Summer Solstice: An altar to witness my commitment to self in an anxious, stuck-feeling moment.

Recent months have felt tense. Work has been hard, life has gotten busy, and I’m aware that underneath it, my soul is still calling for change.

People say ‘sit in it’, and ‘stay in the mystery’. I’ve been in this particular mystery for a year now and I’m bloody ready to move on.

Please? Can I move on?

I ask the cards. Choose them consciously, face-up.

The Juggler (Death), the Eight of Pentacles, the Ace of Wands. They’re reminding me to be present for this change and to embrace the ever turning seasons of my life. To show up for this work every day, that whether I have a goal or not, being on this journey called life is a practice, requiring devotion. To be open to inspiration, if and when it may show up. And to listen to my gut.

Feathers are lightness, non-attachment. These feathers were lost in flight, yet their birds flew on. For shedding what is not needed, for making room for the new, for flight itself.

We made the flower essence together, my coven-sisters and I. Together and alone we chose the flowers that chose us in the heat of a solstice day. Gathered and brought them back to the fire, let them witness us as leaped through a rose-bower doorway and danced into silence. Let them witness our confessions, our intentions, our desires. Now I will take this essence every day with gratitude and reverence, bringing this solstice magic forwards with me into the second half of this year.

Swallows for freedom, for sheer, joyful movement. For knowing where I come from and where I’m going – maybe not by name, but by instinct. I don’t know my destination, I’m not clear on any goal, but my compass is built in, and I know I am not lost.

Flowers from my own garden, and from up the street. The colour and abundance of the season, on my doorstep. For gratitude, for blossoming, for joy.