The still moment in the still moment.
You may hear about the three days when the sun stands still at the solstices. The etymology of the word solstice is from Latin, sol, “sun” and stice, past participle of sistere, "stand still.” For three days the sun’s places of rising and setting appear the same. The exact moment of the change of orientation of Earth to our star is calculable and the precise timing is offered here.
21:43:35 (9:43:35 PM) UTC, (UTC +0)
Saturday, June 20, 2020
London, United Kingdom
10:43:35 pm BST (UTC +1)
Saturday, June 20, 2020
New York, NY, USA
05:43:35 pm EDT (UTC -4)
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Chicago, IL, USA
04:43:35 pm CDT (UTC -5)
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Denver, CO, USA
03:43:35 pm MDT (UTC -6)
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Los Angeles, CA, USA
02:43:35 pm PDT (UTC -7)
Saturday, June 20, 2020
State of Hawai’i, USA
11:43:35 am HST (UTC -10)
Saturday, June 20, 2020
The Summer Solstice is known as the longest day and shortest night since it provides the northern hemisphere’s greatest period of a day’s sunlight. At the Summer Solstice, the northern hemisphere assumes its most direct tilt facing into the Sun. Earth's mean obliquity (or axial tilt) is currently 23°26′11.9″ (or 23.43663°) and decreasing.
The Sun reaches the maximum north it will on June 20. It will appear to stand still and begin dropping south toward the equator while the length of daylight shortens. (Please see the illustration.) The line the Sun reaches northward is known as the Tropic of Cancer. The Sun at noon is very nearly over Cuba at 23.5° north longitude. At noon on the Winter Solstice the Sun is approximately over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the Southern Hemisphere. There it reaches the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5° South, the furthest South the Sun goes. In either direction when the sun crosses the equator we have an autumn or spring equinox.
We are part of the natural world and subject to the changes of the season cycle, responsive to the waxing and waning cycle initiated by earth’s orientation to our star. From Summer Solstice to Winter Solstice, daylight is waning north of the equator and darkness reaches its peak at the shortest day and longest night of the Winter Solstice.
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| My favorite image for LITHA this year. "This website does not supply ownership information." |
Search "Litha" for more on how the Summer Solstice is and has been celebrated for centuries.
“When the light is increasing from Winter Solstice to Summer Solstice, all beings are moving out into the light, becoming more individual and independent, expressing their own identity and uniqueness, expanding outwards into the material world. But as the light is decreasing from Summer Solstice to Winter Solstice, nature and life as a whole is integrating itself into a more social way of life, going within, reflecting and becoming more intuitive, expanding into the inner realms - exploring inner wisdom.”
– from Sacred Celebrations by Glennie Kindred
DOWN UNDER
Are you south of the equator? Then WELCOME WINTER! The Summer Solstice in the north is the Winter Solstice in the south.
Some of the discussion of the effect or meaning of the significance of the turning points that the solstices mark does apply north or south, but much of what might be called interpretive is slanted to concerns of the northern hemisphere. There is much to learn by comparisons between how the Sun’s rounding of the track is experienced differently in the two hemispheres.
Let’s look at some of what’s said above by Glennie Kindred. Her first paragraph is 100% applicable north or south for either solstice. Reading on we might wonder will the south be “moving out into the light, becoming more individual and independent, expressing their own identity and uniqueness, expanding outwards into the material world,” while in the north, “as the light is decreasing from Summer Solstice to Winter Solstice,” the experience is that “life as a whole is integrating itself into a more social way of life, going within, reflecting and becoming more intuitive, expanding into the inner realms - exploring inner wisdom”? In any event it is safe to say that the two solstices mark stillness in anticipation of change.
A horoscope calculated for the solstice is one of those used by astrologers for millennia to evaluate the entire Summer season (until the Autumn Equinox or to the Winter Solstice). Astro-meteorologists use it as a “temperature chart,” one of the keys to weather prediction.
Stay safe. Happy Solstice! Blessed Litha!
Tim
