The Summer Solstice
Hello!
We’ll be experiencing an ultimate Solstice on Tuesday June 21st 2022 at 2:14am PDT. Please do figure this out for your time zone; however, you get a lot of latitude when dealing with ultimacy! It’s like big wave surfing – big waves of profoundly coherent harmony are flowing across our solar system and planet from the heart of our galaxy, and linear time no longer dictates the moment when you move into alignment with this flow. I can say with total confidence that you will find your wave, because the course of evolution of our species has brought us to this moment – and it’s your turn to step boldly into the flow of creating a new world here on Earth. It’s your turn! A very short history of Solstices and Equinoxes is worth reviewing; to see how the acceleration of evolution we’ve been experiencing has brought you to this moment.
Solstices & Equinoxes
Not so long ago, the Winter Solstice marked the darkest hours, with the return of the light – and the Summer Solstice was a return to the fullness of light – with the longest day – and then again to the turn back to darkness…
Our hemisphere-centric and ethnocentric mythologies relegated Equinoxes and Solstices to mere seasonal markers. And as primarily European and North American practitioners of “spiritual” interests, we basically ignored the Southern Hemisphere in our proclamations of exactly what meant what. Then… we began to realize – around 2012 – that Solstices and Equinoxes were global events – and that Winter and Summer, dark and light, were inextricably interconnected. And it didn’t stop there.
With an accelerating evolutionary impulse and awakening to the reality of our position in our Galaxy, we recognized that our Sun and Solar System were spiraling around the center of our galaxy on one of the four major spiral wings of stars. We realized that our Earth, in a long phrophesied cycle, was coming into a direct open field relationship with the great mysterious Black Sun at the center of our Galaxy. And intense waves of coherent and harmonious uni-polar energy emanating from our Galactic Center have been disassembling the compromised structures and exploitive systems that have held our “civilization” together.
We’re certainly seeing that the archetypal holders of coherence and our “normal reality” are essentially obsolete and rattling apart in this tremendously intense flow of energy. Essentially – systems of predation, exploitation and domination have become obsolete – and the state of our world reflects this collapse.
What isn’t obsolete is you.
What once sounded impossibly mystical – that “you are a cosmic being” is the practical reality of this moment. You are the Cosmic One – the Vast Self – and your inner neurological potential includes the earth, the sun, moon, planets, stars, our galaxy, the far flung galaxies of this universe, the multiverses, and beyond into totality! So – you are as “far-in” as you are far-out!
Relax into this – we’re just talking about the nature of nature, and this Solstice brings a uniquely evolving opportunity: your turn at the helm of Creation. OK – deep breath – when you come into sync with the great synchronicity that is Creation flowering, “struggle” and reactivity evaporate, and you naturally become your innately gifted self – agile, feral, creative, resourceful and responsive to Life – starting with your own!
Can you feel how both intimacy and ultimacy are deeply connected? And only possible with Presence – with entering fully into the present moment? Yes – the present moment is right here and right now. And, thanks to big cycles of time and space, we’re enjoying the profound energetic assistance of enormous waves of coherent harmony from the heart of our galaxy – and like good surfers, catching these waves of beauty and sparkling radiance makes the “art of spirit” – the art of living – easy!
Let’s get practical. Surfers paddle out to a spot just outside of where the waves are breaking. For us, this would be our practices that bring us into alignment with flowing energies. For really big waves, like we’re experiencing now, surfers get towed out by experienced water-men and water-women on jet skis. These highly skilled individuals position surfers right in the optimum spots to catch and ride big waves.
For us, being in the right spot is the gift of “living ceremony” – where our shared intentions, and shared gifts support us together as we enter into alignment with the Holy, the Sacred, the Presence, the Big Flow. Living Ceremony is not ritualistic – it’s whatever it takes in the moment to enter into the deep waters of the Vast Self. Pieces of practices, and traditional wisdom can be helpful – but the reality here is that this is about YOU.
This Solstice is about you stepping into a new world.
It’s about you bringing your essential gifts to this time of multiple over-lapping emergencies on our planet – by emerging as the co-creative and loving gift you are. It’s about you including your family, friends, community and all of life here on Earth. It’s about you allowing yourself the deep knowing in every fiber of your being that this is your turn. This is your turn to speak, to create, to share love, kindness, caring and compassion, with respect for all beings we enjoy life with. This is your turn, your moment to take the life affirming step away from exploitation of life, to reciprocity – to communion and collaboration with life.
Yes, the time has arrived for you to directly experience the gift that you are – to catch the wave of your own beauty and Presence, and to become an artist of Spirit. You are the necessary gift of this moment. And here is an irresistibly amplified invitation from the heart of creation for you to BE here – this is your wave! Yes? Do you hear the great YES from the center of our heart of hearts ringing in your ears?
You are here – and alive!
This is your vast vortexing cosmic iridescently frothing multi-verse, with galaxies, “black holes”, super-novas, stars, planets, our sun, moon, earth, all in wild open space – all of it and all of us spiraling around our own whirling flowering of mountains, oceans, trees, the wind, bird songs, the dark beauty of elusive jaguars, of bright sun-lit butterflies, the sparkle of breaching whales, swift foam leaping dolphins, crazy little otters, high soaring eagles, squinty-eyed foxes, squawking raven families, rushing rivers, blazing desserts, sleepy dogs, laughing children, and us – all of us here with you.
Yes! We’re all in this together. We co-create together, and for sure we can celebrate together. So. Gather with family, with friends, with your community – and together create a simple living ceremony. Acknowledge the sacred. Step into the Holy together, into the deep silence from which all of this emerges. Then – it’s indescribable – the gift of you is here!
Celebrate! Share the moment! Life awakens to care for life!
It’s your turn!
With Love and Blessings
-Francis Rico
For those who live in the North Bay Area
there will be two living ceremonies on the sacred cliffs of the Bodega Headlands overlooking the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday June 21, 2022. One will be in the middle of the night, and one will be in the warm sunny mid-morning.
For the night ceremony:
Be ready to go, in the Bodega Head parking lot, by 1:30am PDT – the early morning of Tuesday June 21. The Solstice is at 2:14am PDT. Bring layers for whatever the weather brings. A flashlight for walking the cliffside trail is recommended. Bring something beautiful – herbs, flowers, a crystal, a stone, and sacred objects – for the altar. For the night ceremony, please RSVP to francis@shamanzone.com
For the Tuesday June 21 mid-morning ceremony:
Be ready to go, in the Bodega Head parking lot, by 10:00am PDT. Bring layers for whatever the weather brings. I think it will be warm and sunny – but be prepared for whatever. Bring something beautiful – herbs, flowers, a crystal, a stone, and sacred objects – for the altar. No big deal – just bring a little something.