Happy Summer Solstice

Here's a great recipe for Shrimp & Crab Ceviche, perfect for a Midsummer treat.

Here’s what you need…

Cooking oil (we use peanut oil, but use whatever you have)

18 corn tortillas, or as many as you want.

1 1⁄2 lbs medium cooked shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped

3⁄4 lb lump crabmeat

1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

2 large tomatoes, chopped

1 -2 jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded and finely chopped

1 small red onion, finely chopped

Add salt to taste

2 avocados, peeled, seeded and cut into slices

2 limes, cut into wedges

DIRECTIONS

Pour oil into a heavy medium pot to a depth of 1” and heat over medium-high heat until temperature is hot enough.

Working in batches, fry tortillas until light golden brown, turning once, about 30 seconds.

Transfer the tostadas to a paper towel-lined plate to let drain and cool.

Put shrimp, crab, lemon juice, cilantro, cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, and salt to taste into a large bowl and stir to combine.

Spoon Ceviche evenly onto tostadas, garnish each with a slice of avocado and serve with lime wedges on the side.

You could even fry up tortilla chips and make appetizers.

Even it's just a small group or even by yourself, you can celebrate the Midsummer with a few fun things to do and eat. 

Taking a hike, tending the garden, reading a good book, watch movies, do something for someone else, cooking, or spend some time on personal spiritual growth. 

Research Pagan history and beliefs, do a Tarot card reading for yourself.

Whatever you decide, be good to yourself and enjoy the Midsummer energy and make the Shrimp & Crab Ceviche.

The Summer Solstice

 

The word “Solstice” comes from the Latin words, sol sistere – “sun stand still”. 

The sun does seem to stand still as it reaches it’s furthest point from the equator. 

Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, when warmth shines upon the land.

There was a time pagans didn’t celebrate “midsummer” as the first day of summer—after this longest day the daylight gets shorter! 

So our ancestors honored Summer Solstice as the beginning of the END of summer.

But regardless as the night of the Summer Solstice approaches, the pagan fires will burn brightly in honor of the sun. 

This is a time to strengthen the bonds between the participants as they offer thanks to Sol’s continued service to the earth and it’s creatures. 

As the summer solstice approaches, the days get longer and the urge to make the most of all that extra sunlight rises. 

In fact, even this month's full moon celebrations revolve around our daylight hours: Whether you perform a full moon ritual or simply hang out with friends on the patio, you're encouraged to spend the whole day of the Strong Sun Moon in nature, embracing the sun and its fiery energy.

Here's a great loaf cake, perfect for the celebration...

 

FLORAL ADVENTURES: LAVENDER LEMON LOAF CAKE

PREP TIME

20 mins

COOK TIME

45 mins

TOTAL TIME

1 hour 5 mins

Lavender Lemon Loaf Cake

Author: Spice In The City

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 8

INGREDIENTS

• 1 & ½ cups All-purpose Flour
• ¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ⅛ teaspoon Baking Soda
• ¼ teaspoon Salt
• ½ cup Butter, softened
• 1 cup Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• ¾ cup 2% Greek Yogurt
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
• 1 tablespoon dried Lavender

For the Drizzle:

• ¼ cup Icing Sugar
• Juice of ½ Lemon

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 160 C / 325 F. Grease one 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter. Gradually add the sugar and cream until light and fluffy, about 7 minutes.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing each until fully incorporated.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients, alternating with the Greek yogurt, to the creamed butter and sugar and mix just until incorporated.
6. Add the lemon juice, vanilla extract and lemon zest and beat on low just until blended.
7. Gently stir in the lavender.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake for about 45 minutes until the edges begin to brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
9. Cool in the loaf pans for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
10. For the drizzle, take the icing sugar in a bowl and add lemon juice little by little till a pouring consistency is reached. Drizzle over the cooled cake.

Ancient Summer Solstice

The Summer Solstice will be here before you know it…

ANCIENT EGYPTIANS

The summer solstice was especially important in Ancient Egypt because it announced the coming of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. 

Shortly after Sirius arrived each year, the Nile would overflow its banks and the flood season would begin, which the Egyptians relied on to nourish the land. 

They believed that Sirius was responsible for the flooding and set their calendar based on the star’s arrival in the night sky. 

As soon as the priests saw Sirius they declared that the New Year had begun.

Perhaps the oldest celebration of the solstice can be found in Ancient Egypt. 

The ancient Egyptians designed their most important monuments to align with the solstice.

