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 songs, myth, and poetry under the trees so we suggest you bring a chair if you wish to sit comfortably while enjoying our Shamanic Solstice myth. Also, a blanket for lounging on 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.

Our mythic guide is Changing Woman, a Navaho deity who ushers us through our seasonal rituals and myths in 2012.  

Changing Woman, a benevolent Goddess, is the personification of Earth and the natural order of the Universe. She is the cyclical path of the Seasons, Birth (Spring), Maturing (Summer), Growing old (Fall) and Dying (Winter), only to be, once again, reborn in the Spring. Changing Woman is eternally self-renewing. She teaches us to honor all natural cycles within and around us. Call on Changing Woman for support in following your own unique path and process. She is a guide, a teacher, a teller of tales.

Our Solstice Celebration is filled with arts and crafts, myth, music, and community sharing honoring the Sun.