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The Eightfolds of the Sun's Year
Celtic Druid’s Summer Sun Standing
Solstice is from the Latin and is made up from two words given roughly as: sol = sun and stice = stopped. Celtic Druids do not believe that the Sun stops so we use the old Irish word “Tairisem” which means standing still. In the Summer this Sun Standing still happens in the month of June around the 20th, 21st or 22nd. This is the highest point of the solar year. The Sun is at its highest at noon and shadows are at their shortest. There is almost 20 hours of daylight and only four hours of darkness if you are on Tara in Ireland at this time. This is not a specifically Gaelic holiday and many Pagan cultures celebrate this time with many festivals known by a range of names - Denmark, Sankt Hans Aften. Wiccan sabbat Litha. Slavonia, St. John's Night. Celts, Alban Heruin. Gaul (old France), Feast of Epona, (white mare goddess). Roman Empire, Vestalia. Catholic countries, feast of St. John the Baptist. Hopi Indians and Native Americans celebrate the summer solstice but I don’t know their name for this day.
In Ireland, people of all ages, sex and religions do some sort of celebration for this day. The resurgence of the old pagan ways and the need to believe in something truly spiritual for this day has many people visit the ancient sacred sites. We at Ireland’s Druidschool hold a 24-hour presence on Tara and we have multiple ceremonies throughout the day and night. Our sunrise ceremony is very simple - we just stand or sit in silence facing the horizon where the sun will actually rise. We watch the clouds, the colours and the rising of the false sun and then the actual sun, and then the actual sun merge into the false sun. Magically - this is spirit rising within. In England the focus is at Stonehenge where a huge multiple standing stone circle makes a perfect alignment with the rising sun on the Solstice. This has become a hugely popular event for the English people.
We will also watch the Sun rise from Tallaght Hill as the sun aligns with Lambay Volcano, the Pond called Linn Oir and then to the Cairn on the Hill of the Fair Gods. Much is written about this alignment in this website - words cannot describe the thrill of being at a complex of sacred sites that were laid out to work with the energies on this specific day. Search the pages and find the many essays on this magnificent monument complex.
It is not possible to fix the date of the Summer Solstice as 21st of June because this event does not obey manmade calendars. The current calendar in use by the “white civilised” world was only agreed fully in the 1800’s. Before that date there was utter confusion and no system of dating days of birth for annual celebrations was available for anyone. Details on this system of False Time is at http://www.druidschool.com/site/1030100/page/471149
The timing for the celebration of the Summer Solstice as given in Irelands Druidschool is explained in depth at http://www.druidschool.com/site/1030100/page/472352 In its most basic - there were no clocks, no calendars and the passage of time was measured in Ireland by the penetration of a sunbeam into designed passages in stone cairns to exactly light up a section of a stone with carvings upon it. This happens even today so the ancestral calendar is still accurate. Even though the Cairn on Tallaght Hill is in ruins - the outer circle of recumbent stones from the Cairn still exists. This means if you were to stand on top of this Cairn on Tallaght Hill when the Sun rises at 0* of Cancer 45* east of north you would see the sun rise over the Lambay Volcano to shine on to the foundations of a ancient ceremonial temple on Cnockan or the Little Hill as the locals call it. The old maps give the name of Cnockan as Knockavinidee. A scholar from a nearby valley has given us a translation as “The Hill of the Fair Gods”. This is their Summer equivalent to Newgrange / Brú na Boinne.
This is one of Eightfolds of the Solar Year of the Tuatha De Danann. All these alignments for the Eightfold Solar year have the fulcrum or pivotal point of the leaking energies from the volcano being wrapped back into the solar wind. This is earth magnetism and landscape healing at an extraordinary level.
This knowledge was lost or so it seemed but the Gods and Goddesses and the guardians of the Sacred Temples await true seekers with whom they share freely. As I write this essay I remember that it was in 1993 that I first discovered this alignment. Maybe I should re-phrase that - I was allowed to see it.
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