Healthy Summer Recipes For the Perfect Solstice Celebration

The last day of school used to mark (second to my birthday, of course) my favorite day of the year. It always fell on a humid mid-June afternoon. On this day, with the shrill ring of the final dismissal bell, my daily regime of studies would dissolve like a Popsicle on hot pavement. The expanse of summer vacation stretched itself out in front of me. She beckoned to me with promises of suntans, starry nights, bare feet, lazy mornings, and, if I was lucky, summer loves.

As an adult, estranged from the rhythms of a school calendar, responsibilities last year-round. Now my own five senses, rather than a school bell, cue me to retire the winter boots and break out the flip-flops. While summer still arrives and departs at the same times each year, I don't have the ample spaciousness to participate in Nature's celebration as I did when I was younger. This is a shame; for the arrival of adulthood should not equate the end of fun. Only in summer does Nature herself play and enjoy her bounty after a year of honest work. In the blooming wildflowers, flowing streams, late sunsets, and buzzing insects, nature celebrates. And, even as adults, so should we.

Summer officially arrives each year on June 22 with the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. In cultures and countries around the world, traditions abound for honoring this season. The ancient Chinese celebrated the earth, the feminine, and the yin forces at summer's arrival. Ancient Pagans honored Midsummer with bonfires; Swedes decorated a Midsummer tree for villagers to dance around in a magical ritual intended to bring rain for the crops. Caribbean pirates believed a ship could sail off the world and into the sun on that day each year; and Native Americans have created countless stone structures linked to equinoxes and solstices, the most famous being Wyoming's Bighorn Medicine Wheel.

We can appreciate summer's abundance as our ancestors did. To ensure that you take time to enjoy summer's delicacies, schedule it as you do other things in your life. Enjoy walks in the morning air, yoga outdoors, lunches in the park, moments to watch the sun rise or set, bike rides through the country, candle-lit dinners on the deck, or an afternoon spent swimming and sunning at the beach or pool. Even indulging in snapshots of summer can do it: sip a fresh juice from the juice bar, sunbathe on the roof during your lunch break or wear a bright flower in your hair to work.

If you are finding it difficult to orchestrate a celebration on your own, follow the ensuing prescription for the perfect summer picnic:

Make a date with yourself to meander through your local farmer's market to gather fresh ingredients on the day before the picnic or that morning, if you can.

Invite some friends or a special someone to the park, patio, beach, rooftop, or a nearby meadow for a meal in the open-air. Lay out a favorite piece of cloth or blanket and fill it with the colorful display of your freshly prepared meal. Pick fresh flowers flowers and/or herbs or collect some from the market as your centerpiece. Listen to the sounds around you. Celebrate summer's fresh flavors, abundant sunshine and warm air. Take off your shoes, take your time and enjoy!

Chilled Carrot Soup with Garden Herbs

Steamed Green Beans with Tahini-Lemon Sauce

Quinoa Tabouli

Berry and Pear Delight

Sparkling Water with fresh lemon wedges

Chilled Carrot Soup with Garden Herbs

This lovely summer soup has a rich, smooth texture even though it contains no cream. For a picnic, bring the cold soup in a thermos and the chives in a plastic bag, and then serve in sturdy ceramic bowls.

6 tablespoons olive oil

5 large carrots, thinly sliced

2 1/2 cups thinly sliced onions

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon sucanat

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

4 cups vegetable broth

1/4 cup orange juice

Chopped fresh chives

Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add carrots and onions and sauté 4 minutes. Add thyme, sucanat and nutmeg; sauté until vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes. Add broth. Cover pot; simmer until carrots are very soft, about 25 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to a food processor. Add 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Puree vegetables until smooth. Return puree to pot. Stir in orange juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.) Sprinkle with chives.

Serves 6.

Steamed Green Beans with Tahini-Lemon Sauce

2 cups green beans

Steam green beans until they are bright green and still slightly firm. Serve drizzled with Tahini-Lemon Sauce.

