In Summer Solstice ceremony as it may be done, the group blesses each with: It is the Sun that ripens in you: so may you shine.

NASA image of Sun

Mother Sun, our source of life and energy, is a model of the quality and power of Radiance.[1] She pours Herself forth in every moment: and Earth absorbs only a very small fraction of the abundance of light and energy, which streams out into the Cosmos in every direction. And with the miniscule portion that Earth receives, all Earth beings grow and act and think and feel: all is sourced in Sun’s energy. Nothing takes place on planet Earth without our radiant star.

Radiance is a great mystery to be contemplated: it is a dispersal of self at the same time as a fullness of being … the fullness expands, the deep self pours forth, it is agency at the same time as being dissolution. It is a place, at the same time as being a rushing away: it is a dynamic Place of Being. This dynamic Place, this Radiance, is what I call the Summerland: this is a different sense of that term from the usual, traditional Pagan usage. As I mean it, the Summerland is that experience of deep self pouring forth, the bliss of creative engagement, the bliss of giving from one’s deep generous capacity. And it may happen in every moment: one may aspire to live like that. I think most beings do desire this experience, long for it … for the Summerland in every moment, for the pouring forth of a fullness of being. It is more then a question of how to get there, to that place, to that capacity.

Surely one has to desire it first, and know that one desires it; then trust … that desire itself will draw your being to fullness and radiance. The simple recognition of holy Desire and dwelling with it, will lead the being to fulfillment of purpose. At Summer Solstice as Sun reaches Her peak, we celebrate and invoke Her ripening in us, in all being: the Summerland in our lives, and in all.

Erin, Summer Solstice 2015

The fullness is not for holding on to: its purpose is for shining.

May you and all be radiant, as sun Herself is.

© Glenys Livingstone 2016

Notes:

[1] Brian Swimme speaks of Radiance as one of ten Powers of the Universe in his DVD series The Powers of the Universe, which is my source for much of my understanding.

 References:

Livingstone. Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-nased Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005.

Swimme, Brian. The Powers of the Universe, DVD series, http://storyoftheuniverse.org 2005.

A Summer Solstice meditation is available on this page (scroll down to the individual tracks).