JUNE  TO  SOLSTICE

The energy is building up as it reaches out towards the Solstice point.

23 N                          23^rd degree NORTH

ANNUAL SOLAR DAYS:1^st - 10^th June & 3^rd - 12^th July

 Equivalent to 10º 17' Gemini- 19º 03' Gemini & 10º 57' Cancer - 19º 43' Cancer

SHAMANIC SYMBOL

There is a great storm.  The crocodile's mouth is open wide, his jaws waiting.

The elephant stamps his giant feet, crushing all before him.  Now is the time.

The oceans swirl and the crocodile swallows the world.

The weight flips him over so we can only see his underbelly; inside it is black,

there is no light.  Holes are made in the crocodile's belly so light can come

through like stars.

It is a time of waiting, a time of blackness, silence.

There is birdsong, light creeps in, the crocodile gives birth to the world as

a round egg.  It is transparent and we are waiting for it to hatch.

KEYWORDS:   Trust   Breakthrough   Limitlessness

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            INTERPRETATION

Look at issues of self -trust. Are you listening to the roaring around you and not hearing the more subtle sounds within? Trust in your inner voice. Self-doubt creates blockages Through trust you may journey to the place of limitless light. Find the specks of light breaking through the darkness. Watch them grow. Then step into the unknown.  You are in the midst of a clearing of old patterns, memories and expectations. If you feel that your life is not working as it used to, remember that this is the storm that cleanses everything.  Nothing will remain, except for the truth of whom you are and what you are about to give birth to.  Only your true self can survive this storm. This however is not a breakdown, but a breakthrough. You can move through the seemingly impenetrable, as you enter new dimensions. Life holds limitless possibilities

SUMMER SOLSTICE

The peak of the Sun’s summer journey is to reach the lofty mountain top while the peak of its winter journey is to enter an underwater egg.

These ‘peaks’ of the Sun are its solstices, standing at approximately 21st June and 20th December each year. They are the Sun’s highest degrees of Declination North and South (24th degrees) and are represented by the Jacks of Diamonds and Clubs in our system.

The shamanic imagery obtained for these two solstice degrees differs in both cases in that one is very short (just one sentence) and the other is very long (several paragraphs).

The summer solstice, the Jack of Diamonds, is full of noise and action and movement. There are gateways and doorways and a definite sense of having reached a goal after much effort and conscious realisations. Unlike the floating self-less midwinter symbol, here all the physical senses are sharply experienced and the ultimate realisation is that we have reached the Source of the Sun (“the light sears through us”) and that it will always be there at the place where the elements meet. It is more of a joyful initiation or baptism by fire as we “become one with the Source”. This is without doubt one of the most powerfully felt shamanic images of the entire range and rightly so as this describes the Sun at its midsummer height, the Earth’s power source at its golden zenith.

Although the moment of solstice is the absolute peak, the Sun resides in this degree (24th North) for a period of approximately 23 days from 10th June to 3rd July annually. This is the longest stay that it makes in one place and, just as in the winter solstice, it is an unbroken run - the only degree symbol in the half-year that is not met twice on the journey.

In a general sense all North Declination degrees, all Hearts and Diamonds, are ‘Eagle’ degrees. Each step in the Sun’s summer journey is taken with a more outgoing dynamic-with obvious effects on its immediate surroundings and the people encountered. Even though some of its images are quieter or describe brief periods of waiting, it is all part of the Sun’s active phase. By comparison the South Declination degrees, the Spades and Clubs, are the ‘Fish’ degrees. They describe incoming movements in the more passive journey of the winter sun that will experience its effects inwardly. Although some of these have active images they are still experienced as growth through allowing and accepting rather than forcing.

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SOLSTICE DEGREE

24 N                                24^th degree North

ANNUAL SOLAR DAYS: 10^th - 21^st June & 21^st June - 3^rd July.    23 days continuous

Equivalent to 19º 04' Gemini - 29º 59' Gemini & 0º 00' Cancer - 10º 56' Cancer

There is a gateway full of strange patterns;

a black giant bird guarding it, although it too is part of the gateway.

Saying the mantra, the gateway opens for me to enter and join a thronging mass,

 A procession moving forward, all chanting. 

I join them, yet my physical body is left behind.

A priest ahead carries an emblem the same as the door.

We chant, the sound becoming one note of exquisite beauty, lifting all upwards,

A vibration joining all of us as one. 

The procession from afar looks like a black empty space.  Ahead is an arched doorway, yet it is made of nothing, just hovering light.

We are allowed through into this most sacred of sacred places.

Here is a maze working beneath the earth. 

There is the sound of dripping water; the scent of earth is in my nostrils,

I can taste it in my mouth.  A deep rich mineral taste, a taste of energy. 

My body and face become numbed, my tongue unable to move and chant,

yet the humming goes on, echoing beneath and above us. 

The maze is the pattern on the doorway and we follow it deeper and deeper. 

At the end a doorway vanishes and we are inside facing blazing light. 

We throw ourselves on the floor covering our eyes. 

The light is searing through us.  You can hear its sound as it cleanses and purifies.  We are in the presence of the Sun God.

I realise that the Sun is below the earth, beneath our consciousness; this is a place where the elements meet and become one.

All air is drawn into one vessel, which spirals around. 

The dripping water becomes one stream; the earth begins to crumble as the fire sears through all.

It is a holy, joyful moment. 

The body releases all in offering to the god. 

The bodies become dry and chalklike, crumbling, releasing,

finding a freedom as they become one with the Source.

KEYWORDS:  Simplicity   Healing   Transformation

Interpretation

You are challenged to work with your thought forms and see in which way they limit you. The release from this rigidity of thought will come about through simplicity of expression. You will hear banging on the fortress door that you have shut behind you. Is this to keep the old belief systems in or the new belief systems out?  Soon the banging will become unbearable and you will be compelled to push open that door. The light will astound you as it floods within. You will wonder why you have locked it out for so long. That which seemed complicated and impossible will become amazing in its simplicity. As each of us lets in the light there will be a transformation of global consciousness. As you connect with and release your personal experience of pain, limitation, despair and denial you bring healing on a much larger scale than the personal.

Everything you believe in will be turned on its head. You will see that all your beliefs have been a shadow, and in your despair you have forgotten that the shadow cannot exist without light. As you heal yourself you bring healing to a larger reality.

Note: This is the highest degree of declination North, incorporating the Summer Solstice.  The Queen and King of Diamonds are "Out-of-bounds" degrees and found at the end of the lists.