Tahini-Lemon Sauce

¼-1/2 cup tahini

½ cup water or vegetable broth

1 clove garlic, crushed (optional)

½ cup lemon juice

Sea salt or soy sauce to taste

Combine all ingredients and beat well with a whisk or in a blender. It becomes thicker when whipped more. Yields 3-4 cups.

Quinoa Tabouli

2 cups quinoa, rinsed well and soaked

4 cups water

Two pinches of sea salt

1 cup peas

2 tomatoes, diced

2 cucumbers, diced

10 black olives cut in rings (optional)

Chives, minced

Parsley, minced

1 teaspoon each thyme and marjoram

6 tablespoons lemon juice

Soy sauce to taste

Combine quinoa, water, and salt in a pot, cover, bring to boil and simmer 20 minutes. Steam peas for one minute and place them in a ceramic bowl and mix with rest of ingredients. Add quinoa and gently toss all the ingredients together. Garnish with parsley sprigs. Serves 6.

Berry and Pear Delight

1 pint fresh strawberries, blueberries, and/or raspberries

1 pint pears, halved and cooked (these can be briefly steamed or baked until tender)

2 cups apple juice

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 bar agar-agar

Fresh mint

Rinse agar-agar in cold water. Squeeze out excess water and tear into small pieces. Simmer juice 15 minutes and skim off foam. Arrange pear halves on the bottom of a glass dish or mold. Cover with fresh berries and pour agar-agar over fruit and let set until firm. Garnish each serving with a fresh mint leaf. Serves 6.

Fun Facts about Summer

o Animals teach their young how to find food in the summer. Wolves teach their pups to hunt, and female brown bats carry their babies with them to show them how to catch insects.

o In the northern hemisphere, the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, (near June 22) is when the sun is the farthest north. In the southern hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are exchanged. The summer solstice marks the first day of summer.

o "Solstice" is derived from two Latin words: "sol" meaning sun, and "sistere," to cause to stand still. This is because, as the summer solstice approaches, the noonday sun rises higher and higher in the sky on each successive day. On the day of the solstice, it rises an imperceptible amount, compared to the day before. In a sense, it "stands still."

o The Summer Solstice is also known as: Alban Heflin, All-couples day, Feast of Epona, Feast of St. John the Baptist, Gathering Day, Johannistag, Litha, Midsummer, Sonnwend, Thing-Tide and Vestalia.

o Summer is the best time to look for fireflies. In South America, fireflies signal each other with red or green lights. In North America, fireflies signal with yellow lights.

o The month of June may have been named for Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage. For this reason, June was thought to be a good month for weddings.

o The six hottest weeks of summer are called the dog days because Sirius, the Dog Star, is overhead during the second half of July and all of August.

o In North America, the middle of August is a good time to see shooting stars.

o The first (of only) full moon in June is called the Honey Moon. Tradition holds that this is the best time to harvest honey from hives.

o July was named for Julius Caesar and August was named for Augustus Caesar. Both men were emperors of Rome.

Questions? Comments? http://www.TheWayoftheHappyWoman.com.

For more free articles, videos, and resources for women, including a Free Yoga for PMS CD, please visit [http://www.YogaforPMS.com].

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Summer Solstice - Season of Passion and Compassion

Summer Solstice is the season Mother Nature is at the peak of abundance, and you too can join this natural cycle and accomplish miracles. Give your full attention to your fiery passion for life, and nurture and restore yourself with watery emotional compassion for where you are now, and also for the future you desire. That's an ancient formula for abundance at the time of Midsummer Solstice.

The Summer Solstice Sun is at Zenith

Summer Solstice, June 21st, is the longest day and shortest night of the year. The Sun's power is at it's most potent - and on that day, the sun reverses, and the days shorten, as the nights lengthen. The journey into the harvest season has begun, and at the Winter Solstice, the Sun again "turns" and the days begin to lengthen.

