Joy as Resistance this Summer Solstice

Rather than the spiritual-bypassing of solar spirituality, let the solstice invite you to embrace joy and celebration as an act of resistance in a world that is hurting.

(Psst, skip to the bottom and you’ll find an audio guided meditation for you!)

Wednesday 21st marks the summer solstice this year, the moment when the day is longest and the night a mere few hours, before the earth again tips back towards the darkness. 

In a time when our world faces multiple crises - when groups are marginalised and their rights stripped away, and the very earth cries out in pain - we need more than ever a spirituality that doesn’t numb or blind us to these realities, but awakens and equips us to rise to the challenge and invitation of our lives.

The sun will peak on Wednesday at its highest arc across the Northern Hemisphere. We feel its heat. We see the impact of its warmth and light, as the earth literally rises to greet it with green arms trailing flowers and the first fruits of Summer. 

God will appear as your righteousness, as sure as the dawning of a new day.
God will manifest as your justice, as sure and strong as the noonday sun.
Psalm 37: 6 TPT

Light is never just one thing. The sun speaks to us of power, strength and vigour. Its heat not only draws the goodness up from the ground, it creates summer storms that shake us. We will feel the vibrations in our bones as the thunder rolls through, wave upon wave. And now, too, as the world heats up beyond what it can bear, we feel the earth groaning in pain.

The call to celebrate Midsummer, is the same call to Joy that we find in the Christian tradition. It is not a fluffy, naive feeling. It is birthed through struggle. It exists because we have walked through the valley of the shadow of death, and know - know deep in our bones - how precious, how sacred, this life is.

Celebration becomes our defiant commitment to a vision of a world where laughter replaces weeping, fruitfulness brings new life in the place of oppression, and love overcomes hate.

This joy cannot be commercialised or commodified. 

This joy is birthed from deep within and drawn from wells dug down into an everlasting foundation before the world began, when God laughed and Light spilled out.

This spring I read the fantastic book See No Stranger by Valerie Kaur (who is a Sikh civil right activist, lawyer and filmmaker). In it, she wrote: 

"Joy returns us to everything that is good and beautiful and worth fighting for. Joy gives us energy for the labour for justice. Let joy be your lifeblood."

Ways to mark the Summer Solstice this week:

• Light a bonfire. Here in Denmark, and much of Scandinavia, midsummer is marked on the feast day of John the Baptist (Sankt Hans), and in a beautiful blending with the ancient practices of these lands, bonfires are still lit on beaches and fields, that are said to repel evil spirits. As you toast your marshmallows or make Danish Snobrød, let the fire carry your prayers (spoken or written) for peace in the place of violence, healing where there is wounding, and courage to stand against all forms of evil and injustice.

• Summer crafts. Try making flower crowns. Draw colourful sunshines and mandelas with chalk on the pavement, or find a sun-themed craft on Pinterest (for kids and adults alike).

• Dance. Dancing is a form of healing and resistance, as well as celebration. I use dance to reconnect with my joy on the days when I am in a funk. My body can often tap into the Source quicker than my heart and mind can. I just need to let her free, no second-guessing moves or trying to impress anyone - just intuitive flowing movement. Let's be dancers who dance upon injustice. You can use my Longest Day spotify playlist!

And a gift for you:

A guided meditation to awaken your joy. I recorded this in 2020 when we were at the start of the covid pandemic, George Floyd had been murdered, and everything felt like it was falling apart. Some things have shifted, but the invitation to allow JOY to fuel our courage to rise in resistance hasn’t.

The meditation is 10 minutes long. Why not find a quiet place to pause now and connect with the Divine in you…