Summer Solstice Celebration

On the 19th of June, I celebrate a remembrance of the Beginning of the Time of Great Change. On this day, as foretold by ancient Hopi legend, the stars in the sky formed specific symbols that signified a release from the old and an opening to the possibilities of the new.

On this day, in 1973, I sat with my Teacher, Swami Ramananda, listening as he would predict the next symbol that the stars would form, and watching in astonishment as the stars proceeded to create that very form. As he shared with me the legends about what all this meant, I was filled with uncertainty and delight. That day started a journey that is continuing through today.

Swami Ramananda passed away on June 30, 2004.

This year, on the 19th, I set up a shrine room in my house. My tradition is to wait 24 hours after setting up a shrine before performing a ceremony. Yet, I wished to touch that uncertainty and delight from so long ago. I sat by the newly placed altar, reading Chapter 5 of The Gospel of the Stone. The room seemed filled with others, I almost glimpsed them as I looked around. Using Ramananda’s writing as my springboard, recalling the events in their unfolding. I chuckled, hearing once more the ‘Ranger Talk’, remarking to my friends in laughter about how many times the National Forest Ranger had said to ‘look to the Watchman Mountain’.

Foolish child that I was, Ramananda was secretly smiling to himself – the Hopi legend had told him to ‘look to the Watchman’. As we returned to our campsite, without pause we sat looking at the Watchman Mountain. Later Ramananda would predict the forms that the stars would make above its peak, and share the meaning with me.

This night, I wept as I read his words of how the legend had foretold one would sit beside him as this event unfolded – knowing it was I.

After finishing the chapter, I sat in quiet for a while – Feeling and Listening – wondering what might be in store. A strength from an unknown depth within, arose and became the surface of my being. A gentle impression came forth: “The time is right, completion is at hand; your yearning to walk the Path of the Ancients is before you – Walk.”

In Joy I arise, In Joy I am sustained, Into Joy I journey.