It occurs to us that this whole "summer" thing is a social construct. It is. What does "summer" mean. There are all those associations and connotations, but everyone knows it's when the sun's out, the clothes are mostly off, school is on break, and there's going to be a vacation, road trip, partying, and just plain old hanging around, maybe making some money.
It's a break from the routine. It's time away from the prison of the school system and the [bleep] warden who thinks s/he runs the place. Think of Project X or American Graffiti. Ah, summer, there's nothing like it. And this is Southern California, so all the more reason.
We say summer begins when school lets out. That was a week or two ago. Like gender assignment, who needs an objective measure? Well, many people do. And so we have the solstice, the astronomical measure that seems so scientific. But every American knows that summer begins on Memorial Day(May 25); that's the social reality overriding whatever others try to say is only objective and nothing else. It's both.
It runs through Labor Day (the unofficial end), a fake American holiday to remove Americans from the worldwide Labor Movement and May Day (May 1st), which idealistic socialists fight for, collectivists dream of, and New Age communists and college Marxists cheer for.
The best place to be this morning is in the former Khmer Empire, modern Cambodia, in the center of one of the largest ancient cities in the world at the Buddhist-Hindu temple at the center of it, Angkor Wat. (Wat means monastery complex or vihara).
The second-best place to be is in the middle of New York City at the holy site of "Manhattanhenge" where signs of intelligent life must have built a megastructure aligned with the astronomical objects in the visible sky, possibly with extraterrestrial assistance.
Here Comes the Sun (The Beatles)
Some say massive structures like the "Empire State" Building were in fact pre-Mud Flood architectural feats being taken credit for by modern builders with widely circulated photos of men eating lunch in precarious worksites as if that were all the proof needed.
LONDON, England — As the sun rose Saturday on the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, a crowd erupted in cheers at Stonehenge where the ancient monument in southern England has clocked the summer solstice over thousands of years.
The orange ball crested the northeast horizon behind the Heel Stone, the entrance to the stone circle, and shone its beam of light into the center of one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments.
The solstice is one of the few occasions each year when visitors are allowed to walk among the stones, which are otherwise fenced off.
What did the ancients know and practice?
The miracle of Newgrange, Ireland, eclipses Stonehenge (likeAdam's Calendar, Africa)...so that's why we've never heard of it. Newgrange (Irish Sí an Bhrú [1]) is a prehistoric monument in County Meath, Ireland, placed on a rise overlooking the River Boyne, five miles (8 km) west of the town of Drogheda [2]. It is an exceptionally grand passage tomb built during the Neolithic Period, around 3100 BC [3], making it older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. Newgrange is the main monument in the Brú na Bóinne complex, a World Heritage Site that also includes the passage tombs of Knowth and Dowth, as well as other henges, burial mounds [which are a kind of stupa], and standing stones [3]. Newgrange consists of a large circular mound with an inner stone passageway and cruciform chamber More
The crowd gathered before dawn at the World Heritage Site to mark the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, beating the heat during the U.K.'s first amber heat-health alert issued since September 2023.
Temperatures later topped 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius) in Surrey, 80 miles (128 kilometers) east of Stonehenge, the hottest temperature recorded in the U.K. so far this year.
About 25,000 sun devotees (sun cult worshippers) and other revelers -- including Druids, pagans, hippies, locals, and tourists -- showed up, according to English Heritage which operates the site.
More than 400,000 others around the world watched a livestream. “This morning was a joyous and peaceful occasion with the most beautiful sunrise," said Richard Dewdney, head of operations at Stonehenge. “It is fantastic to see Stonehenge continuing to enchant and connect people.”
Stonehenge was built [and constantly re-adjusted] in stages 5,000 years ago on the flat lands of Salisbury Plain approximately 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of London.
