Connecting on the Solstice

On this, the longest day of the year for us northern hemisphere dwellers, I sit in my living room looking out the window at a cloudy, rainy day.  This image does not immediately beckon the ideas I like to associate with this day - our summer solstice - but it does connect me to Earth in a similar way.  Rain, just like the sun, nourishes the planet and is required for our most basic survival.  Given this perspective, I asked the Runes what they would like to share with me about this day.  What they presented relates to the way we look at things.

Berkana coming first was very interesting to me.  It is the birch Rune, associated with beginnings, creativity, and birth.  Perhaps this ties into new perspectives, looking at things in new ways.  Just as I am getting a new perspective on the solstice, experiencing things that we know from a new or different view point can change or enhance the way that we understand them.  This can pertain to how we view and acknowledge this day to anything and everything else in our lives.  Simply put, this may be the perfect opportunity for us to gain some fresh perspectives on which we can build and doing it without expectation.  Instead of expecting something to be a certain way, use an. "I wonder," approach to see it differently.

Having Hagalaz, the hail Rune, follow Berkana reinforces this line of thought for me.  Hail contains a process that I have mentioned before.  Destruction or upheaval is the first part; when hail strikes, it can damage even destroy crops and property if it hits hard enough.  A new perspective on something can create problems as well, depending on how dramatic the shift in perception is.  In a way, we are reminded that change is uncomfortable, but with time, we adapt, adjust, and ideally embrace what we have come to understand based on our new perception.  I might even go so far as to call this personal growth.  Notice that I didn't say that we agree with it.  The focus is more on creating a more holistic understanding of things than blind acceptance of them.

Two years ago when I posted Runes for the Solstice, Mannaz immediately followed Berkana. Drawing Mannaz here, though it makes similar sense intuitively as it did back then, is more challenging to explain.  What this gets to is the hope that, once we finish the process of Hagalaz, that we will reap the benefits of this new perspective and that the realization will have an overall positive influence on us as individuals, but also as we participate in the larger human experience.

Whether acknowledging and celebrating the solstice today or likening this insight into another aspect of our lives, we can carry this idea or ideal with us and see if we can find that new perspective, build on it in a positive way, and and keep that positive energy moving forward.