NOW & THEN SOLSTICE MUSINGS
By Lian Brook-Tyler
As I said in my last post, my father has been on my mind a lot in recent weeks as I’m descending into yet another Jungian-hewed abyss.
This morning I was pondering how in my spiritual, magical, rewilding circles (where neo-paganism so infuses the water we swim in, even if it’s not directly mentioned) the common refrain of “Solstice blessings!” that will ring out today, takes me back to childhood, a time when my father and his friends honoured the summer and winter solstices, sometimes with all night celebrations in the woods.
Those celebrations were something I knew to keep quiet about at school, in much the same way as I would our trips to the Glastonbury festival or when answering questions about the unusual scent that permeated our house (that iconic hippy combination of marijuana and joss sticks.)
I became increasingly aware that there was the world of free exploration of art, altered states of consciousness and animism that we inhabited, and another world of staying within agreed upon lines of rules, money, and proper jobs… and our world seemed to make the other world very uncomfortable, and that that discomfort could make my life very difficult, to the point of being pushed down a flight of stairs at school - maybe in the hope I’d finally land in their world.
I just saw this memory from five years ago of taking the children to see Father Christmas which captures navigating between the two worlds well:
“Going to see Father Christmas later and the children are chatting about what they’ll say if he asks if they’ve been good this year:
Lady A “I’ll say: ‘It doesn’t matter if we’ve been good or not, that’s just something that some parents say to try to make their children behave the way they want.’”
[Cue throat-cutting signs from Mr F]
We’ve agreed a slightly more diplomatic response of “Yes, I’m a good person!” Which is acceptable to them! ”
My father would be proud to see his legacy of freedom continue in them… their free-thinking minds allowing their hearts, not other people’s ideas, to guide their way.
So my blessings this solstice for you, and for me, are the hippy ones of my father and of Jung… I wish you enter this dark portal of deep winter to make conscious the conditioned expectations of your parents* and society, to release them, and to unfold into the freedom of a life that’s yours, and yours alone, to live.
Wishing you a beautiful solstice!
*and you might find, as I have, that living beyond them takes you paradoxically back to where you began, but in a new way, in a way you’ve chosen and is uniquely right for you.
Photo: us at Stonehenge, a place that honours the solstices, albeit this one wasn’t in winter.
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