Sacred Days of Midsummer

RavenOfSummer

Hello!

So as many of you probably know a group of us recently completed the 2016 Sacred Days of Yule reading journey. This got me to thinking about doing something similar around the time of the Summer Solstice. I’m thinking of calling this spread Sacred Days of Midsummer, or just Sacred Summer Solstice.

I pulled out some books and started doing some research on other sacred days, festivals, etc around the time of the Summer Solstice. My idea here is to draw on many of the concepts and themes usually associated with the time of the solstice (ideas such as light, growth, fruit, etc) and put them together to serve as a sacred path to walk during Midsummer time. My idea is based on Linda J. Paul’s Sacred Days of Yule spread, which can be found here. I love the idea of taking time to intentionally connect with the sacredness of the seasons. Summer is my favorite season (my username is probably a clue, lol), so I knew I had to try this!

So here are the ideas I have put together so far for a Sacred Days of Midsummer spread. I would love your feedback on the spread, and also would love to know if anyone would be interested in doing something like this as a group reading around the time of the Summer Solstice. The cards are laid out in a circle of 12 as illustrated here.


1. Birth of the Muses – June 14: This card shows how our inspiration and creativity is manifesting.

2. Vestalia – June 15: An ancient Roman festival dedicated to Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth. This card shows us our hearth, the fire at the center of our life and home, and how to tend to it.

3. Night of the Teardrop – June 16: Remembrance of the tears of Isis causing the Nile River to overflow. This card shows what our emotions are telling us at this time.

4. Juno, Goddess of Fertility and Union – June 17: Celebrating the ancient Roman goddess for whom the month of June is named. This card shows us an area of fertile growth in our lives.

5. Festival of Strawberries – June 18: As the strawberries ripen, this card shows us the sweetness in our lives and encourages us to live in the moment.

6. Oak King – June 19: A dedication to the Oak King, who is now near the height of his power in his battle with the Holly King. This card shows us our strength.

7. Scrying – June 20: In the tradition of scrying at the time of Midsummer, this card shows us a blessing to come.

8. Summer Solstice – June 21: We are at the height of the sun’s power, the longest day, in the Northern Hemisphere; OR in the Southern Hemisphere this day is the turning point for the days to get longer. This card shows us how to shine our own light like the Sun.

9. Honey Moon – June 22: This card shows us how to release anxieties or worries, how to enjoy ourselves.

10. Saint John’s Eve – June 23: Like the herbs traditionally gathered on St. John’s Eve, this card shows what protects or heals us.

11. Guru Purnima – June 24: Indian festival of expressing gratitude to teachers. This card reminds us of a lesson we have learned, or an experience or person who taught us something, that we should remember and have gratitude for as we move forward.

12. Parvati, Earth Mother – June 25: The card shows us how to ground ourselves and how to connect with the earth’s abundance.
 

Gemininorn

I love the idea of this spread RavenOfSummer! And the best thing in my opinion is

1: It takes place before the summer holidays begin here in Ireland. I have 4 kids and would have no chance to participate if it had fallen into the summer break.

2: My birthday is on June 15th and I love the coincidence of the days card being dedicated to Vestalia, Goddess of the Hearth. I am a stay at home Mom.

3: I also like the aspects the cards can point out for us, under which we can interpret our drawn cards.

In short: count me in. Do you want to do this the same procedure as the Yule spread, we quote your first post and then edit into our quote?
 

Zelmira

What a wonderful idea!
 

Elnor

That's a nice spread- I would be interested in joining in for this as a group reading.
 

Mossery

This is a very cool idea. I'd love to join the reading group for this!


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RavenOfSummer

I love the idea of this spread RavenOfSummer! And the best thing in my opinion is

1: It takes place before the summer holidays begin here in Ireland. I have 4 kids and would have no chance to participate if it had fallen into the summer break.

2: My birthday is on June 15th and I love the coincidence of the days card being dedicated to Vestalia, Goddess of the Hearth. I am a stay at home Mom.

3: I also like the aspects the cards can point out for us, under which we can interpret our drawn cards.

In short: count me in. Do you want to do this the same procedure as the Yule spread, we quote your first post and then edit into our quote?

What a wonderful idea!

That's a nice spread- I would be interested in joining in for this as a group reading.

This is a very cool idea. I'd love to join the reading group for this!

Hi everyone!!

I know it's been a while since I started this thread...wow has the year been flying by! I'm so happy you all like the spread and are interested in participating in a Midsummer group reading! I got so much out of the shared reading experience at Yule. Summer Solstice really is one of my favorite times of the whole year, so I am so excited about this.

I've made a couple of tweaks to the spread in the original post, based on some helpful feedback I received :)

We'll follow the same method that BlueDragonfly does for the group Yule reading . The first day of this group reading will be June 14, and the reading will go through June 25. I'll be posting a thread for the group in the Daily Draws and Group Readings section, and then another thread for discussion of our readings will be in Talking Tarot. I'll be starting those threads within the next few days, so that people will have a couple of weeks to check it out and join before the actual reading starts on June 14.

I'll also post here in this thread when those threads are up. Yay, so excited! Let me know if there's any additional feedback in the meantime :)
 

RiverRunsDeep

Wow, you did an awesome job creating this spread, RavenOfSummer. :thumbsup: Summer is my favorite season, and I look forward to taking part in this reading.
 

CosmicBeing

Well when You start up the group for this I would love to be a part of it...

Anyway...I like what you have written so far. I don't celebrate any holiday even though Halloween and midsummer eve/summer solstice is my favorite.

I remember the idea of putting honey and cream under the tree for the fairies.
 

Barleywine

This fascinates me since I was born on the Summer Solstice but never thought to consider it as a cycle of days rather than a single significant event in my personal year. I'll give this a try in early June. I'm already thinking how I might integrate the results with the Wheel of the Year reading I did on the 2016 Winter Solstice.
 

Nemia

I love this idea too. I want to do this reading!