Eating strawberries by the light of the full moon 🍓

The Summer Solstice series - #2

The almost full moon over the water on Tuesday night at 11 pm - I was on a cozy, overnight work retreat.

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.

Hello, dear one.

Today the moon is full and the energy is high. We have reached the midpoint of the year, the height of the sun’s power, the fullness of nature, and the culmination of the growing light since the winter solstice back in December. Everything feels abundant and wild and bursting with life, including myself. It is a time of celebration and ceremony (the first card of our 7 day Summer Solstice series - read the first letter in the link below)

A ceremony for when the day is long and the sun is high ☀️

There’s so much that I want to write to you today, so much to celebrate and discuss. But, early this morning, as I lay in bed thinking about making a pot of coffee and sitting down to write you, I decided to focus on the magic and meaning of the full moon that rises (amazingly!) in conjunction with the summer/winter solstice and midsummer/yule celebrations this year.

So, after making the decision to focus on the moon in this letter (as long as it aligned with whatever oracle card I would turn over today), I quietly pulled back the covers so as to not disturb my love’s slumber, washed my face, made my coffee, fed with the cat, and sat down to turn over today’s card.

I pulled all of the cards on the solstice and laid them in a ring on a table. I’ll only turn one over on the days I am writing to you.

You will not believe what card lay there waiting for me.

Seriously?! I pulled this card on Thursday, laid it face down in the ring just to the right of the first card, and turned it over this morning to receive today’s message. How is this possible?

If I thought the first card (white dress = ceremony) was perfect, then this just might be even more perfect.

11:15 pm on my work retreat

My friend, the message, the tool, that we have received today is wrapped up in the magic and mystery of the moon. On the day of the full moon. Could anything be any more serendipitous?

June’s full moon is known as the strawberry moon by Native American tribes, because those ripe, juicy red berries are ready for picking. The Celtic names used for the full moon in June are often rose, flower, herb, and mead. These names were given in order to track the months and the seasons. And they are a very natural way for me to connect with the ancient rhythms and cycles of the year that continue to guide us after all these years.

Midnight on the deck of my little cabin during my work retreat.

For the past few days, in the midst of the solstice and the midsummer celebrations, I have been ruminating on the word culmination.

Each full moon is literally the culmination of a moon’s cycle. It is the highest, most climatic phase of the moon each month. After the new moon, the moon grows each night for 14 days, from a sliver to a half moon to a bright, beautiful, round full moon. As soon as the full moon moment passes, though, the moon begins to wane, growing smaller and darker for the next two weeks, until it is hidden from the night sky and reaches the new moon phase, only to begin the rhythmic cycle once again.

Last night’s Midsummer’s Eve sun sinking below the horizon at 10:30 pm. Soon the full moon will rise.

Right now, though, we are at the height. The culmination. The climax. Of everything.

It is the pinnacle of not only the full moon, but also the season of summer and the peak of the brightest, longest days of the year. It is like reaching the summit of a mountain.

And, for this weekend at least, the only thing that I feel that I need to do is take in the view. To just stand under the magical full moon and the powerful sun’s rays, all night and all day, soaking in the feeling of abundance overflowing and wild abandon running through my bones.

Last night’s simple strawberry dessert after our Midsummer dinner.

All I want to do is eat strawberries, laugh from the depths of my belly, sit on the balcony and sip some coffee, dance around the kitchen, and feel the pulse of life beating in and through me. I want to embody the energy of both the cosmos and the earth, observe the magic of nature, and gather up all of the good things of life so that I am overflowing and radiating it all right back out to you, to my community, and to the world.

The message of the moon card is simply this: Indulge, bask, enjoy, rest, and soak it all in. Let the magic of the moon, the power of the sun, and the abundance of the earth infuse you with your own special magic. Dare to let your own magic and power be wild and spill out with abandon into your everyday life.

Perhaps that’s exactly what the message of the full moon is to us every single month - to remember the height and power of our own unique and special magic, so that we can release it to the world.

Blessed full moon, love. Until Monday… xoxo. liz.