The Sky People built mound-pyramids to the sun
[A few decades ago modern cranes and equipment were used to set up a pile of fallen stones, aligning them to their current positions; those photos were then forgotten, though they still exist, and everyone assumes ancient Druids built what is seen today 5,000 years ago before modern explorers stumbled onto the site. The walk from the carpark to the erected stones used to be lined with sandwich boards explaining the artificial evolution of the site with many adjustments over time, not one permanent setup millennia earlier.]
How many summers are there? There's cultural summer (starting on Memorial Day), meteorological summer (as the weather changes), seasonal (astronomical) summer (the real thing beginning with the summer solstice, June 21, 2025), and Indian summer (that lingering often very hot period after fall equinox). When school lets out for summer vacation, that's summer. The Los Angeles Unified School District just let out, so summer has begun...at least in Southern California, where it's kind of always summer.
Youth is wasted on the young who do not appreciate it until it's too late
American Theravada scholar-monk Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Buddha's Teaching: As It Is, 1: The Buddha
1. "The Buddha" taught by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Humble Dr. Bhante Bodhi, Maha Thera, Ph.D.
佛陀教育法音宣流集 The Buddha’s Teaching: As It Is. It was 1981 at the Washington Buddhist Vihara in DC when American Buddhist monk Bhikkhu Bodhi finished recording ten talks explaining Buddhist basics published in March 2008. The original set of recordings came with additional material, including a glossary of terms that no longer seems to accompany the distributed CDs.
He began conceiving of a set of talks in the fall of 1979 as a WBV resident, composing lectures on the fundamental teachings of what the Buddha taught as recorded in the Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism.
Bhante Gunaratana, at the time the president of the Buddhist Vihara Society, suggested he record the lectures so that the monastery could distribute them as a set of ten cassette tapes, saving Ven. Bodhi from a wave of invitations to speak to his fellow Americans interested in understanding the teachings of the historical Buddha Gautama also known as Siddhartha and Shakyamuni.
It was the summer of 1981 in the monastery's basement when Ven. Bodhi recorded them using an ordinary, nonprofessional recording device. An enthusiastic lay supporter had the master copies reproduced in large quantities for distribution.
They have continued to be distributed on tape and as CDs for over a quarter century. Decades ago, a set arrived at the Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara when the future Dharma editor of Wisdom Quarterly first heard them, crisp, in modern English, covering deep topics with excellent breadth and depth, not getting too consumed by the details except when it became necessary to clear up misconceptions about the Buddhist meaning of nirvana (moksha, vimutti, complete liberation). Meeting Bhikkhu Bodhi at the offices of the Buddhist Publication Society (bps.lk) in Kandy, Sri Lanka, he granted permission that we distribute these talks and we have ever since.
O, Buddha, what's the best gift? - Dhamma-dana
He was sure that it was not necessary as these talks were further refined and incorporated into his books and the explanatory notes of his many translations of the ancient Buddhist texts of the Pali language canon, but we assured him that these original talks were still very valuable to a basic understanding.
They are now considered “public domain” for anyone to copy and distribute freely as a gift of Dharma or Dhamma-dana (not for profit). The one condition is that they must not be sold. The tapes are now on CDs containing the original ten lectures, available freely at BAUS.org, Buddhist Association of the United States, Chaung Yen Monastery, Carmel, Upstate New York.
It is recommended that they be listened to as recorded in the original sequence.
ABOUT: Bhikkhu Bodhi (born Jeffrey Block is born on Dec. 10, 1944) is a Jewish American Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka under Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Maha Thera. he now resides at Chaung Yen Monastery, Carmel, and still visits his former monastery, Bodhi Vihara (not named after him) in New Jersey. He was appointed the second president of the Buddhist Publication Society and edited and authored many publications grounded in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. He is the founder of Buddhist Global Relief a charity that funds projects to fight hunger and to empower women across the world.
Buddhist Summer School Committee ft. Bhikkhu Bodhi (The Buddha's Teaching: As It Is, Talk 1: The Buddha), Wisdom Quarterly; Alice Cooper, "Schools Out for Summer"; Last Day of High School vs. College
The Deeper, Spiritual Meaning of the Winter Solstice | Through Ancient History
(Sakro Sawel) This is a stunning visual journey through the ancient multicultural sites, traditions, and myths of the winter solstice to discover their deeper spiritual meaning and their relevance today.