The great Sphinx on the summer solstice, the sun sets exactly between two of the Great Pyramids. 

Ancient Egyptians also built a temple to Osiris that is illuminated by the setting sun on the solstice shines between two nearby hills.

Saturday, June 21st, is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and for many that means barbecues, pool parties, camping trips and vacations at the beach.

But for many of us, the solstice is a much more spiritual day and ancient traditions of honoring the sun.

For ancient civilizations this day had important significance. 

It was a day critical to an agrarian calendar where crops and seasonal cycles had to be cared for, and a day that was held as a spiritual celebration of light over dark, and therefore, life over death.

ANCIENT CHINESE

In ancient China, the summer solstice was celebrated with a festival that honored the Earth, femininity and yin. This festival corresponded to the one held on the winter solstice that celebrated the yang.

The concept of yin-yang, still foundational to modern Chinese thought, derives from the belief that opposition forces (e.g., hot/cold, light/dark) are actually complementary and interconnected in all aspects of life. 

Interestingly, it is the yang that was believed to reach the height of its influence on the summer solstice and so the festival actually celebrated the coming influence of the yin, which would gain power and influence until it reached its height on the winter solstice. 

Honoring the balance between these two forces was and continues to be extremely important in the Chinese culture because if they are out of sync and an imbalance occurs, it will bring catastrophes such as “floods, droughts and plagues.”

ANCIENT EUROPEANS

The ancient Slavic, Celtic, Germanic peoples as well as the Vikings celebrated the Midsummer festival during the summer solstice. There was feasting and great bonfires. 

The Vikings conducted much of their trade and legal transactions around the solstice because it was believed to be a time of great power. 

In ancient Gaul the celebration was called the Feast of Epona and honored a mare goddess who protected horses. The Celtic Druids celebrated a Midsummer festival at the June solstice. 

There are suggestions that the rituals took place at Stonehenge. 

Built around 3100 BCE, some people believe it was designed to establish exactly when the summer solstice would occur. 

Whether or not this is the true purpose of Stonehenge, many modern Druids continue to gather at Stonehenge to celebrate the first day of summer. 

ANCIENT GREEKS

The summer solstice occurred exactly one month before the opening of the original Olympic Games. In addition, many festivals took place on and around the day of the solstice including Prometheia, which celebrated the Titan Prometheus, and Kronia, honoring the agricultural god Cronus. 

Although the Greek calendar varied depending on the region and time period, for many versions the summer solstice was also the first day of the New Year.

NATIVE AMERICANS

Native American tribes celebrated the June solstice with great feasts and dances to honor the sun. 

One of the most well-documented and elaborate is that of the Sioux, a celebration that continues to this day. 

It is called the Wi wanyang wacipi, which translates to “sun gazing dance” and centers around a sacred cottonwood tree erected in the middle of a ritual circle. 

The tree is “a visible connection between the heavens and Earth.” Teepees would encircle the tree to represent the cosmos.  

Participants fasted during the dance, their bodies decorated in the symbolic colors of red (sunset), blue (sky), yellow (lightning), white (light), and black (night).”

Regardless of your heritage or where you are when the summer solstice arrives, there are plenty of ways to honor the day. 

No matter what you do, you’ll be taking part in an ancient tradition.

Happy Summer Solstice

The Summer Solstice June 21

Summer Solstice, a time when the Sun God is at the height of power, "Hail Lugh", a bitter sweet time when the Sun God celebrates his maturity with the Goddess. But as life constantly changes the Sun God is aware of his coming sacrifice, he accepts the inevitable.

The Goddess never dies but changes, she presides over life, death and rebirth, the God however does die he shows us with maturity and sacrifice. 

This is also shown in the epic battle of the Oak king and Holly King, The Oak King gives way to the Holly King until Mid Winter. This shows us the never ending progression of the seasons, moving now towards the darkening, then slowly up again to the light.

Midsummer another Fire festival, but also involves water, representing the Goddess she who blesses us with the waters of life and magic. Fire ever blazing and if not checked by water can blaze out of control, how wonderful is our wheel of the year, ever changing, ever magic. ever balancing.

Happy Summer Solstice

From all of us; this week it's the Summer Solstice, enjoy.

Happy Solstice

 

 

June 20th - Summer Solstice and Full Moon

This year the Summer Solstice and Full Moon is something we haven’t seen in 70 years.

