Author: Christina Aubin [a WitchVox Sponsor]
Posted: June 23rd. 2001
Times Viewed: 111,351
“Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.” — Maori proverb
Summer Solstice falls at the precise moment when the Sun’s power is at its zenith. It is the time of year when the noon sun appears to be farthest north from the celestial equator. “Solstice” is Latin for “sun stands still” (sol “sun” and sistere “to stand”). Summer Solstice is so named because to the naked eye the sun appears stationary in its northern and southern progression. The sun is directly over the tropic of Cancer at the summer solstice, at which time the sun is 23¡27′ north. The sun travels 23.5 degrees to reach its maximum distance from the celestial equator during both the summer and winter solstice.
It is the longest day and shortest night of the year. From the moment of Summer Solstice, the Sun immediately begins to wane. The journey into the harvest season has begun.
Midsummer has been one of the important solar events throughout the evolution of humankind. It was an indicator that the year was about to begin waning, thus winter would be again returning. Although not all the ancients were as precise in the calculations from an astronomical point, you can be sure that they were keenly aware of the sun’s progression, and did most assuredly know when Solstice was upon them, as the sun appeared to stand still in its northern progression.
The axis of Stonehenge, which aligns with the monument’s entrance, is oriented in the direction of the midsummer sunrise…
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