Summer Thermstice 2022

Peak of Summer + Card for August

Many pagans celebrate August 1st as Lammas/Lughnasadh, but as an Atheopagan I call it something different. For my personal wheel of the year, today is the Summer Thermstice. I adopted this term from Naturalistic Paganism and it’s something that really made sense for me when creating my own wheel of the year. It’s based on the seasonal midpoint between the Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox, the peak of summer. Since my bioregion follows the seasons like clockwork, it was a better fit for my praxis.

The Midpoint

Since the Summer Thermistice marks the midpoint between the Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox, for me it means that the summer is at its peak and the warm season is easing its way out. Towards the end of August I’ll start seeing some seasonal changes, new insect appearing and late summer plants finally bloom and some start to die off.

I love the midpoints and Solstice/Equinox dates, it’s when I pay very close attention to what’s changing around me.

Yesterday morning I noticed Goathead coming up in the backyard and around the carport. If you don’t know what this weed is, count yourself lucky! The seed pods are shaped like horned goat heads (hence the name) and they hurt worse than stepping on Lego… not fun to pull out of your foot either.

I’ve been waiting for those painful weeds to start showing up and since we’re in monsoon season it seems that’s when they start to make an appearance, I missed that last year. This is why keeping a phenology journal is so important to me! I now know that when Goathead weeds come up that we had a good monsoon and summer is at its peak. Same with the Sunflowers in town, they’re now blooming like crazy and mark the peak of summer as well.

This morning we went on a small hike to celebrate the Summer Thermstice, you can check the trail photos out on my blog HERE.

A Card for August

Over the weekend I received the Botanica Tarot in trade and it blew me away! I wasn’t 100% sure how I would feel working with this deck but the plants really brought the cards to life for me.

10 of Cups

Seeing the 10 of Cups feels like a good omen going into August, I’ll take it! The advice I poured from these cups is to enjoy the small moments and passage of time this month. Be blissful but be aware.

I don’t read reversals but rather instead I look at the different sides to a card. Every card for me has a shadow and light, even the “so happy I could vomit” 10 of Cups. Sometimes when we get caught up in the good moments we aren’t paying attention to what’s sneaking up on us, we’re too narrow in our vision. The 10 of Cups invites us to open up our scope a bit and enjoy the good things but also remember that some things won’t last.

Impermanence is a keyword I tend to pin to this card often. Enjoy it while it’s hot!

The 10 of Cups can be seen in small moments, not just big. When your kids are quietly playing together and you can sneak in a few chapters of your book, that’s the 10 of Cups… or if you get lost trying to find an address and drive up to a meadow full of sunflowers, that’s also the 10 of Cups. There’s always moments of joy to find, and the moments that aren’t planned for tend to be the memories I remember most.

The flower in this card is the Medinilla Magnifica, also known as Pink Grapes. I have yet to see this plant in person but it’s a gorgeous species.