Kissing stars this Solstice

Solstice Postcard & a travel memory on my YouTube channel

Tomorrow is the summer solstice. For those of us in the southern hemisphere. The longest day, shortest night, a turning of the year.

I never paid much attention to the celestial movements until I was an adult. We never really celebrated festivals other than Christmas or Easter and that was only marked by chocolate eggs, Christmas presents and of course, church hymns. 

The true import of festivals only came about when our children went to a Steiner school where each term was marked by a festival roughly equating to the equinoxes and solstices. I’ve always loved learning about myths, legends and ancient knowledge so this idea of seasonal celebrations resonated with me.

I had a bucket list of temples and monuments I’d love to visit. I’d been to Delphi, the Parthenon and Petra, travelled to the pyramids of Mexico and the Templar built temples in Ethiopia, but what I hadn’t seen were the big three; Stonehenge, Machu Picchu and Newgrange. While I may never get to Machu Picchu, I did get to experience the majesty of Stonehenge and intrigue of Newgrange.

Two years ago I celebrated the northern hemisphere summer solstice at Avebury. Hundreds gathered along the rim of the henge to welcome in the dawn. Nearby at Stonehenge, there was a massive 9,000 people. That’s a bit too crowded for me. Later in the afternoon we walked along a farm track to get to Stonehenge. There were only a few tourists so we were able to fully appreciate the majesty of these stone alignments.

On the 21st the sunset will be visible through the centre of the inner stone circle at Stonehenge. The midwinter solstice has always been the most important event celebrated by the Druids at Stonehenge because it is all about the turning of the year from darkness into light.

Tomorrow in Australia we can celebrate the full affects of the summer sun. I’m planning to wear my green summer solstice T-shirt and garland my hair. But the real joy will be at night, because this will be a rare solstice event. Jupiter and Saturn, our two biggest planets in our solar system, will be in conjunction, appearing as a single bright star in the night sky, close enough together to “kiss” each other . What a great time to make a wish! Check out my new video on the solstice on my YouTube channel.

Travel art memory from the summer solstice, Stonehenge, 2018