Litha 2014: Pagans welcome Summer Solstice

CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Antonia Blumberg (HuffingtonPost.com, June 21, 2014, AP)

The summer solstice arrives in the northern hemisphere on June 21 at 6:51 am EDT, bringing us the longest day in the year -- which means lots of extra sunlight for festivities. The day is also considered to be sacred by many pagans and Wiccans around the world who celebrate the solstice among their other yearly holidays.

Some refer to the summer solstice as "Litha," a term that may derive from 8th century monk Bede's The Reckoning of Time. Bede names "Litha" as the Latin name for both June and July in ancient times.

 

The summer solstice is one of four solar holidays, along with the autumnal equinox, the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. The other major pagan holidays are Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh.

 

 

Observers celebrate the solstice in myriad ways, including festivals, parades, bonfires, feasts and more. As one member of the Amesbury and Stonehenge Druids explains, "What you're celebrating on a mystical level is that you're looking at light at its strongest. It represents things like the triumph of the king, the power of light over darkness, and just life -- life at its fullest."

 

 

Celebrations for the summer solstice take place around the world, and not all are pagan-affiliated. One of the biggest pagan celebrations occurs at Stonehenge in England, but others take place among indigenous Latin and South American communities, and in Russia, Spain, and other countries.

 

 

As the official first day of summer, the solstice is a time of celebration. Cities around the world will mark the day with spiritual and secular celebrations, like this yoga festival in New York's Times Square, expected to draw thousands for some mid-city, summer realignment. More (PHOTOS)

Surf: "Foam" (sutra)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly, Ven. Thanissaro (trans.), WatMetta.org, Phena Sutta: Foam (SN 22.95) SUMMER SOLSTICE

If samsara is a "sea," a deluge, a flood, then what is the foam in the surf? (loltops.org)

  

Saltwater Buddha (jaimalyogis.com)

On one occasion the Blessed One was staying among the Ayojjhans on the banks of the Ganges river. There he addressed the monastics:

"Meditators, suppose a large glob of foam were floating down this Ganges river, and a person with good eyesight were to see it, observe it, and examine it. To one seeing, observing, closely examining it, it would appear empty, void, without substance. For what substance would there be in a glob of foam?

"In the same way, a meditator sees, observes, and closely examines any FORM of the past, future, or present, internal (inside oneself) or external, gross or subtle, mundane or sublime, far or near. To one seeing, observing, and closely examining it, it would appear empty, void, without substance. For what substance would there be in form?

 

"Now suppose that in the autumn -- when it is raining in large, heavy drops -- a water bubble were to appear and disappear on the water, and a person with good eyesight were to see, observe, and closely examine it. To one seeing, observing, and closely examining it, it would appear empty, void, without substance. For what substance would there be in a water bubble?
 

"In the same way, a meditator sees, observes, and closely examines any FEELING of the past, future, or present, internal or or external, gross or subtle, mundane or sublime, far or near. To one seeing, observing, and closely examining it, it would appear empty, void, without substance. For what substance would there be in feeling?

 

Los Angeles Yoga (layoga.com)

"Now suppose that in the last month of the hot season (the summer) a mirage were shimmering, and a person with good eyesight were to see, observe, and closely examine it. To one seeing, observing, and closely examining it, it would appear empty, void, without substance. For what substance would there be in a mirage?

"In the same way, a meditator sees, observes, and closely examines any PERCEPTION of the past, future, or present, internal  or external, gross or subtle, mundane or sublime, far or near. To one seeing, observing, and closely examining it, it would appear empty, void, without substance. For what substance would there be in perception?

 

"Now suppose that a person desiring heartwood, on a quest for heartwood, seeking heartwood, were to go into a forest carrying a sharp ax. There one might see a large banana tree -- straight, young, of enormous height. One would cut it at the root and chop off the top. Having done so one would peel away the outer skin. And doing so one would not find even sapwood, to say nothing of heartwood.

Summer sun (Michelle Novak/almanac.com)

"Then a person with good eyesight would see, observe, and closely examine it. To one seeing, observing, and closely examining it, it would appear empty, void, without substance. For what substance would there be in a banana tree?

"In the same way a meditator sees, observes, and closely examines any FORMATIONS of the past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, mundane or sublime, far or near. To one seeing, observing, and closely examining it, it would appear empty, void, without substance. For what substance would there be in formations?

 

"Now suppose a magician or magician's apprentice were to display a magic trick at an intersection, and a person with good eyesight were to see, observe, and closely examine it. To one seeing, observing, and closely examining it, it would appear empty, void, without substance. For what substance would there be in a magic trick?

(OCCUPY.COM)

"In the same way a meditator sees, observes, and closely examines any CONSCIOUSNESS of the past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, mundane or sublime, far or near. To one seeing, observing, and closely examining it, it would appear empty, void, without substance. For what substance would there be in consciousness?

• Form, Feeling, Perception, Formations, and Consciousness are the Five Aggregates, the Five Groups of Existence

"Seeing things thus, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with form, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with perception, disenchanted with formations, disenchanted with consciousness. 

"And disenchanted, one grows dispassionate. Through dispassion, one is released. With release there arises the knowledge, 'Released.' One discerns that 'Birth is ended, the supreme life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'"

 

Sun salutation on the sea (shareitfitness)

This is what the Blessed One said, and having said it, the Wayfarer (Well-Gone One), the Teacher, further uttered these verses:

 

Form is like a glob of foam;

feeling, a bubble;

perception, a mirage;

formations are like a banana tree;

consciousness, a magic trick --

This was taught by the Kinsman of the Sun.

However one observes them,

Closely examines them,

They are empty,

Void to whoever sees them (penetrates them with insight).

"Beginning with the body as taught by the Wise One:

When abandoned by three things --

Life, warmth, and consciousness --

Form is rejected, cast aside.

When bereft of these it lies thrown away,

Senseless, food for others.

That is how it goes:

It's a magic trick, an idiot's babbling.

It's said to be a murderer (See Yamaka Sutra, SN22).

 

No substance here is found.

So a meditator, persistence aroused, should view

The aggregates by day and night, mindful, alert;

One discards all fetters, all bonds;

One makes oneself one's own guide;

One lives as if one's head (hat, headdress, turban) were on fire --

In hopes of that state where there is no falling away.

COMEDY: "Saturnalia" by Jimmy Dore (audio)

Wisdom Quarterly; Jimmy Dore (jimmydorecomedy.com), Wikipedia edit

Greco-Roman: Ruins of Temple of Saturn (eight columns to the far right), with three columns from the Temple of Vespasian and Titus (left) and the Arch of Septimius Severus (center)

• AUDIO: The Jimmy Dore Show (12-27-13)
• True origins of Xmas: Pagan  "Saturnalia"  orgy

In Roman mythology, Saturn was an agricultural deity who was said to have reigned over the world in the Golden Age, when humans enjoyed the spontaneous bounty of the earth without labor in a state of social egalitarianism. 

 

The sexual revelries of Saturnalia (held around the winter solstice and the famous date of Dec. 25th) were supposed to reflect the conditions of the lost mythical age, not all of them desirable. The Greek equivalent was the Kronia, an Athenian festival held in honor of Cronus (Greek Kronos. More

 

In the most classic and well known version of Greek mythology, Cronus or Kronos (Greek Κρόνος) -- not to be confused with Chronos (the personification of time) -- was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans (Buddhist asuras), divine (deva) descendants of Gaia (Mother Earth or Bhūmi), and Uranus, the sky (space). He overthrew his father and ruled during the mythological Golden Age, until he was overthrown by his own son Zeus and imprisoned in Tartarus.