The Clearing News

The Faerie Realm by jackie

Summer Solstice “Midsummer” Community Celebration! ( The Day After)

We’d like to thank everyone that came and really made the party. We also hope that those that wanted to come will be able to make it to our next event. While we aren’t certain what or when the next event will be yet I did have the pleasure of talking with Ed, the head of the “Sparrow New Age Congregation” here in Shawnee, and he expressed interest in events centering around the Neo-Pagan holiday calendar. For those unfamiliar with the Neo-Pagan calendar the following is an excerpt from the encyclopedia:

“The Wheel of the Year is a Wiccan and Neopagan term for the annual cycle of the Earth’s seasons. It consists of eight festivals, spaced at approximately even intervals throughout the year. These festivals are referred to by Wiccans as Sabbats. These festivals have historical origins in Celtic and Germanic pre-Christian feasts, and the Wheel of the Year, as has developed in modern Neopaganism and Modern Wicca, is really a combination of the two cultures solstice and equinox celebrations. When melded together, two somewhat unrelated European Festival Cycles merge to form eight festivals in modern renderings.” – wikipedia

These festivals were generally the times the farmers would celebrate the completion of the planting or harvesting. Seeing as these times of the year were times of community and togetherness it would be an appropriate use of these dates for our community gatherings. If we were to go by the Neo-Pagan calendar our next event would be scheduled somewhere between August 1st and 10th.

I would like to know your thoughts on the issue. Would you like to see more community events planned? If so, do you have a preference of when? All opinions and suggestions are welcome.

Summer Solstice “Midsummer” Community Celebration!

Saturday, June 20th
8:00pm
Everyone Welcome!!!
Potluck: Bring something to share!

A solstice is an astronomical event that occurs twice each year, when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is most inclined toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun’s apparent position in the sky to reach its northernmost or southernmost extreme. The name is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstices, the Sun stands still in declination; that is, the apparent movement of the Sun’s path north or south comes to a stop before reversing direction.

The term solstice can also be used in a wider sense, as the date (day) when this occurs. The solstices, together with the equinoxes, are connected with the seasons. In some cultures they are considered to start or separate the seasons while in others they fall in the middle. The English expressions “midwinter” (winter solstice) and “midsummer” (summer solstice) may derive from a tradition according to which there were only two seasons: winter and summer. – Wikipedia.org