Did you know that winter solstice was the most celebrated religious occasion in ancient history and still is even today?
This video explores the celebration of the sun and the winter solstice throughout history. Watch the winter solstice sun rise along the grand avenue of Karnak in Egypt, the largest temple complex in the world.
CONTENTS
00:00 – Introduction
01:45 – What is the Winter Solstice?
02:35 – Spirituality in Nature
03:31 – Journey of the Sun God
04:37 – Winter Solstice Celebrations
07:38 – Winter Solstice Alignments
10:07 – Karnak Temple Alignment
12:58 – The Principles of Creation
15:19 – Luxor Temple Symbolism
16:09 – Glastonbury Tor Meaning
17:33 – Newgrange Symbolism
18:53 – Great Pyramids Solstice Alignment
19:28 – Tiwanaku Symbolism
20:42 – The Dark Half of Duality
21:31 – Birth of the Hero Savior
22:35 – Jesus and the Hidden Meaning of Christmas
26:01 – Conclusion
27:31 – Where to Learn More
27:57 – Image and Video Credits
View a beam of solstice sunlight enter the hidden inner chamber of the giant megalithic mound site of Newgrange in Ireland.
Travel through these and tens of other ancient sites from around the world, some Buddhist, others American, while learning about the ancient symbolic meaning they had to their builders.
We also look at the deeper spiritual meaning of Xmas, the world’s biggest celebration held around the winter solstice as Christ-mass.
The winter solstice was the largest religious occasion in ancient times and remains so. Many ancient cultures throughout the world venerated the sun at the winter solstice. Millions still honor it according to their ancient traditions, and billions celebrate Christmas at the time of winter solstice, although its deeper significance has largely been lost.
Why is the winter solstice such an important event and what is its spiritual meaning? We explain how winter solstice was an important part of an ancient religion of the sun that spread to different parts of the world in prehistory.
NOTE ABOUT ATTRIBUTING THIS WORK: The information in this video is the culmination of years of work and research. It contains Sakro Sawell's unique interpretations of ancient sites and traditions. If you like it and want to share it, do not plagiarize it! Please share the video with due credit as the source.
This video is part of a series about the spiritual meaning of the solstices and equinoxes. Watch the other videos in this series here:
Website: sakrosawel.com. Book (co-authored by husband and wife) discusses the spiritual meaning of the winter solstice and ancient sites aligned to it in detail, as well as how to celebrate it: Ancient Solsticesakrosawel.com/ancient-solstice.
To make sure to keep receiving content from Sakro Sawel, sign up for the free newsletter at sakrosawel.com/newsletter. X/Twitter: sakrosawel.
It's interesting that the most recent full moon was the most northerly Luna (Soma, Chandra) ever gets and that at this time it seems to pause in the sky, beckoning us to pause and reflect. Winter is like that, a time for rest and wise reflection. The light is reborn and continues to increase throughout the year. Urth (Bhumi, Tierra, Earth) has rhythms that though the Church has tried to obscure them are still there to notice and sync up with. The Moon is a clock and a calendar, the Sun a guide. There is rhythm to the seasons and an orderliness to Nature. If we ever pause to notice, we may see that things are okay. We have been made to worry by thinking and fretting, projecting into the future, but when we reflect on the now, everything is instantly okay. This is the meaning of mindfulness, to bring ourselves fully into the present. Things unfold. They work themselves out. We have our duties. And why would we be anywhere when we can be here now?
Ceremony takes place at Stonehenge to mark winter solstice 2024: Watch live
(Sky News) Streamed live. Happy first day of winter. Thousands of people are celebrating the winter solstice, one of the rare occasions visitors can touch the great stones, at Stonehenge.
