Sunday Collection: Summer Solstice

This (above) is so cool! Hat tip to Barney for the introduction to a site called Wordle. You paste in whatever text you want and create word cloud patterns in seconds. Quite apart from the fun of it, I think this site could be a lovely way to focus visually in a new way on words of prayer and poetry.

So, the words in the image above are a quote Elaine used in her post yesterday, First rose of summer. She treats us to a beautiful photograph and links to the Summer Solstice Garden that won a prize at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Here is the quote that has been word-clouded above:

I conceived this garden as a living illustration of our philosophy that farming, and growing plants, leads to a richer, more fulfilling life. Cultivation of the soil puts us in touch with nature, and through nature, I think we achieve a sense of spiritual connection, too. A gardener who grows what he eats has a feeling of belonging, which is precious and irreplaceable. Being in harmony with the seasons, and respecting the soil itself, brings meaning to our alienating modern world. I hope our garden will inspire people – and especially children – to discover the feel of pushing a seed into the soil; the excitement of that first tiny green shoot; the wonderful taste of something just picked from the earth. It’s our chance to re-establish our connection with the rhythms of nature; to grow, and give thanks for, our daily bread.

 Carole Bamford, founder Daylesford Organic

I can only just nod in agreement with these beautiful words.

The Green Witch sends Midsummer Blessings, and surely no matter how we think of God, we can pray these words of hers:

We give thanks, for the cool waters, for the waters from the sky and the waters under the Earth. Thanks for the fires of the Sun and the fires we kindle on the ground. Thanks for the cool air, that lofts the birds and the scents of Summer. Thanks for the warm and fertile Earth, that bears our weight and the life we depend upon.

Mel Rimmer at Beansprouts gives us a great summer solstice analogy:

It feels like the high point of the year, like being on a Ferris wheel when you reach the very top.

And she says:

I’m not planning any sort of celebration myself. But it’s important that I know today is the solstice. It’s important it doesn’t just go past without being remarked. It is one of the landmarks of the year.

Well in the UK it’s been raining solidly for the last few days so it doesn’t feel very midsummer-ish, but I agree with Mel, no matter what the weather, we know that the wheel has swung to the solstice.

And take a look at Kate Iredale’s solstice night sky photo here, along with a sweet verse by Robert Louis Stevenson that I hadn’t seen before.

I was reading what Jan Richardson has to say on the subject of the solstice in her book In Wisdom’s Path, and there’s a verse in her poem Brother Sun that really struck me, partly because it seems to resonate with recent blog conversations:

I offer you
my shadows.
I turn my face to you
like every greening thing.

I offer you my shadows…

Have a blessed week, everyone. Now go have a play with Wordle. You know you want to!

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