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Temple of the Goddess Summer Solstice Ritual Celebration
Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year. It is sometimes referred to as Midsummer's Night as it is the shortest night of the year. With the Sun's power full and long, this is the time of fertility realized. After Summer Solstice, the circle begins its turn once again toward shorter days and longer nights. We celebrate the growing
power of the summer's sun and the inner fires of our own creativity and passions.
ILLUMINATING THE INNER PATH: Journey to Self through the Sacred Labyrinth
Temple of the Goddess' beautiful Labyrinth
will be set up in the park if you wish to come early and take a walking meditation before or after our Summer Solstice Ritual.
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Walk the Labyrinth. Play badminton, volleyball, visit the Sun Goddess altar, picnic, create your own sun to shine a light on your heart's desires.
Summer Solstice Celebration
Saturday, June 18, 2011
10:30 a.m. - Opening Circle
Crescenta Valley Park (Hindenberg Picnic Area)
Summer Solstice Under the Trees
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Celebrating Summer Solstice Under the Trees
Temple of the Goddess has reserved the beautiful Hindenberg Picnic area and surrounding grounds at Crescenta Park for an all day celebration of Summer Solstice.
We will be arriving at 9:00 to set-up and everyone is welcome to come, help-out, and enjoy being on the Earth . . . under the beautiful oak trees. We have the space reserved until 4:00 but the park is open until sunset. So you and your family can enjoy the park throughout the day. Our Temple of the Goddess labyrinth will be available to Journey to the Self through the sacred labyrinth. We'll also have a badminton/volley ball set up for playing. There will be lots of fun things set up for children to enjoy, including a table for drawing and coloring, bubble blowing tubes, bat and whiffle balls for a little lite baseball, kites, frisbees, etc.
We do NOT provide day care so please keep one adult with your child or children at all times. Also, park signs report that there are rattle-snakes in the area, so parents should keep a watchful eye on their little ones, at all times.
We will be sharing a potluck lunch so please bring a dish large enough for group sharing. There are lots of picnic tables so we can enjoy a merry feast together and celebrate the bounty of Mother Earth. The temple will provide plates, utensils, and napkins as well as jugs of water. We ask that you bring your own reusable bottle or cup. There is a water fountain on-site, next to the restrooms, both central to the picnic area.
We will share stories and songs under the trees so we suggest you bring a chair if you wish to sit comfortably for storytelling. Also, a blanket for lounging in the grass under the trees throughout the day is a good idea.
In addition to the fun things you and your family can do, you will have the opportunity to just sit beneath one of the park's many beautiful old trees in order to regenerate your soul or walk the Temple's portable labyrinth. If you haven't yet walked a labyrinth, you're in for a special time. The design-one way in, one way out-forces one to focus on each step, a great aid in meditation. It allows one to disconnect from the chaos of modern life and go deep within oneself to answer questions or illuminate the shadow areas that are obstructing one's path in becoming a better person than we are now. You may also sit with the Sun Goddess in her special altar area and think about what you would like to shine a light on in your life.
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Celebrating the Seasons: Summer Solstice
Saturday June 18, 2011
Our Summer Solstice Celebration on the Earth will be held outside at:
Crescenta Valley Park
(Hindenberg Picnic Area)
3901 Dunsmore Avenue
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Park available 9:00 am until Sunset. The day's schedule is as follows:
10:30 - 11:00 Opening Circle
11:00 - 12:00 Craft Time
12:00 - 1:15 Community Potluck Lunch
1:30 - 3:30 Music, Storytelling, Poetry, Labyrinth
3:30 - 4:00 Closing Circle
Women, men, children come join us as we invoke growth for the Earth, ourselves, each other, and community--outside, surrounded by the Goddess' green plants and singing birds.
For info, call: 818-771-5778
Website:
www.TempleoftheGoddess.org
Temple of the Goddess offers seasonal
celebrations for families and community at
the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena.
