I’ve realized in recent years that I’ve married a good witch, a pagan to honors the solstices (and knows when they are) befriends frogs, talks to trees, saves bugs from the water tank, builds bonfires, stacks, firewood,  patches windows, makes wonderful art, dances, watches birds and walks every day in her orphan forest, which she knows and knows inside and out.

What a remarkable person she is. I loved from the beginning, but even I had no idea how she would flower and grow and reveal her wonderful selft more by the day.

This has all been an education for me. I was tired and distracted yesterday, I wasn’t up for the solstice fire, but when I saw how excited she was, I knew I had to go and I knew I would love it when I did. Maria knows me better than I know myself. There is a pagan inside of me also, eager to come out.

It was a sweet evening, beatiful and inspiring. We are celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of another. We are also letting go of a draining and difficult month, and looking forward to what comes next. Come and honor the summer solstice with us. And welcome to summer. May you all have a beautiful and healing one.

Maria has been preparing for this bonfire for months. It was worth it. A special and very beautiful evening.

We sat quietly for an hour or so, Zinnia stayed right behind my chore, we mostly listened and watched. It was beautiful, calming, nourishing. People have been honoring the summer solstice for thousands of years. It felt eerily beautiful to be joining that history.

We sat together outside while the fire burned, we’ve been stacking wood on the pile for weeks.

The sad part was Maria throwing her cactus on the fire. She’s owned and raised it for 40 years, and she got it when it was tiny at a marketplace. She said it was time to let go. That’s the meaning of the solstice really, letting go of one year, and turning to another.

Fate stayed away from the fire, looking out over the sheep, who also stayed away from the fire.

I love being married to a good, pagan witch. It opens up so much of the world for me. I would never be marking the changing of the seasons like this without her.