Seasonal feasts are offerings to the transition times of Earth. Those who are connected to the Earth know and flow with the changes. Summer solstice, from this perspective, marks the transition into the fire phase of Earths life cycle. In Chinese Medicine summer and fire are related to the heart organ. The transition into Earth’s and our heart phase awakens emotions from passion to anger.
Ways to offer
To regulate the Earths and our emotions, offerings are made. For the Mexicas, during a 20-day period in summer, offerings were made to the water gods, Tlaloc and Chalchiuhtlicue–the jade skirt Goddess representing the descending rivers of a mountain. Personally, I love Earth offerings. You can offer food plates to the forest or you can offer practices, meditations, or songs to the places or rivers that you frequent for peace.
During summer, it is also a good time to make offering to yourself as a vessel. It is an optimal time, as the body is open and dilated due to the weather. Summer is also a time when self-care, training and intentions can be advanced. As harvests bloom, the heart too should bloom and expand.
Keep balanced
Knowing that equanimity is the key to self mastery, it is important to listen to our body and to flow with the season as far as foods and types of training we need to remain grounded and open.
It is key to maintain a daily practice that can reset the body and clear the spirit. These practices are seldom but exist. The one I train in is Baguazhang Circle Walking, a Daoist and Buddhist internal martial art from China.
It is an art of combat that aligns you during the number one battle of all times: the battle within ourselves. A daily change of consciousness through proper movement and diet is like a re-coding of our being. How can freedom exist within a concrete structure or society? Find the path into your own vortex this summer solstice.
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