On June 21, the sun reached its highest point in the sky for locations north of the equator. This day, the Solstice, officially marks the beginning of Summer and the longest day of the year.

The Four Shields teachings of the Medicine Wheel begin in the East with the rising sun, and the East “Shield” is associated with new beginnings, the morning time of the day, and Springtime of the year. As the cycle progresses, the sun gets higher in the sky and moves to the south, the South shield expressive of noontime of the day and summer in the yearly cycle.

Summer represents a time of rapid growth and expansion, a time when physical sensual life is at its peak, when the fertility and productivity of the earth is at its greatest – imagine a lush, prolific realm like a tropical rainforest — creative, chaotic, and rife with passion. This gift – an almost erotic relationship with life itself – is the antithesis of living in our heads.

The lessons of the South Shield, if learned well, show up in being able to fully inhabit our bodies and experience things directly and viscerally… to take pleasure in exploring the world in tactile, sensual ways …  in the desire to engage life fully… to participate in life’s adventures and experience its miraculous and messy beauty.

A deep passion and motivation for living is impossible without a love of physical, sensual reality, and to celebrate this and the energy of summer I wrote the following love letter to summer … to the sun … and to the Earth we live on.

The Drawing of the Veil

Majestic clouds play across a deep blue sky. Onward they come, one after another, west to east, splitting, spinning, and joining together in a slow and stately dance attuned to the chords of imperceptible instruments. Gold and silver Shimmer on the wind-stirred water, its skin alive with sequins that appear and disappear as sunlight swirls with shadow. The forest sways in a pandemonium of green, its infinite arms moving like sea grass, touching itself in a sensuous, lazy caress. The flowers of summer open expectantly, their petals delicate, swollen, and perfumed for a soon-arriving lover. The soil is warm, moist, and musky, a rich stew of aromas saturating the atmosphere and tantalizing the snouts of all who live close to the ground.

The dark, billowing clouds split apart, and shafts of blue-white brilliance slice diagonally downward like shimmering curtains. My eyes are drawn upward in drunken stupor, my spirit ready to fly heavenward, throwing its wings and all caution to the wind.

Thank you Father Sun, great fire and shining star that pours down upon this earth, and spreads seeds of life everywhere. You burn inside me. Coals fanned to flame rage in the campfire of my chest. Open me fully; send your thunderbolt straight to my heart! Lift me skyward like Christ, like the Phoenix, or a fish in the sharp talons of some great eagle.I am flesh-formed and finite, watery, weighted, and grounded by gravity. I am body and beast – a serpent, bear, ox, gopher, swine, mouse. I am fascinated with food, seduced by sex and security, in pursuit of pettiness and power. Crack open my shell; strip away my armor; penetrate me with your fierce and tender gaze! Burn away the pages of the old texts, the stories of sin, shame, separation, and guilt, those pronouncements of parents, priests, churches, and catechisms that command us to play timid, tame, terrified, and small.

Shine on me in your brilliance! Show me your power and let me know mine. I am wild, wanton, a beast in my beauty, a predator as much as I pray. I am a warrior and a hunter, hungry for your love. I am son of the mountains, wanderer, an heir to the ancestors, a creature of the cauldron, a fluid apparition forged of molten earth. I am a carrier of the fireball, the first flame; a disciple of ancient gods and forgotten knowledge. I am shaman, seer, and storyteller; harlot, heretic, a human sacrifice, a scout sent forth from other worlds.Seasons change; the frenzied pace of summer will soon slacken. Fertilizing becomes fall’s fruiting and harvest. Appetites decrease; the sap is drawn downward; things are put away for winter. The sun settles; the waters calm, the clouds evaporate into a featureless sky. Evening slowly turns introspective; the lake becomes still and reflective.

The golden disc turns orange and falls toward the water, reaching out toward a lake-liquid twin. Before long its brilliant and dying light is but be a fading memory to be recollected or revived in the night’s communal campfires.

The eagle drifting to the doorway of heaven heads homeward to its nest. The shadows of darkness approach; the skin grows goose bumps. The body shivers, calling the spirit from beyond the borders back into ourselves. Cold creeps closer; clothes and comfort become more critical concerns; thoughts of sleeping bags, sustenance, and shelter bring us down to earth.

A spider spins new strands of silk and repairs her web. Everyone thinks of dinner.

~ June 30, 2026