The solar cycle was revered by your ancient ancestors, and their "Sun Markers" are etched in stone cave drawings - in monuments like Stonehenge and in medicine wheels. The temples in Egypt, those of the Mayans, and the Inca in Peru center around the Sun.

Sun cycles and life cycles.

The visual movement of the sun to the north - and then the reversal (returning to the South) marked a turning point in the year that has been celebrated since time-out-of-mind. And many of the ancient traditions are embedded in our modern world -- their origins obscure. Yet your cellular memory still holds the wisdom of Nature.

You are no longer dependent on seasons and daylight for your survival. A drought does not mean famine, and winter no longer means "early to bed." The importance of the sun is lessened by today's technology. Electricity, and infrastructure for travel and transportation advances eclipse the sun's dominance. It is easy to forget all life depends on the sun.

Sun as the source of life.

Ancient people lived the truth that life came from the sun and without it, life could not exist. The journey of the sun through the solar cycle (seasons) guided the planting, growing, and harvesting times - as it does today.

The sun may have lessened in importance in your mind - but not in your life. You are still bound genetically to the ancient cycles. Can you feel this special time of year as unique and offering you an opportunity? It is - don't miss it!

Summer Solstice - the season of abundance

Summer is a happy and joyous time, especially when compared to the darker, quiet and colder winter. Midsummer (Summer Solstice) is roughly the middle of the growing season - the time when everything is abundant and flourishing. Brilliant fields of flowers bloom, trees are luscious green with new leaves; and vegetables, sweet fruits and berries are ripening. Nature is reaching her peak of abundance.

Ancient symbols unit the earth and sun.

Midsummer is the time when the Sun reaches the peak of its power. The Sun, manifests as the Sun King, or The Green Man seated on his Oak-foliage throne - and lord of the forests. His face surrounded by leaves is seen carved in stone or wood in churches,on fountains, and at gateways.

On this longest day of the year, light and life are abundant. At mid-summer, the Sun God has reached the moment of his greatest strength. His union with the Earth Mother Goddess is the promise of abundance, and she manifests as a pregnant Mother Nature, or Litha (Saxon).

Capture the essence of Midsummer or Summer Solstice.

Natural cycles of the seasons influence you as do circadian rhythms of night and day. Why not test (and try) what the ancient cultures knew to be the "energy of the times."

If you align with Nature, you took the time to carefully plant the seed ideas you want to grow into your future at the Spring Equinox (March 21st.) Now is the time to nurture your passion just as the sun nurtures all life. Focus on what is growing in your life, weed out what you do not want, and water (love and nurture) your Dreams.

Nurture and enjoy NOW.

Take the time to celebrate both work and leisure - for it is in enjoyment and childlike play that life grows abundantly. Accept and make time for enjoying your current life - before harvest. Take responsibility now for your future and assure abundance at your harvest time -- in the Fall.

Find your balance: Passion and Compassion.

The power of the sun at Summer Solstice is at its most potent, and the earth is fertile with a promising harvest. Midsummer is a time to balance the Sun's warming rays - strength and passion - and the cooling freshness of the "water or compassion" that nurtures all growth.

Through awareness, willpower, strength and conscious action - your passion for your creations come to fruition at harvest in the Fall. Explore your passions and the "fiery force - the heat" within you.

Next, find a good balance to your fiery passion in your love and compassion for your creations, and your love and desire to share your harvest with others. Deep heart-felt caring nurtures your dreams and your future. Without the balance - the passion alone is easily misdirected and can "burn up" your destiny in wasted efforts, wrong directions and intense misplaced emotions.

Without the soothing, nurturing of your heart-felt compassion, like a plant starved for water, your dreams dry up and wither on the vine.

Yet compassion alone (the watery emotions) may lie stagnant, without the balance of the fiery passion and direction of a clear focus. In right combination, fire and water nurture a productive, abundant future.

A balance between passion and compassion fine tunes your sense of purpose, and your inspiration guides you in the right direction. When your heart and compassion are your guides, your creativity will blossom, bear fruit and return you a bountiful harvest.

