High Summer Reigns!

The first three words of the song that I wrote called High Summer comes from a poem a friend of mine wrote years ago. “High summer reigns…” and then her poem continues. The poem inspired me to write about my own experience of summer and the festivals that I attended like Pagan Spirit Gathering (in Wisconsin) and especially Free Spirit Gathering in Maryland that I helped to create (along with lots and lots of other people). I wasn’t in the habit of dating my lyrics back then so I count most of the copyrights from the publishing of the songs in 1990 via my album called “The Healing Art”.

When writing High Summer I thought of the gatherings of old and new friends doing rituals to heal the land and ourselves, rituals of friendship, rituals to celebrate being women (women’s circles), and especially, rituals celebrating the season which in this case was Summer Solstice.

In this recording, you can hear the original version of the arrangement, from Kiva’s 1990 release of it on The Healing Art.

High Summer

High summer reigns through woods and plains
And thrills within our hearts and veins
So, in our memory does remain

Come join us now to celebrate
Come quickly now and don’t be late
For we will dance and sing our fate

We’ll dance the sacred dance then
With Lord and Lady fair then
Be blessed and renewed then

Be blessed at this holy time
Connect our spirits, yours and mine
With winter gone and summer fine

Let’s share the summer’s cup of bliss
And pass along the sacred kiss
Renew old friendships, always missed

We’ll dance the sacred dance then
With Lord and Lady fair then
Be blessed and renewed then

(The New Part written in 2000)
Instrumental Break
Oh, Summer’s flame burns brightly now
Melting Winter’s snows and how
Dancing like a flower in our hearts

(Back to the original)
High summer reigns through woods and plains
And thrills within our hearts and veins
So, in our memory does remain

Chorus: We’ll dance the sacred dance then
With Lord and Lady fair then
Be blessed and renewed then

We’ll dance the sacred dance then
With Lord and Lady fair then
Be blessed and renewed then
By Ariana Lightningstorm- ©1990 Updated in 2000

High Summer Redux

Years later, when Jim Brewster had been in the band for about a year, we reworked a few of my old songs and High Summer had a lovely makeover. It went from a more folk/guitar – almost flamenco style guitar focus to a bass blues with a leading bass part. I really loved how the song bloomed and grew that year of 2000. Two years later we recorded a bunch of new songs including High Summer Redux which added a verse and instrumental break. The album is called “A Call to Beauty” based on the title track which is a song with another story.

Here’s a link to my YouTube “picture video” of High Summer. It includes some classic band photos of KIVA. Enjoy!

For more information about Ariana, including her collected articles here on Pagan Song, her bio, and links to KIVA’s and Ariana’s sites on the web, check out Ariana’s page on Pagan Song.

This post is part of a series by Ariana with posts about her songs for Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox, all with beautiful picture videos for you to enjoy. Check them all out!

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