12 deep questions to mark the midpoint of the year 🗡️

The Summer Solstice series - #3

This June I am celebrating the days between the summer solstice on June 20 and the beginning of July with a simple, soulful, meditative ritual.

Join me as I turn over an oracle card every other day, share its meaning for this season, and reflect on how that message can be embodied in our everyday lives.

This simple ritual is a tool for celebrating + welcoming the season of fire + light. Meant to help us commit to a few moments of meditation to discover and celebrate the flame within each of us.

Join me in soaking in the light of the sun + discovering how we can radiate fire + passion in our everyday lives. Now that we're in full bloom, just like the earth, it's time to burn brightly. It's our season to shine + glow + radiate.

Hi, friend.

It’s the Monday after a weekend with a whole bunch of festivities and magic. And I feel ready to dive into a new week, as I move a bit closer to my summer vacation in two weeks. However, I do not feel the need to move quickly. And I definitely do not feel like I am quite ready to move away from the energy of the solstice and the full moon.

Honestly, I can still feel the lingering affects of them both pulsing through my mind, body, and spirit - inspiring and energizing me. The moon, calling me to remain still and present, even as I also feel the power, life, and energy of the sun coursing through my veins.

Over the weekend, a shift occurred as the wheel of the year turned, and the full moon came and went. And, I know that I cannot bottle the energy of this past weekend. I cannot stop the rhythms and cycles that constantly spiral on; but I can be so present in them, day by day, that only after a week has passed can I look back and understand how much has happened, how things have changed, and how I have moved on - without even realizing it.

I don’t actually want to stop things from moving forward and changing. What I do want, though, is to sink deep into the energy of each and every day. I want to indulge in the present moment and feel it all. I want to soak in all of the sweetness of this season - one golden, late night sunset at a time.

So, I am not pausing here. Nor am I trying to make time stop. Instead, I am just being. Right here, right now. On a warm Monday evening, together with you, across time and space and miles.

This morning, as I sat down to pull today’s oracle card, I thought back to the magic of the white dress (symbolizing ceremony) and the moon (which I amazingly pulled on the day of the full moon). I let my mind wander a bit and my spirit settle. Then, I drew in a long, deep breath and opened my heart to receive today’s message.

What do you feel or think when you see this? What is your initial reaction? What is your intuition whispering to you? Is there a message for you, from the knife, for this summer?

Pause and sit with it for just a moment.

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As June begins to wind down and I begin to very slowly move away from the summer solstice moment and the full strawberry/rose moon, the energy slows a bit. I can feel a shift. And I am aware that I am entering soft, gentle, waning, descending energy.

Not that I feel less energy; but, now we have now crossed over into the other half of the year - the darker, waning half. So, it’s just different, the energy. It’s not a depressing, sad time of the year, however. And it is not occurring quickly, but moving very, very slowly. Like the sun slipping down below the horizon. Like jazz or R&B. Like honey and molasses. Sweet and slow.

And, even though things are moving at a slow summer pace, somehow I feel that I have suddenly arrived at the midpoint of the year. That’s how it always is when I live day to day. Time moves slowly, and yet, is suddenly gone. It feels as it was just the start of 2024, and now it’s time to turn toward the second half of the year.

And, with the shift in energy and the long, summer days still ahead, it is the perfect time to reflect on where I’ve been this year, where I am right now, and where I want to go. Of course, I’m not only speaking of travel, I am speaking of whatever experiences, lessons, growth, dreams, plans, intentions, etc. that I have had and want to set for the coming six months that lie ahead.

So, right now, in this slow, summery energy, I believe it is the perfect time for a quiet, mid-year check-in.

And that’s where the knife comes in.

When I turned the card over, I knew immediately that the message for me was to begin my mid-year reflection now - just after the solstice and full moon. Just after the energy of fullness and completion and culmination, it is time to release.

This is the time of the year to cut away, prune, separate, and release all that is no longer needed as I move forward into the rest of the year.

The message of the knife, as summer begins to settle in and nature turns to the waning half of the year, is to cut away the old in order to make way for the new.

In June, it is almost as if we are given a mid-year, new year’s celebration when we crossed the solstice threshold. It becomes the prefect time to pause to reflect on all that has been, release all that we have completed or no longer need, and plan how we want the next 6 months to feel and be.

A knife is a symbol of power and strength, but also liberation in Buddhism. It is a common object with a deeper meaning. And the perfect tool for us to use as we cut away, trim, and release the first half of the year. Setting us free to wander onward and deeper into the year.

But, what am I cutting away? What am I releasing? What do I want to keep? What do I need? What am I carrying with me forward into the waning half of the year?

When I finish this letter to you in a minute, I am going to pour myself a glass of wine, sit on the balcony in the heat of the evening, and scribble thoughts and reflections in my journal. I’ll share some of my favorite mid-year check-in questions with you here, in case you would like to carve out some time for reflecting on your own as well.

Mid-year reflections

→ How do I feel at the moment? Right now.

→ When do I feel my life is the most meaningful?

→ What do I need more of in my life?

→ What makes me feel bad ass?

→ What are my 3 most significant achievements in the past 6 months?

→ What area of my life most needs simplifying, and what’s one way I could simplify in that area?

→ What is my favorite song this year? Why?

→ Who is someone that I admire? What qualities do I like about that person?

→ If I was in my 90s, what memories would I like to have? What stories do I want to tell?

→ What do I love to do for, or give to others (not an object – something from my personally)?

→ What habit would I most like to establish in the next 6 months?

→ How do I want to be remembered in life?

These are not easy questions, and I think it will take me more than tonight to really give them the attention that I want. So, I’ll get started tonight and, then, set the goal to complete them on the last day of June. Somehow that feels right to me.

As for you, my friend. I hope that this letter finds you well and that your Monday has been/is a grounding, centering, inspiring start to your week.

Lots of love to you. And gratitude beyond measure that you are here with me. Talk Wednesday… xoxo. Liz