Summer Solstice occurs on June 21 at 8:26 a.m. EDT

[I Have A Dream]

Summer Solstice occurs on June 21 at 8:26 a.m. EDT. Solstice is one of the major powergates of the year, and power itself is emphasized now, with the fixed grand cross, and much energy in Leo. The job of the four fixed signs—Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius, and Taurus—is to gather power, and to hang onto it. Those four signs dominate the skies now, and they are each stubborn and determined.

SUMMER IS A TIME FOR COMMUNICATION AND A SEARCH FOR COMMON VALUES

Summer Solstice is the Full Sun of the sun‘s annual cycle, like the full moon is the peak of the moon’s monthly cycle. We move into the third quarter of the sun’s year, a time when we connect with one another, spread the news, and share those ideas which have been percolating since the year began. We travel, we visit with family, we socialize with neighbors, and we get new perspectives.

As we move around, and connect with the wider world, our values become more refined, as does our sense of common humanity, the Family of Humankind.

During summer 2006, we will come to understand better where our personal power lies.

....The Moon phase shows our psychological manner of approaching life. As we enter this new season, we are finishing a cycle. At this point, we can see both past and future. We can look at the past to see what of value we want to preserve and save, in terms of its usefulness in the future.

Remember that the scenarios showing during this intense month of June will expand and play out during the next season. And they will set in motion the outlines of the future.

Moon now in Taurus repeats the degree of the Taurus New Moon of April 27, which stimulated pro-immigrant mobilizations throughout the nation with the slogan, “We are Americans!”

The future is calling.

(more at the following link)

http://daykeeperjournal.com/feature.shtml

[Beaverhausen]

1. excellent link - thanks. Blessings to you

and everyone on this solstice!

[Shine]

2. Happy Summer Solstice, everyone!!

:bounce: :hi:

May the light of the summer sun shine upon all of you this season...

[stellanoir]

3. Happy Solstice All !!!

[MorningGlow]

4. Ooh perfect time for my first post in this forum

HAPPY SOLSTICE! And hello all!

:hi:

[I Have A Dream]

6. Happy Solstice, MorningGlow! Welcome to the group!

:hi:

[MorningGlow]

9. Thanks!

:hi:

[tanyev]

8. "MorningGlow"???

Did you pick that because of the song in Pippin? If so, :toast:, it's my favorite musical of all time!

[MorningGlow]

10. I did indeed!

Hi Tanyev,

Pippin is my all-time favorite too! Wow, I thought I was the only one who loved it! :toast:

Back in the mists of time, I begged and pleaded with a community theater director to let me audition for the role of the narrator but she refused--I was young and female and white and therefore I could only be Katherine, right? Never mind my vocal quality or range or anything pracical like that. (The production never happened, BTW.) I've still got a few good years in me, though--I WILL play the narrator before I kick it, dammit!

(And another bit of useless personal trivia--this song "came" to me as a manifestation of sorts before the '04 elections, so I sang it all the time, and I was absolutely certain Kerry was going to win. The fact that he didn't, when every sign I saw and felt indicated he would, helped convince me that election was stolen.)

[tanyev]

14. Oh, dear. I have a sad Pippin story, too.

I hope IHAD won't mind us hijacking her thread.

Although I've always been a huge fan of musicals, I never auditioned to be in one until I was in my late 30s and recuperating from a bad marriage. The town I lived in had a company that did a lot of musicals and the production values were at a good level for me--I'll never have a lead role, but I'm very happy to hang out in the chorus and do a little dancing. Well, the first show I did was Anything Goes and it was where I met the wonderful man I've now been married to for four years. We did Brigadoon together and then I heard Pippin was coming up. Fate? Destiny? I don't know how often they do Pippin up where you are, but down here in the Bible Belt, it's not very common. We went to try out and I was even more encouraged that there were not that many people at the audition. The dance sequence at the audition was kind of weird, but I couldn't see that anyone was doing very well with it. However, we did not make the show. :cry: (At least the young man who played Pippin was glorious. The guy who played the Narrator was so annoying I found myself chewing on my program most of the time he was on stage.)

When we went to see it, we noticed something which got even more obvious as we went to a few other shows. The cast was very, very young. This town also has a good-sized university. And even though the university has their own drama department with lots of shows for the students to do, the community theatre embarked on a huge mission to recruit from the college. They also started using the same choreographer for almost every show--a woman who ran a dance studio. She started bringing in ballerinas from her studio to do all the dancing. The ensemble would be singing away and then they would divide up to the far edges of the stage and do some very simple movements while the special ops ballerinas would parachute in with their pink satin parachutes and do choreography they had been working on in their dance classes. Very few of those girls ever went through the terror of auditioning for the show, or even did anything else in the show except their dance features. They just got brought in during the last couple weeks when everything started coming together. Hubby and I got disgusted with the whole vibe and never tried out for any more shows with them. In fact, now that we've settled into "unbounded domesticity", we haven't done any shows in a while. I may not get another shot at Pippin, but I do hope you get yours.

