Happy Summer Solstice. In the Wiccan tradition, today is Litha. It is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Today is officially the first day of summer.
To celebrate the nature-based spiritual vibe I’ve been feeling today, I took a nicely-paced, energetic walk. My walk took me along the historic Erie Canal. It was there that the sounds of the nearby roadways faded away and the sounds of nature came forward with birds singing their song, fish jumping a little bit in the canal and small creatures rustling around in the brush along the trail.
I often use the evening of summer solstice to take a step back and figure out how I’m feeling about things these days. Who am I kidding, I’m always doing that but I like to think it’s a little more special on the longest day of the year. For once, I think I’ll keep my thoughts and observations private and instead I’ll just say, “It’s all good”.
Here is the sun setting on Erie Canal Lock 20. It was a little bit after 9 p.m. (or 2100, as I like to think of it) when I took this picture. A cyclist riding from Buffalo to Albany along the canal trail had just set up camp for the night. I didn’t want to be rude and include his picture on the internet, but I nodded a hello in his direction as he busied himself with his tent.
Happy Litha.
