Solstice Magic

Healing in the Water

I spent the weekend camped alongside the Arkansas river, trust, and believe she is rolling with all the ferocity available to her banks. All the flood gates were open wide, with the speed and determination she carries within her boundaries left me speechless. I found myself looking out across the water over and over. In awe and admiration of the beauty and the power that seemed to be held within the expanse of her travels. If you know me and know me well, you know I’m an Arkansan through and through. I didnt start my life here, but it is absolutely where i will finish this trip. It’s my place of healing and home. Watching that water move and spin, the backflows and the undercurrents, with the life teeming just below the surface, set my mind on a path and a plan. Summer Solstice always has a different effect on me every year, this year it was a lot closer and included a lot more introspection than is usual. Watching all that water, and its ability to just flow with the turbulence its surrounded by, reminded me of my ability to also flow through my days . There will always be turbulence, and let’s face it right now it feels like everywhere we turn, whirlpools of doom are one step away. As Gandalf would say, ” I have found its the small , everyday deeds of ordinary folk, that keep the darkness at bay.” Now comes the time to keep the darkness in check both in our home lives and as much as we can in the wide world around us.

Watching the intensity of the water movement on both sides of the damn, I realized how hard I’ve struggled and tried to make reason out of the things I’ve come against so far this year, and finally sat down with the thought that life just is. It begins with a scream and for many of us it will end the same way. This middle part though, what a joy and sometimes a curse it can be! The beauty and the sadness, the happiness and the horror are so well wrapped together at times can’t pull them apart. Just like that river that flows peacefully on some days and with all the violence of raging mother, drowned in loss on others, our lives flow also, within banks we don’t always recognize. I’ve realized quite often my life has rolled by with very little intercession on my part, and have made the decision that’s no longer acceptable. There will be days our lives are simply at the mercy of powers outside our reach, but for the most part, life is not a passive activity, and too often we allow it to be.

Taking on the Little Things

Sitting along that river I was also attacked by a barrage of the tiniest bitingest bugs I’ve encountered in a very long time. We have had rainfall out the whazoo here. Amounts never recorded, which means we also have bugs in amounts never recorded! I came home with no less than 60 bites. Never saw a dang bug one time, but the evidence of their presence is all over my body. It got me to thinking about all the tiny things we put off or put to the side, telling ourselves there is always time. This year I’ve come face to face with the fact, there indeed may not be time. All those little pesky things that don’t seem all that important, but add up until we feel the weight of them bearing down on us like Atlas holding the world up. I’ve decided not to let that happen, of course there will be days my resolve will fail and i will start again new, the next morning, and that’s okay also.

This Summer Solstice has been a good one for me and I hope it has for you as well. I hope you have taken what you need from this time and let go of the things you don’t. Life is all about change and flow. Learning to listen to our hearts and our bodies, learning to listen to that small voice that echoes in the back of our minds. I wish for you all those things, the calmness that comes next to the river, the peace that comes sitting out in the natural beautiful world that surrounds you. Find the time to sit yourself down and enjoy those moments, even when the bugs try to carry you off!! Let the energy and the heat of this summer sun burn away all the things you no longer need, and nourish and help grow all the beauty you want to hold onto.

Embracing New Starts

I don’t have a song for you this week and i hope you can forgive me just this once! I have been trying to figure out a new life schedule that works for me, its been a bit tricky. I am very excited to be taking on Pagan Song Blog and cant wait to see where we go together. I’ve got some new artists that will be joining us and some of the ones we all know and love are staying as well! I truly hope your summer is off to an amazing start and that life is treating you well. Take a moment every single day to stop , breath and be happy, even if it’s only for that moment. We can not lose ourselves to despair now, we must continue to be our creative, joyful, open selves. If anyone tells you otherwise, send them my way.

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

Please subscribe to the Pagan Song blog, to receive our blog post each week. Don’t miss any of the musical magic!

Visit our homepage to see the full list of the musicians who write for the Pagan Song blog.

Pagan Song has a fan club on Patreon. Join for as little as $3 a month for exclusive features! Click for info.