Oh, and pardon my manners. Welcome to DU! :hi:

[MorningGlow]

16. Wow, that's too bad!

It's hard enough to have a decent, well balanced community theater program without "loading the dice" so to speak. Sad that they would sacrifice the true intent of community theater (COMMUNITY) to have "better" (but that's debatable) productions by mining the college theater program and a dance company for cast members.

I went to college in a VERY small town, but it actually had a community theater program. They staged My Fair Lady, and they invited college students to audition. While they got professional actors from NYC to play the two leads, everybody else in the cast was from the town and the colleges (yep, this dinky town had TWO colleges)--and it was evenly balanced--many townsfolks, many students. (I was a 'ho in the chorus! Truly hysterical--we were blocking the flower market scene and I wast standing with a female friend and another female from the other college, and the director said to us chorusfolk, "You sell flowers...you over there sell roasted chestnuts...and you three...um...you sell yourselves!" :rofl: )

Anyway, that was the last good community theater production I enjoyed being in. When I graduated and moved back home, I was in or costumed some productions in my hometown, but I just didn't enjoy it, so I stopped. Haven't done a production since (almost 20 years)--how I miss it!

Well, cheers, fellow thespian! May you tread the boards once again!

:toast:

[I Have A Dream]

17. "Hijack" away, tanyev! We have to go where the Universe...

takes us in these threads, in my opinion.

:)

[japple]

12. A belated welcome and Happy Solstice, MorningGlow.

This is a wonderful place, a refuge from the intensity of some of the other forums.

[I Have A Dream]

5. The Sun's Peak

The Sun's Peak
Summer Solstice
http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2006/3778.html

On the longest day of the year, the sun, which has on the days preceding seemed to rise higher and higher into the sky, reaches its zenith and rises no more. This day, which in the Northern Hemisphere can occur between the 20th and 23rd of June, marks the start of summer and is known as the summer solstice. From time immemorial, the coming of summer's light and warmth has been a time of gladness and celebration. In June, the snows had long since melted, the ground had thawed, the first fruits were ripening on their vines, and Mother Nature had once again renewed herself. Though most of us have turned away from our agricultural heritage, the summer solstice remains a time of new beginnings and life-enriching endings. It is the day the sun reaches the peak of its power as well as the day that heralds the shorter days that eventually bring with them autumn's chills.

For ancient peoples of the Americas and Europe, the summer solstice was a particularly joyous day-and one auspicious for those seeking year-long luck, fertility, abundance, and prosperity. Men and women on two continents would gather to pay tribute to the sun's magnificence, to pray for a bountiful harvest, and to bolster the sun's energy with bonfires and fireworks. Today, the summer solstice represents an optimal time to reflect upon the blessings we have received in seasons past and visualize the new bounties we hope to receive in the season just beginning to flourish. At noon, when the sun is at its highest point, we can pay reverence to its incredible strength and its ability to create life while also musing on the impermanence of life as represented by the impermanence of the season. You can reestablish your innate connection to nature on the summer solstice by spending time outdoors; following the sun's procession as the day passes; burning sun oils such as orange, benzion, or juniper; or decorating an altar with solar images, summer greens, or colorful blossoms.

Just as the summer solstice is symbolic of agricultural growth, so is it symbolic of personal growth. It is a wonderful time to nurture your potential as you would nurture a tiny seedling and let your creative energy express itself fully. On the summer solstice, you may feel compelled to emulate the noontime sun and be at one with the world around you or to let your inner brilliance shine forth at full strength, if only for a single day. Your life, like the seasons, follows a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, and summers, whether literal or figurative, can always be celebrated.

[KyndCulture]

7. Blessed Litha or Midsummer

to my fellow Wiccans and Pagans.

I spent sunrise at the lake this morning with a beautiful meditation. I feel energized!!

Blessed Be.

[u4ic]

11. Happy Summer Solstice, everyone!

:loveya:

[BlueIris]

13. No wonder I am so damn miserable.

I am a Taurus/Scorp without any power. And I'm so good with power.

[mother earth]

15. I love your threads, IHAD, very encouraging...and we can use

all of that light! O8)

[Eurobabe]

18. Good so the days start getting shorter!!

As one who suffers from Summer seasonal affective disorder, I am looking forward to shorter days soon. I am miserable from about April thru June, between all the freaking light and heat...ugh.

I just moved to Europe and it is light from about 4:30am to 10:00pm, no frickin' lie! I HATE IT!! (The length of the days that is...) If I was in Alaska, I'd kill myself.