On this summer Solstice, under a perfectly cloudless sky, on the perfect summer evening, a soft breeze carries the aroma of wild roses, rambling vines with huge, fragrant pink blooms, who's petals will litter the ground the day after they reach full bloom, we in the northern hemisphere begin our decent back into winter. Even as the temperatures rise, and amid all of the trapping of summer, the days are growing shorter, though it will be awhile that is apparent. Beyond the circle of light and warmth from our bonfire there are fireflies signaling for their mate, singing their courtship with a twinkling, continuing circle of life.
In the southern hemisphere it is the winter Solstice, as their days slowly lengthen, during their winter. The Circle that is the Wheel of the Year and the circle of life, some light in the dark and cold and some darkness in the warmth and light.
Well beyond the circles of light cast by our bonfire, under the waxing gibbous moon my mind wanders and wonders back to ancient circles. Though the trees can be fooled into leafing out early, and the birds might migrate late because of the weather, somewhere back in time someone or more likely many someones realise that the sun and moon were constants. But I ask myself how did they reckon the solstices? I think perhaps they used the moon to at least begin their calculations. that may just be my romantic notion, but then may-be not. Just a part of the circle and the cycles, the heartbeat of earth and sky.
