Happy Juneteenth!!
Happy Solstice!!
I wanted to share some musings on this moment in time and announce my upcoming In-Person Family Constellations Workshop on June 29.
As you probably know, the Solstice, the moment the Sun is found directly over the Tropic of Cancer, at 23.5 ° N Latitude, is tomorrow, and it marks the beginning of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and Winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
For those living in the colder climates in the Northern Hemisphere, this is a particularly exciting time, with the Sun finally warming up the earth, urging nature to explode with enthusiasm!
I gave an AI image generator some prompts to describe the “relationship of the sun to the earth at the time of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere”, and it came up with the image above. It certainly captures the excitement of the moment, and radiates hope and light!
This astronomical event was celebrated by traditional cultures around the globe and over the last few decades has again inspired many to consider it a holiday.
Recently here in the USA more attention has finally been given to “Juneteenth” as well, which lands today, June 19, and is the Federal Holiday celebrating the freeing of the people held in slavery at the end of the Civil War.
Considered our “Second Independence Day” it seems fitting that it lands very close to the Summer Solstice. It is a celebration of the Light of Reason and Humanity after centuries of the darkness of slavery had both allowed for this incredible experiment in Democracy to bloom, thanks to the inexpensive labor provided by slaves in developing the land and commerce in profitable commodities like cotton and sugar, and tainted its economic and moral foundations.
As I started writing my newsletter just now this correlation came to mind; it had never really occurred to me before. To be honest, I kind of assumed that as a white person I didn’t really have a right to celebrate Juneteenth. I figured it was a holiday reserved for the African Americans, and important to respect what it represents for them.
Instead, I am realizing this morning that this really is not true, because when anyone in a family, or a society, is suffering from abuse, the pain and dysfunction this causes affects the entire system. The entire system carries the imbalances caused, and the perpetrators, too, are often of victims themselves of distorted ways of thinking and acting.
So just as any family system that is carrying unresolved pain and conflict tends to continue to express the dysfunction in one way or another, and negatively affect ALL its members, the pain and violence and general dysfunction woven throughout the origins of this magnificent nation is something that affects us all, even though we may not be fully aware of it.
It is true we have come a long way, and we can see humanity’s progress in many ways, throughout not only this country, but throughout the globe. And we still have a long way to go. I imagine we always will; Life keeps urging us forward, asking us to grow into ever more integrated and evolved Being.
It seems all the more important to remember this today, in 2024, so we can honor and celebrate how far we have come, and how far we have yet to go, to embrace the basic Truth that all human beings, within all families, within the USA and in all countries and cultures around the globe, are of equal value. No life has greater value than another.
We are all very different, but different is not better, or worse.
The culture of dominance and power and control, which allows for, and even encourages, the abuse of others – usually those we see as “different” or somehow inferior – for personal gain, be that gain psychological, emotional or material/financial, is one that many of us are working hard to overcome, in many different ways.
Whether we are focused in our efforts to heal ourselves from our own individual and intergenerational traumas, which helps us gain a form of wellbeing that inevitably helps also those around us, although in indirect ways, or we are actively engaged in forms of service that impact the Whole in more extensive ways, every little effort, every little act of love, of healing, of simple recognition and honoring of another’s pain – of empathy and compassion – and of owning one’s own faults and correcting them, counts.
To be honest, I had no clue that I would end up writing these words when I sat down to send out my newsletter! My intent was mostly to just get out my announcement regarding my June Workshop! (My In Person Family Constellations Workshop is on June 29 – go here for more info and to sign up)
But as I have been writing this I have been realizing that indeed, Juneteenth is not just a celebration for the African Americans whose ancestors suffered directly from the horrors of slavery, but it is for all of us, who dream of an ever more beautiful, just, peaceful and enlightened world. It is a reminder of Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous words:
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”.
So Happy Juneteenth to us all, and may the Solstice bring us warmth, hope, and light, so we can continue to move forward, one tiny step, one day at a time.
“Today is a new day, and I can choose to create Love, and I can choose to create Beauty, for myself and others”. (Antonio Mercurio)