Looking toward Alban Hefin (Summer Solstice)

The longest day of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere) is but ten days away. Locally it occurs at 10:32 pm CDT. Father's Day for US is also but ten days away, although it begins at 12:00 am on June 20.

oak tree, sacred to the Druids

Photo by J. Harrington

Although we treat the Summer Solstice as the beginning of astronomical Summer, I believe the Celtic perspective is more appropriate since it considers the Solstice as mid-summer. A day or two after the Solstice, the sun's power, and the length of the days in the Northern Hemisphere begin to wane. Interpreting the seasons along these lines, if mid-Summer occurs on the Solstice, then Summer begins with the Spring Equinox and ends with the Autumnal Equinox, and the other half of the year is Winter. Somehow, with  the climate and weather changes we've been experiencing, and the growing volatility of weather patterns, focusing on two seasons, without looking for specific periods of Spring and Fall, seems to offer a better fit. Minnesota has rarely done a good job with Spring (cold, wet, often frozen with a one or two day transition to temperatures in the mid-80's and up) and has begun to have similar problems with Autumn.

If, as many scientists and poets tell US,  we need to live in closer relationship with the earth to protect the source of our atmosphere, climate, water and food, we could begin to consider taking a closer look at Druidry as one path that could lead us to such a better relationship. Although the Celts and Druids consider the Summer Solstice as mid-Summer, they celebrate eight key times of the year. I raise the idea that a supplement to the Judeo-Christian tradition of "subduing the earth" may be beneficial because we are currently exceeding the planetary boundaries of about one-third of the earth's systems. Business as usual offers little hope that we will be able to correct overshoot or adapt to the effects of boundary breakdowns.

A Celtic Miscellany

By Thomas McCarthy

Magic rain magic mist magic dew magic hail

Magic darkness magic sea magic waves magic

River magic fountain magic well magic spring

That bursts forth when a magic spear pierces

Rock magic oak tree magic ash magic lime tree

Magic bough magic yew magic hawthorn magic

Tree to make you young again magic tree to

Prevent hunger magic thorn magic ivy magic

Fern magic blossom, mistletoe and mandrake

Magic wild grasses magic wheat magic breath

Magic blood magic feather magic dung magic

Piss magic mantle magic trousers magic veil

Magic hat magic chain magic sword magic

Shield magic hearth magic bench magic door

Magic cry of a deer or cry of a magic deer;

Seven as a magic number magic the human

Head for divination magic also the head of

A dog, magic too vessels that burst in the fire

To uncover disobedience magic the river

That rises to drown liars magic the stone

That causes silence magic the deep lake

That causes forgetfulness magic the hazelnut

That makes a lover foolish magic the stone

That banishes sorrow magic the charm bought

Cheaply in the form of small poetry books,

Or nine the magic number and the magic

Number seven again and the magic twelve also

And green as that magic color violet as magic

Red as magic black as magic white as magic

Purple also as a magic hue and also red again;

Magic also the felling of two oak trees in a wood

And the magic wand used by the Druids to

Find your beloved carried away by fairies—

And, when all else fails, magic the new-fangled

Blessings of Christians swarming into our oak

Wood now, making even the disappeared speak.

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