Summer Solstice and the first day of summer.

"Solstice" is Latin for "sun stands still" (sol "sun" and sistere "to cause to stand still.") To those watching, the (apparent movement of the Sun's path north or south) comes to a stop before reversing direction.

To the observers, the sun appears stationary in its northern and southern progression and seem to rise and set at the same location on the horizon for about five days before and after the actual solstice. At that time the Sun begins to wane or lose power - and the days shorten and nights lengthen.

The Summer Solstice and Marriage.

The union of the Solar power and Mother nature is the promise of abundance, and the fruit of that union is the harvest or birth of your Dreams. In a similar fashion, the potency of this time joined couples in marriage.

The Romans celebrated Summer Solstice as sacred to Juno, the patroness of marriage, and her month, June, remains today the most popular time for weddings.

In old Europe, the time between planting and the harvesting of the crops, allowed time for weddings. June was selected, as the sacred marriage or union of the Goddess and God occurred in early May at Beltaine and it was unlucky to marry in May.

The Druids' celebrated the day as the "wedding of Heaven and Earth", and that may also be one of the beginnings in the present day belief of a "lucky" wedding in June.

The only moon of Midsummer is the Honey Moon, a time when the hives are harvested for honey. Fermented honey is the ancient drink of the Gods, known as mead, and customarily drunk at wedding parties. The roots of the modern day "honeymoon" survive in current customs.

Summer Solstice is celebrated around the world - in England at Stonehenge and Avebury thousands gather before the sunrise to welcome the Sun.

Other ancient names and celebrations for Summer Solstice.

Midsummer eve was also called Alban Heruin or Alban Hefin, Whitsuntide, Vestalia (Ancient Roman), Cerridwen (England), the Faiery goddess Aine of Knockaine (Ireland), the Feast of Epona (Ancient Gaulish), Feill-Sheathain, Gathering Day, Sonnwend, Thing-Tide, All-Couple's Day, Johannistag, and St. John's Day.

After converting Europe to Christianity, the Pope declared the feast day of St. John the Baptist to be June 24th and is one of the oldest feasts in church records. The date was the Summer Solstice time of Jack-in-the-Green or The Green Man. He was converted to the Feast of St. John the Baptist, and St. John was then often portrayed in leafy and rustic attire, sometimes with horns and cloven feet (like the Greek Demi-God Pan) and with the classic face in the foliage of The Green Man.

Summer Solstice was a time of magic, meeting with the Fairies and of protective garlands of herbs and flowers to deflected evil spirits. St. John's Wort (also known as "chase-devil") is used today by herbalists to calm emotions and relieve depression.

Most celebrations (Celts & Slavs among others) marked Midsummer with huge bonfires that celebrated the power of the sun. Couples jumped through the flames, with the belief their crops grew as high as they leapt. Some traditions celebrated this time of year by setting large wheels on fire and then rolling them down a hill into a body of water.

The Chinese marked the day by honoring Li, the Chinese Goddess of Light. The Summer solstice ceremony in balance celebrated the earth, the feminine, and the yin forces of darkness.

Ancient Egypt worshiped the sun and many temples and monuments mark Solar Solstice cycles and star formations.

Native American rock formations, petroglyphs (carvings etched in stone) and stone markers dot the North and South American continents. Ancient cultures from the Mayan, Oltec, and Aztec to Machu Pichu in Peru mark solar times and stars with stone temples and markers.

Your Good Fortune: "Aligning with the natural cycles empowers you now to succeed against all odds."

Cheryl Janecky is the expert on attracting Good Fortune in quick easy steps.

Get the FACTS and FREE "21 Insights Home-Study course. PLUS weekly tips and strategies. Begin here: http://www.quick-good-fortune.com There are more ancient customs details on Summer Solstice too.

Start today and live your Dream. From the new sciences and ancient wisdom: get the FREE facts to find your passion at Quick Good Fortune.com. Copyright 1974-2009 c The Good Fortune Company LLC - All Rights reserved.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.