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For those of us in the North, yesterday was the Summer Solstice -- the longest day. As one who thrives on sunlight, this is a wonderful time of year to be living in England, with long lingering twilights that give us skies which never go quite dark. Astronomical twilight begins after 23:30 and lasts for only about three hours -- the rest of the time is nautical twilight or brighter!
In recent years, I have been celebrating Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, taking part in the overnight open access to the Stones. This year, having spent both the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox at Stonehenge, we decided to do something different. Thus, we held our Solstice revels at an ancient Stone circle that is a bit closer to home -- the Rollright Stones, here in Oxfordshire.
The Rollrights are a rather picturesque arrangement of Stones, in three parts. The so-called "King's Men" comprise the main circle of Stones and remind me a bit of the Castlerigg Stones in the Lake District. As we were there for ritual WORK, not as tourists, I did not bring the camera this time. I shall return to take pictures -- particularly since they are so close to home -- but, in the meantime, you can see some photographs here.
Originally, we had planned to hold Summer Solstice at the Rollrights last year. However, just before, PE2 broke our car and we were unable to travel anywhere. Our plans, thus deferred, materialized this year ... with a potentially interesting impact on the ritual.
I assembled and ran our Solstice ritual, mirroring the Winter Solstice, where I also served as HP. The ritual was intentionally designed to be light and simple -- more a celebration of Summer than any heavy magickal WORK. Part of the ritual involved a spread of tarot cards, representing Past, Present, and Future within the context of this turn of the Wheel of the Year. Past was to cover Samhain 2010 through Litha 2011, Present is self-explanatory, and Future's scope was Litha 2011 to Samhain 2011. That was the expectation, anyway.
What I found upon turning over my Past card was the Ten of Swords:
The card that has been described as "perfect desolation" and "No, it really is that bad". I have never drawn the Ten of Swords before in a tarot reading and was rather startled to see it selected as the reflection of the past eight months. In reality, this year has actually been rather good to me so far! Certainly much better than last year had been up to this point. Indeed, upon further musing, it struck me that the card was waiting from the ritual that was supposed to have happened at the Rollrights last Solstice, as the period from Samhain 2009 to Litha 2010 was pure hell and could indeed be accurately described by the Ten of Swords. No precise date can be given for when PE2 went crazy, causing everything to go to horribly wrong; however, it was right around Samhain 2009. On the other side, the horrific situation finally ended just one day before Litha 2010. Apparently, the Ten of Swords has been waiting for me to do this reading since then.
The rest of the reading, reflecting Present and Future, was much better.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
miss_amaranth and I had a lovely reflection in each others' cards, and my beloved cheshcat was present, too. Overall, the WORK was more intense than expected -- and than I had designed it to be -- but it was good and productive WORK and I think that much may come out of it.
Although quiet and secluded, other groups wandered amongst the Stones during our time there. Some were simply tourists, whilst at least two other groups also appeared to be doing some sort of ritual WORK. The site is quite lovely, with breathtaking views of the countryside from the King's Men Circle. I definitely plan to return -- both for future ritual WORK... and also as a proper tourist with camera in hand!
In recent years, I have been celebrating Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, taking part in the overnight open access to the Stones. This year, having spent both the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox at Stonehenge, we decided to do something different. Thus, we held our Solstice revels at an ancient Stone circle that is a bit closer to home -- the Rollright Stones, here in Oxfordshire.
The Rollrights are a rather picturesque arrangement of Stones, in three parts. The so-called "King's Men" comprise the main circle of Stones and remind me a bit of the Castlerigg Stones in the Lake District. As we were there for ritual WORK, not as tourists, I did not bring the camera this time. I shall return to take pictures -- particularly since they are so close to home -- but, in the meantime, you can see some photographs here.
Originally, we had planned to hold Summer Solstice at the Rollrights last year. However, just before, PE2 broke our car and we were unable to travel anywhere. Our plans, thus deferred, materialized this year ... with a potentially interesting impact on the ritual.
I assembled and ran our Solstice ritual, mirroring the Winter Solstice, where I also served as HP. The ritual was intentionally designed to be light and simple -- more a celebration of Summer than any heavy magickal WORK. Part of the ritual involved a spread of tarot cards, representing Past, Present, and Future within the context of this turn of the Wheel of the Year. Past was to cover Samhain 2010 through Litha 2011, Present is self-explanatory, and Future's scope was Litha 2011 to Samhain 2011. That was the expectation, anyway.
What I found upon turning over my Past card was the Ten of Swords:
The card that has been described as "perfect desolation" and "No, it really is that bad". I have never drawn the Ten of Swords before in a tarot reading and was rather startled to see it selected as the reflection of the past eight months. In reality, this year has actually been rather good to me so far! Certainly much better than last year had been up to this point. Indeed, upon further musing, it struck me that the card was waiting from the ritual that was supposed to have happened at the Rollrights last Solstice, as the period from Samhain 2009 to Litha 2010 was pure hell and could indeed be accurately described by the Ten of Swords. No precise date can be given for when PE2 went crazy, causing everything to go to horribly wrong; however, it was right around Samhain 2009. On the other side, the horrific situation finally ended just one day before Litha 2010. Apparently, the Ten of Swords has been waiting for me to do this reading since then.
The rest of the reading, reflecting Present and Future, was much better.
miss_amaranth and I had a lovely reflection in each others' cards, and my beloved cheshcat was present, too. Overall, the WORK was more intense than expected -- and than I had designed it to be -- but it was good and productive WORK and I think that much may come out of it.Although quiet and secluded, other groups wandered amongst the Stones during our time there. Some were simply tourists, whilst at least two other groups also appeared to be doing some sort of ritual WORK. The site is quite lovely, with breathtaking views of the countryside from the King's Men Circle. I definitely plan to return -- both for future ritual WORK... and also as a proper tourist with camera in hand!
