Honoring The Sun – Ceremony & Guided Practice

No matter what season it is, when you listen to this guided practice, you can invoke the energy of the sun at the solstice to bring light into your life. In this ceremony honoring the sun, we will be connecting with the sun’s energy through mantra, poetry, awakening the solar plexus chakra, and drumming. Come join me for this ceremony. (Thank you for the music by Chris Collins and Blue Dot Sessions.)

Transcript

Hi,

And thank you so much for joining me today for Ceremony Invoking the Sun into Our Lives.

This was originally recorded during the summer solstice,

But it is a timeless practice that you can do anytime to call sunlight into your life whenever you're needing uplifting.

Thank you so much for joining me for this ceremony.

Looking forward to our summer solstice ceremony tonight.

And so our first intention is to call ourselves into this space to be with each other in this ceremony.

The second intention is that it calls our higher self or our soul self to be with us into this ceremony.

The next intention is that we call in the energy of summer solstice,

Of honoring that halfway point between summer and winter,

The sun,

And bringing that light so we can call in the light of the sun to be with us and present.

We set our intention to say that we are grateful for all the sun offers to us at summer solstice,

Which is the longest day of the year.

So it's about bringing light into our lives,

Celebrating what the light offers to us.

So to honor the sun,

I've pulled a poem for us from Mary Oliver.

It's called The Sun.

Have you ever seen anything in your life more wonderful than the way the sun every evening relaxed and easy floats toward the horizon and into the clouds or the hills or the rumpled sea and is gone and how it slides again out of the blackness every morning on the other side of the world like a red flower on a morning in early summer as its perfect imperial distance and have you ever felt anything such wild love do you think there is anywhere in any language a word billowing enough for the pleasure that fills you as the sun reaches out it warms you as you stand there empty-handed or have you turned from this world or have you too gone crazy for power for things I like this poem because Mary Oliver is asking us to see the sun not as a commodity but as a something that illuminates and gives us life and all the gifts that it brings to us bringing in that energy of the sun and bringing it into us is by using our voice to sing a mantra that honors the inner sun and it's the Gayatri mantra.

What I want you to imagine when we sing the Gayatri mantra now is that the resonation that we create with our voice when we sing creates a vibration or energy inside of us and if you don't sing with me I want you to imagine that me singing to you creates that same energy or vibration around you because this energy that we create with a Gayatri mantra right now we're going to bring into a breath work practice to open and activate our solar plexus chakra right after we do the Gayatri mantra.

I'm going to read it for us Dayat may we honor the light from our connection with the divine and in doing so our inner world may be illuminated so imagining that that inner sun shines on the inside of us and so before we start singing what I'm going to have you do is open your hands and then turn them as if you are gathering the energy of the sun between your hands and then bringing them together collecting all that energy and then placing your hands in Anjali mudra at your chest your sternum your heart and leaving them there imagining that the energy of the mantra moves through your hands arms and into your heart illuminating your insides I'll have you take a deep breath in and exhale oh now have you take a deep breath in taking this energy from the Gayatri mantra the illumination within what I want to do is activate our solar plexus chakra so that we can mirror the energy of the sun but inside of ourselves and when you activate the solar plexus chakra it helps all the other chakras as well because it's right in the center right at your solar plexus and it's the color yellow and so imagining that it activates all the other chakras when it is illuminated or awakened and so we're going to do some breathing into the solar plexus so this time gathering the sun with your hands so imagining that you're bringing that sunlight between your hands but this time you're going to take both hands and you're going to place it right at your rib cage where it ends on that arc um between your upper body and lower body so right at the base of the rib cage which is where your diaphragm is at which is where the solar plexus is energetically and just lightly resting your hands here and imagining that energy of the sun moving through your arms into your hands and into that solar plexus area and what I'm going to have you do now is close your eyes and take a deep breath in and imagine as you inhale that your hands expand as you breathe into your solar plexus and then exhaling letting all the air out from the solar plexus and another deep breath in and I'm gonna have you imagine that you're standing inside yourself at the solar plexus and it's like you're standing and looking at the horizon where the sun rises and with each breath that you take inhaling you inhale the energy of the sun inside of you up over the horizon so that it shines brightly through your whole chest and with each breath that you take in and exhale that sun inside of you that chakra of the sun grows brighter and brighter and you can feel the rays of the sun as your breath deepens that it begins to expand throughout your whole body filling your heart and lungs and chest down into your stomach and legs and back and until your whole insides are radiating with the light of the sun awakening that deep connection with your soul and that in the light of the sun and that connection and vibration that runs through your whole body you know that you are part of this beautiful life and that as the sun inside you fills and expands it begins to glow through your skin outward so that you also shine around you as bright as just you being here right now is enough your light part of this world and each time you need to remember this you can always place your hands back here at the solar plexus and breathe in deeply so that you're reminded of that sunlight that you create for yourself and those around you and one more deep breath in so now we're going to take all that energy that we created through the Gayatri mantra and the awakening of the solar plexus chakra and move it into our next mantra so this is about the gratitude of connecting with our ancestors with the earth and it's ah teshna ana the dew is on the grass the spirit of the ancients we are children of the past the one breath that creates us is the one that we all take makes a rainbow around the world from the love that we all make i'll have you take a deep breath in and exhale the dew is on the grass the spirit of the ancients we are children of the past the one breath that creates us is the one that we all take makes a rainbow around the world from the love that we all make hey hey ah hey ya hey ya ah teshna ana hey hey ya hey ya hey ya ah teshna ana the dew is on the grass the spirit of the ancients we are children of the past the one breath that creates us is the one that we all take makes a rainbow around the world from the love that we all make hey hey ya hey ya hey ya ah teshna ana hey hey ya hey ya hey ya ah teshna ana the dew is on the grass the spirit of the ancients we are children of the past the one breath that creates us is the one that we all take makes a rainbow around the world from the love that we all make hey hey hey ya ah teshna ana hey and I'll have you take a deep breath in what I want to do now is share a story with us to honor the sun and it comes from this book Star Stories and this one is about grandmother spider and the sun and this is from the Cherokee Nation In the beginning,