It's a once in a lifetime event, and the North American summer solstice happens is June 20, 2016 at 6:34 PM EDT. That’s the very moment when the sun stands still at its northernmost point as seen from Earth. It waits at the Tropic of Cancer before changing directions and goes south again. 

The summer solstice will be full of pagan celebrations, but add the Full Moon and it will be an amazing rare event.

As expected, many self proclaimed prophets are predicting the sky will be falling.

While there are those that believe the false prophecies and apocalyptic fears based on Astrology and or religion, we just want you to enjoy this exceptional event.

Summer Solstice will be happening with the Full Moon

The Full moon and Summer Solstice at the same time happens about once in a lifetime, and 2016 is one of those years!

This is a time when nature offers us wonderful events.

We witnessed  a beautiful show from Mars, on the night of May 31, and now the moon, the sacred feminine, will become full the Night of the Summer Solstice, as we celebrate the power of the sun. 

The moon of June is wide ranging, unreserved to change, It invites us to move, to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible, to enjoy life.

In harmony with nature, it's a time of change that goes hand in hand with the change of season, a time of change in nature, also within us. 

The Summer Solstice and the Full Moon together, happening at the same time is a fervent relationship between the male and female energies.

The energies are at it's pinnacle magically, the implications of this are quite big.

Summer Solstice, after all, is like the sun’s version of a full moon: the height of its annual cycle. So both solar and lunar energy will be at their greatest intensity, and there will be a lot of magic to work with, particularly related to your personal empowerment, change and happiness.

Not only is it the highest peak but also the beginning of the Suns decline, a great opportunity to release anything that no longer serves us or that has been holding us back.

Solstice, is the time to examine beliefs and habits that are no longer working for you.

As you observe the awesome power of the sun this Solstice, and the powerful energy of the Full Moon, choose to free your spirit of anything oppressive.

Summer Solstice Party

Every year we have more of a party and less of a ritual for the Summer Solstice.

The Pagan Kitchen will gather its members together and have fun on the longest day of the year.

We'll have a lot of water balloons, games and food.

We'll have a roaring fire and stay up late with our bonfire and light sparklers when it gets dark.

We love to cook and this time around our menu will be:

Shrimp & Crab Ceviche

Smoked Brisket 

BBQ Chicken Skewers with Mango Chutney 

Cuban Black Beans

Smoked Mushrooms & Artichoke Hearts

Cheesy Garlic Bread 

Baked Potato Salad 

Fresh Fruit Salad 

Fresh Watermelon 

Here's the recipe for the Shrimp & Crab Ceviche

Cooking oil (we use Peanut oil)

18 corn tortillas

1 1⁄2 lbs medium cooked shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped

3⁄4 lb lump crabmeat

1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

2 large tomatoes, chopped

1 -2 jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded and finely chopped

1 small red onion, finely chopped

Add salt to taste

2 avocados, peeled, seeded and cut into slices

2 limes, cut into wedges

DIRECTIONS

Pour oil into a heavy medium pot to a depth of 1” and heat over medium-high heat until temperature is hot enough.

Working in batches, fry tortillas until light golden brown, turning once, about 30 seconds.

Transfer the tostadas to a paper towel-lined plate to let drain and cool.

Put shrimp, crab, lemon juice, cilantro, cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, and salt to taste into a large bowl and stir to combine.

Spoon Ceviche evenly onto tostadas, garnish each with a slice of avocado and serve with lime wedges on the side.

Even it's just a small group or even by yourself, you can celebrate the Midsummer with a few fun things to do and eat. 

Taking a hike, tending the garden, reading a good book, watch movies, do something for someone else, cooking, or spend some time on personal spiritual growth. Research Pagan history and beliefs, do a Tarot card reading for yourself.

Whatever you decide, be good to yourself and enjoy the Midsummer energy.

Summer Solstice Flower Crown

Photos from Honestly WTF

If you want to celebrate the Summer Solstice with natures beauty, there's no better way than a "do it yourself" floral crown, here's how: 

What you need:

A variety of fresh flowers, trimmed them down to 3-inch stems

2 pieces of 16-gauge floral cloth wire

Green floral tape

Floral sheers would be great, but you can use good scissors.

Now bend the two pieces of floral wire together and make a circle that will fit the intended head.

Then use tape to wrap the overlapping sections to create a base for the crown. 

Design 15 small clusters of 4-5 flowers and wrap the stems together tight with floral tape. 

Position flower clusters to the wire base  and wrap tape around the stems so they hold on.

Continue layering each cluster around the wire base until it’s filled.

That's it.