Multi-media ritual theater combining , music,
myth, visual art, dance, puppetry, liturgy,
spoken word, and participatory theater which
fuses drum and dance with personal enactment to re-connect us to the seasons and the Earth.
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Our Solstice Celebration is filled with song, dance, and puppetry honoring the Sun.
"Power of the Sun, we honor you this night.
We leap across the fire to keep our spirits bright.
Power of the Sun, fire in the night.
We leave behind, that which blinds, to restore our sight."
(Litha by Lisa Thiel)
The musicians, choir, and other soloists will be offering wonderful songs honoring the Earth Mother. We will share poetry and storytelling and a reading adapted from the United Nations Environmental Sabbath. At this time when the Earth and all her precious eco-sytems are being devastated, with oil pumping into the waters of the Earth, this myth is a reminder of our connection with this blessed planet and a call to action to stop the corporate powers that are killing us and the earth's body.
Summer Solstice 2011 is a year of being on the Earth and a reminder that we are the stewards of the earth. Each of us must ask ourselves, in our hearts, are we doing all we can to steward the Earth each day?
For more info, download flyer or Program at www.templeofthegoddess.org/events. |
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Come Into The Fire
Come into the fire, come in,
come in, dance in the flames of the festival
of the strongest sun at the mountain top
of the year when the wheel starts down.
Dance through me as I through you.
Here in the heart of fire in the caves
of the ancient body we are aligned.
Our cells are burning
each a little furnace powered by the sun
and the moon pulls the sea of our blood.
This night the sun and moon dance
and you and I dance in the fire of which
we are the logs, the matches and the flames.
Marge Piercy, from "Shadows of the Burning;
The Lunar Cycle"
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ILLUMINATING THE INNER PATH
Journey to Self through the Sacred
Labyrinth
Temple of the Goddess' beautiful Labyrinth
will be set up on the grounds if you wish to take a walking meditation before or after our Summer Solstice ritual.
Walking the ancient labyrinth is a spiritual
journey to illuminate the inner path of the
seeker. It is an ancient tool used for
meditation and deep introspection; an
initiation of your sacred purpose. The
journey inward is a purification and clearing
and the return journey is one of dedication
and commitment. Walking the labyrinth is a
personal journey to our own center and back
out into the world-a journey to wholeness.
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A Prayer of Sorrow
From the United Nations Environmental Sabbath
We have forgotten who we are.
We have alienated ourselves from the unfolding of the cosmos.
We have become estranged from the movements of the earth.
We have turned our backs on the cycles of life.
We have forgotten who we are.
We have sought only our own security.
We have exploited simply for our own ends.
We have distorted our knowledge.
We have abused our power.
We have forgotten who we are.
Now the land is barren.
And the waters are poisoned.
And the air is polluted.
We have forgotten who we are.
Now the forests are dying.
And the creatures are disappearing.
And the humans are despairing.
We have forgotten who we are.
We ask forgiveness.
We ask for the gift of remembering.
We ask for the strength to change.
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A Prayer of Healing
From the United Nations Environmental Sabbath
We come together this Summer Solstice under old oak trees, nurtured by the ground, the living green grass under our feet, to honor the longest day of the year. We see the pain of the Earth, the devastation of Her body. But today we celebrate Her. We say Prayers of Healing, for the world and for all Her children.
We join with the earth and with each other.
To celebrate the seas.
To rejoice the sunlight.
To sing the song of the stars.
We join with the earth and with each other.
To recall our destiny.
To renew our spirits.
To reinvigorate our bodies.
We join with the earth and with each other.
To create the human community.
To promote justice and peace.
To remember our children.
We join together as many and diverse expressions of one loving mystery: for the healing of the earth and the renewal of all life.
We join with the earth and with each other.
To bring new life to the land.
To restore the waters.
To refresh the air.
We join with the earth and with each other.
To renew the forests.
To care for the plants.
To protect the creatures.
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