When the world was new,

There was only darkness all around.

Life was difficult for people and animals.

It was cold,

And they were miserable,

Forever bumping into each other because they could not see.

Something had to be done,

And in the deep forest,

The animals gathered together.

I've heard tell of something called the sun.

A low voice growled out of the dark.

It was bare.

It gives out light and is warm,

Too.

It is kept on the other side of the earth.

But the people who guard it are too greedy to share.

Perhaps we could steal a piece of it.

All the animals nodded their heads and agreed that this was a fine idea.

But who would be the one to steal the sun?

Who would be daring enough?

One by one,

A few brave animals stepped forward,

While the others hid in the woods to watch.

The first to try was Fox.

Stealthily on soft furred paws,

He crept to the secret place where the sun was kept.

Silent and still,

He waited until no one was watching,

Then grabbed a sun in his mouth and started to run for his life.

But the sun was so hot it scalded Fox's mouth and he dropped it.

That is why to this day,

All foxes have black mouths.

The next animal to try was the opossum.

Now,

In those long ago days,

Opossums had long,

Bushy tails.

And so proud,

Opossum sneaked up to the place where unfortunate Fox had dropped the sun and ran back,

With it balanced on her magnificent tail.

But the sun was so hot it scorched all of the hair off of her tail just like the fox and she dropped it.

That is why to this day,

All opossums have long,

Bare tails.

Just when the quest seemed hopeless,

Grandmother Spider scurried out of the bushes.

Although she was much smaller than the other animals,

She was clever.

Can I try?

She asked quietly.

And instead of trying to hold onto the fiery ball of the sun,

She wove a fine silk bag from one of her dew-draped webs.

When she found the sun,

She dropped it into the bag and carried it without burning herself.

Everyone began to rejoice,

Yet one important question remained.

Where would the sun go?

Grandmother Spider had the answer.

We should put the sun high in the sky,

She said,

That way everyone will see it and benefit from its light.

It was perfect,

Agreed all the animals.

However,

Try as hard as they could to reach and leap.

None of them were tall enough to reach the sky.

Then Buzzard scooped down on its great feathered wings.

I can fly higher than any bird,

He said.

I will carry the sun into the sky.

The sun was still blazing even inside its silk bag,

So Buzzard placed it on top of its head,

Where its feathers were thickest.

He began to fly higher and higher above the clouds.

The higher he flew,

The hotter the sun grew,

And it began to burn through all the silk.

Even so,

Buzzard kept flying up and up,

And all the feathers on his head were gone.

Still,

He kept flying even higher,

And the skin on his head became red until finally he reached the very top of the sky and placed the sun there for all to see.

This is why,

To this day,

Some Buzzards have bald red heads.

As the sun rays streaked across the sky like the strands of Grandmother Spider's woven web,

The world below was bathed in sunlight and warmth.

The animals and people rejoiced,

And Buzzard was honored by bringing light to the sky and could still be seen circling the sun today.

I'm going to read a quote,

And it's by Martha Graham.

There is a vitality,

A life force,

An energy,

A quickening that is translated through you into action.

And because there is only one of you in all time,

This expression is unique.

