At the Edge of Time: Summer Solstice

It has become that time of year for the arrival of Summer Solstice. The time when the edge of Earth tilts most directly toward the sun creating the longest amount of daylight and the shortest night. In 2022, in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice arrives on Tuesday, June 21st at 5:14 A.M. EDT. The solstice occurs because Earth does not spin upright but leans 23.5 degrees on a tilted axis.

The time between the Summer Solstice and its polar opposite the Winter Solstice divides our year in half and creates edges of time that provides us with a macro picture of it. It is cyclical and brings yin/yang philosophy to mind.

But that macro perspective can be observed in the micro.

The Rough Mathematical Equation of the Time between Solstices:

365 days divided by 2 = 182.5 days = 4,380 hours = 262,800 minutes = 15,768,000 seconds. "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives" Time clicks on.

The Magic at the Edge

In certain cultures, legend has it that fairies and other magical creatures inhabit the Midsummer night enchanting lovers as they sleep.

Over hill, over dale,

through bush, through brier,

over park, over pale,

through flood, through fire,

we do wander everywhere,

swifter than the moon's sphere;

and we serve the fairy queen,

to dew her orbs upon the green.

after William Shakespeare from A Midsummer Night's Dream

Between the dusk of a summer night

Between the dusk of a summer night And the dawn of a summer day, We caught at a mood as it passed in flight, And we bade it stoop and stay. And what with the dawn of night began With the dusk of day was done; For that is the way of woman and man, When a hazard has made them one. Arc upon arc, from shade to shine, The World went thundering free; And what was his errand but hers and mine -- The lords of him, I and she? O, it's die we must, but it's live we can, And the marvel of earth and sun Is all for the joy of woman and man And the longing that makes them one.

-William Earnest Henley

At the Edge of Time

Here, as we approach this edge

I have awareness of endless cycles

From solstice through equinox to solstice

Here, I experience Time.

These few days are long

And I feel very alive.

But moments pass by

And Time begins to shorten.

Here, at the edge

I feel connected to Earth.

Here, Now, at the edge

I am content.

Happy Summer Solstice 2022!

CPW