It is Summer Solstice season and I thought I’d share my adaptation of a favorite recipe that helps infuse your intentions with solar power. The sun embodies the best qualities of the Divine Male: think strength, protection, leadership, and focus. During solstice, a time of balance, we can use this energy to bring clarity to areas of our life that need more balance and/or discipline. The warming spices and bright citrus notes in this tea evoke the best of what the sun offers.
Make your own sunshine
Gather together:
- 1 ginger turmeric teabag
- 1 chamomile teabag
- 1 heaping teaspoon dried chrysanthemum flowers
- A round slice of both a lemon and an orange. Picture the sun in a child’s drawing!
- About 4 cups of filtered or spring water (a bit more or less works just as well)
- Glass jar, bowl, or pitcher large enough to hold all the above.
As you add all the ingredients to the container reflect on the gifts and characteristics of the sun – strength, protection, leadership and focus. Set an intention. Use the solstice energy to bring clarity, especially as it relates to balance in any area of your life. Allow light to expose emotional wounds it is time to heal.
Cover – I love to use my sparkly cut glass pitcher so I cover it with a bit of plastic wrap. Set outside in the full sun to steep for several hours. A sunny windowsill will work, too, but leave it to sit longer to brew. If you wish, a favorite stone or crystal placed alongside the tea as it infuses amplifies the energy.
Once the ingredients have had a chance to bloom, strain out the fruit and flowers and place the infusion in the refrigerator. It will keep for a day or two. This is not meant to be a strongly flavored drink – more like a subtle, refreshing solar-charged water.
Enjoy
Simply enjoy sipping your tea throughout the day with a sense of gratitude for all the sun’s benefits, or, drink a glass of tea in a more mindful practice as you meditate and/or journal on the following questions:
- What area of my life needs more clarity?
- What fear does the light expose?
- What would courage have me do?
- How is my leadership needed right now for the highest good of all?
Leave a comment and let me know what the Summer Solstice revealed for you. Want more support on your journey? Schedule a Reiki or Empowerment Coaching session with me.
Black Lives Matter and me
In the spirit of spreading light, I want to let you know I support Black Lives Matter. Here are some recent steps I have taken to educate myself and support, where I can, a compassionate and empowered change in my country – the USA. I acknowledge that I have had the advantage in my life of White privilege and I must be mindful of what that cost others. When racial inequality and prejudice reared and tore through the fiber community last year, I learned. I learned to listen openly without becoming defensive. I became aware of how diminishing it is to anyone who shares their experience to respond to them with the word “but.” I am still learning. May we all be empowered to speak our hurts AND listen with compassion. May we all be witness to and recipients of healing grace.
I have donated to the NFC Momentum Fund, a donor-advised charitable fund at the Baltimore Community Foundation . The NFC Momentum Fund will be able to receive tax-deductible donations that will be dispersed to a variety of organizations working for justice, empowerment, and equality. I have taken classes from Karida (she dyes the most exquisite yarn colors!) and I know she has used her fiber business to positively impact her community and empower young people in Baltimore.
My reading and homework include, Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla Saad.
And lastly, but not finally, I recently attended an on-line discussion with several young women of color who wished to share their experiences with race. Each provided those of us in the audience with suggestions for action steps and asked us to share these ideas with our friends and family. One request, from Somalia Brown, struck me in a particular way. Somalia spoke of her fear for her young son. She shared that she now sends prayers to every Black man she sees, praying that he be showered with light and protection. Somalia asked any who believe to send prayer. So, I ask you, if you believe, send prayers, send light, send love. The world needs it.
Blessings,