And if you block it,

It will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.

The world will not have it.

It is not your business to determine how good it is or how valuable,

Nor how it compares with others' expressions.

It's your business to keep the channel open.

So what I want you to do is imagine that like all that we've taken in here,

The sunlight,

The Gayatri Mantra,

The Solar Plexus Chakra,

And connecting with Earth through the Atesh Mantra.

There's four questions that I'm going to do that are questions of reflection so that you can discern within.

So the first question is this,

What ways can you bring more light into your life?

And I'll have you take a deep breath in and exhale.

So the second question is this,

What ways can you bring more light into the lives of your loved ones?

And I'll have you take a deep breath in and exhale.

The third question is this,

What ways can you bring more light to the world?

And I'll have you take a deep breath in.

So the last question is this,

In what ways can you bring light to the cosmos?

Do you think your energy here in this moment is also connected to your soul self?

Your soul self is part and connected to the cosmos,

The divine mystery,

And so you're also gifting the stars and the cosmos with that energy of light.

In what ways can you bring light to the cosmos?

And I'll have you take a deep breath in and exhale.

And so now that we've collected all these reflections of light inside of ourselves and gifting to others,

What I'd like to do is a short guided meditation that leads us into a space of then I'll do some drumming that is a gift from the sun to all of us.

And what I'll have you do now is set your intention for the energy that you'd like to receive during the drumming.

And for this part what I'll have you do is just move into a relaxed position for the meditation so you can be either seated or lying down.

And I'm going to do some gentle drumming to guide us into the meditation and then when I become silent I'll drum a little bit louder.

I'll have you close your eyes and connect with your breath and just call in your intention into your heart.

And I'll have you connect with mother earth beneath you.

Just feeling her energy holding you in this space.

And as you relax into her energy it allows you to let go just for now of any weight that's on your heart or mind.

Now I'll have you imagine that you're standing in front of your third eye and there is a doorway leading into your inner self.

What does that third eye doorway look like?

Just allow yourself to connect with it now.

Now I'll have you reach your hand out and touch the doorway and as you do it transforms into a beautiful indigo doorway of light.

And you can feel that light surrounding you and pulling you in.

And when you're ready I'll have you take a deep breath in and step through that doorway of light.

And you find yourself standing in front of a sacred temple.

What does that temple look like to you as you stand in front of it in this sacred space inside yourself?

Just take this time to connect with it.

And now you begin to walk into this sacred temple walking inside of it.

And it has beautiful expansive vaulted ceiling.

And as you step inside of it you feel the insides of you expand as well.

And you see that on the inside of this sacred temple there is a cushion or chair in the center of it for you to sit down upon.

And allow yourself to walk over to this cushion or chair and sit down now.

The cushion or chair faces a wall that is completely made out of stained glass.

At first it is too dark to see what the image is on that stained glass.

So you close your eyes and begin taking deep breaths into your solar plexus chakra.

And as you do the sun inside of you begins to shine your eyes open.

Inside the sacred temple and as you take the deep breaths in the sun outside the sacred temple begins to rise also.

And as it shines on that wall of stained glass it illuminates the image on the wall.

The stained glass comes to life and there is a beautiful image or message inside the stained glass that is just for you.

What does it look like?

What does it say?

Allow yourself to connect with the energy and the beauty of the message that the sacred temple is gifting to you now.

And just allow yourself to thank the energy of the sacred temple for its gift.

And in your imagination I'll have you imagine that you stand up from that seated position inside the temple.

And as you begin to walk back towards the entrance at the doorway you see that there's the indigo doorway of light.

And you stand in front of that indigo doorway of light taking a deep breath in inhaling the energy of the sacred temple once more.

And then as you exhale I'll have you step through that indigo doorway of light and find yourself standing back in front of your third eye.

And in your imagination reaching up and touching that third eye point and as you do the doorway closes just for now.

And taking a deep breath in you come back into this time and place now in this moment.

Back into your physical body and one more deep breath in and as you exhale you open your eyes when you're ready coming back to this time with me and our community and just slowly stretching waking up your body.

To close our time together today I'd like to share this poem with you.

It was created by one of our Insight Timer community members and I'd like to share it with you now.

Here is Cecilia's poem.

The golden finch shines like a flash of the sun's light as it glides through the air.

The arbutus tree sheds its outer layer of skin symbolic of shedding what no longer serves and embracing the season of light while the poppy unfurls its petals reaching for the sun.

Thank you so much for joining me today for this practice.

May your inner sun shine brightly always.

I'm wishing you a beautiful day.

Namaste

Reviews

Thank you for the wonderful mantras and stories. Brings so much more meaning to this time of year.💞