbats on the Calendar. This does not appear to be helping much, at least with the Moons. I think it may be time to employ the trusty iPhone reminders to help solve this, and reserve specific times in my week and month for pagan activities. This is a good time to start this, as the Summer is just starting. By the time school starts again the new behaviour should become habit! At least that is the plan! Wish me luck.
So Summer Solstice fairies, you ask. Not sure how this tradition came about. Every year on the morning of the first day of summer we go out to the garden (this was the potted plants on the balcony when I lived in a tiny 3rd floor apartment) and place one penny on the soil. Pennies are shiney, and we know fairies love shinies! We leave to go about our daily activities, and when my girls get home from school they head out to the garden to see what the summer fairies have traded them for their pennies! We’ve been doing this for about 5 years now. The gifts are always summer related. Summer journals, pens, bike helmets, sand toys, temp tattoos, sunscreen….and sparklers! Sparklers are connected to the sun, fire the kids can handle, and are a part of our summer solstice when I can find them. We are going to have BBQ for dinner, despite the clouds that have covered up the gloriously warm sun. After dinner we will play with the sparklers and then once my kids are in bed I will head out for a sunset walk with a good friend of mine.
Time for me to heat up the BBQ! As always leave me comment and tell me about your summer traditions, your wanders off the path, or anything else that crosses your mind in the comments section. If you have a question I’d love to answer it if I can! Cheers to renewed blog posts and scheduled spiritual enrichment!
May the God and Goddess hold your hand when you need it, and always smile upon your path, even the slow grassy parts!
Blessed Be!
Moonbeam Momma 