If you have been following this blog a bit, you will probably have noticed that I’m not a fan of the binary. But Midsummer Solstice is about duality, in the coolest way.
I love the Yin-Yang symbol, partly because it’s such a graceful image, but also because of what it represents. There’s no straight line here, it’s a wave. And there is a little black in the white, and a little white in the black – the seed of the opposite is in everything. And that can be a very sobering thought.
Take love and hate. Seems like a pretty strong duality, right? But no, they’re not opposites at all. The opposite of love is indifference, which is also the opposite of hate. So the seed of indifference is in both love and hate – but the seeds of love or hate are also in indifference. Hmm. That is a sobering thought.
Midsummer solstice is “opposite” Midwinter solstice on the wheel of the year. June 21 vs, December 21 (give or take 1-2 days). On Midwinter day, we celebrate the birth of the Sun, the Sky King, the bringer of light and life; however, Midwinter day also happens to be when the Lord of Misrule’s powers are at their height – but we don’t talk about that very much. Very often, right around Midwinter, all unholy hell breaks loose with the weather. On Midsummer day, we celebrate the zenith of the Sun God’s power; however, it’s also the day that the Lord of Misrule, the usurper, the murderin’ son-of-a-bitch, is born – and we don’t really talk about that much, either. Very often, right around Midsummer, all unholy hell breaks loose with the weather.
It’s a week before Midsummer here, and we have three days of dangerous heat advisories, and tornadoes, hail, and damaging winds are expected tomorrow as a cool front brings some slight relief, and next week looks worse.
I have a dear friend in Australia, who I keep asking if she wants to trade continents with me for the season, and she keeps saying no. Ah well. (You know I love you anyway, babe!)
Midsummer does bring heat and light and much needed growth. The gardens are going nutso, completely berserker around here. My spinach is bolting so fast I can’t keep up with it. Our tomato plants are starting to scare me – but we will have tomatoes until next May, I do believe. We need sunlight and heat and drenching rain for the food we live on to do its thing. And if it’s a little unfriendly for humans, well, we just need to shut the fuck up and adjust. Change up the schedule, be flexible and accommodating to those who can’t take the heat. Michael and I have walked early (sickeningly early) mornings this week, and then we tend to shut ourselves in the house. If I had an earth-sheltered home I’d feel better about that, but I’ll take what shelter there is at this time in the Capitalocene (google it if you aren’t familiar, it’s a trip). We come out again at night to do whatever else needs doing.
The Sun is focused on doing the job of feeding us, and is not here for our entertainment at this point. Or is he just throwing his weight around? Does absolute power corrupt absolutely?
Over a thirty year period, according to NOAA, heat has killed 134,000 people and cold has killed 30,000. Heat has killed more people worldwide than any other weather event, including tornadoes, flooding, cyclones, and hurricanes. Heat kills more people than cold by leaps and bounds.
Okay, weather is not people. We can only anthropomorphize so much before it all breaks down. Summer is cruel, but it’s also essential. Winter is also cruel, but for the places where winter happens, plant life has adapted in such a way that it has rendered winter absolutely essential. The fields must rest and recover, the land has to sleep so it can recharge for another growing season.
So what if we have it backward? What if the Shadow King, Lord of Misrule, usurper, murderin’ son-of-a-bitch, is actually … the good guy? What if the Summer King got too big for his britches and started clinging to power a little too hard, and the Shadow King and the Queen decided to … take him out? Put him down? Place him outside the story, where he could do no more harm? Well, that’s an interesting plot-twist.
But I think there might be a non-binary way. Believe it or not, there’s a much better model in, of all places, the Bible. Jesus and John the Baptist were born (okay, not really, but mythologically) on opposing solstices in the same year. John, the older of the two, was teacher, mentor, and High Priest to Jesus, the younger. They both had some pretty amazing supernatural powers. They adored each other madly, according to some. Maybe we can rewrite the stories of Garonwy and Llew to reflect balance and harmony in the duality instead of a binary kind of disharmony. Each is born on the opposite’s day of power; each contains the seeds of the other’s destruction. But love is an eternal energy, and when it is woven through the fabric of a tale, everything is transformed.
What the hell, let’s do this – they are in a polyamorous relationship with the ever-renewing Sovereignty, who loves them both truly and deeply – while one sleeps, the other rules, with her as their Queen. She is the Sovereign Spirit of the Land, and they are the Lord of Light and the Lord of Sleep. I like it more and more every minute, especially if the Lord of Sleep turns out to be genderqueer.
Something to ponder, for sure, on this day when the Light is King and the Shadow is born. May Midsummer be merciful to you and yours.