It means from tomorrow (Dec. 22), days will start to get a little longer again. #Stonehenge #Winter #Sunrise
The Irish Winter Solstice: A Journey through Time and Spirituality
(𝕴𝖗𝖎𝖘𝖍 𝕻𝖆𝖌𝖆𝖓 𝕮𝖔𝖗𝕶) Premiered Dec. 7, 2024: BLARNEY ROAD The Winter Solstice, marking the shortest day and longest night of the year, has held profound significance for the people of Ireland for millennia. This pivotal moment in the solar calendar was a time of great anticipation and reverence for early societies who lived in harmony with the natural world. In Ireland, this relationship with the solstice is perhaps most vividly preserved in the ancient monuments built to honor it, such as Newgrange in the Boyne Valley. These structures, with their precise alignments to the sun, reveal the extraordinary astronomical knowledge and spiritual depth of Ireland’s early inhabitants. For these ancient communities, the solstice symbolized the cyclical nature of life, marking the transition from darkness to light and the promise of renewal in the year ahead. Over time, this observance evolved, with Bronze Age and Iron Age societies incorporating the event into their spiritual and agricultural practices, while stone circles like Drombeg in County Cork and Dromnagorteen at the Cork/Kerry border continued to highlight the connection between humanity and the cosmos. The Winter Solstice is not just an ancient relic of the past; it is a living tradition that has woven itself into the fabric of Irish culture, spirituality, and identity, remaining an awe-inspiring moment of cosmic alignment and human reflection.
The party took place in a Jewish household, with many Jewish vegans and allies in attendance. After an opening circle of welcome and personal introductions, the 40 or so partygoers -- having laid out their exotic vegan dishes on a long table -- grabbed plates, dove into the vegan cocoa (chocolate drink of cacao nibs, coconut milk, rice syrup sweetener, and secret ingredients brought to a froth by a swirling device). There was lots to sample, savor, taste, and dig into, with good company on top of that.
Oh, that's a good idea, healing, massage, food
Eating and socializing, socializing and eating, we turned our attention to a sacred candlelight ceremony for animals led by Lisa Levinson. One by one those who wished came up and lit a candle at a central coffee table upon which had been placed pools of water. The small candles were lit, the dedication made, and the candles floated atop the watery surface, as if to combine the elements with spirit and the lovingly kind intentions of those doing the lighting. With everyone gathering energy and sending it out for the benefit of humans and animals and human-animals, there was some weeping, profound joy, and a net of compassion spread out in all directions. There was some Jewish singing of the Hebrew sort, a Muslim dedication in the name of Allah, Buddhist dedications of Metta and wisdom-wishes for enlightenment of the world, and the singing of sacred Hindu chants with a heavy German accent. This is Southern California, and we're nothing if not eclectic.
There are other Vegan Spirituality events, including potlucks, throughout the country (when the website veganspirituality.com is not being hit by a denial-of-service attack and always at Vegan Spirituality on Meetup). Then we were all invited by Vanessa (ellorawellness.com) and Annie (Fruitluck Meetup) to the giant Vegan New Year's Eve party, a kind of formal catered event with massage on Dec. 31, 2024, in West Los Angeles. Then more socializing, hugs, networking, invitation and recipe exchanges, thanks to the hosts, until we were told that we didn't have to go home but we couldn't...at least not in the sacred shabbat space.
Vegan Winter Solstice Party and Candlelight Ritual for Animals
Host Lisa Levinson (Vegan Spirituality Meetup) cordially invites all to a festive holiday party to celebrate the winter solstice with good cheer.
Join a free candlelight ritual to bring light to animals currently suffering in dark places around the globe. It's the shortest day and the longest night of the year, so the solstice symbolizes rebirth, renewal, and the return of light. May our lights usher in a new era of inner peace and external peace for all beings!
For the potluck, bring a vegan (100% plant-based raw or cooked foods with no animal products of any kind) potluck dish to share, your own plate/cup/utensils, and an open heart.
We will have extra plates and utensils on hand. Be mindful to bring a dish rather than a snack or drink that way we have plenty of food for everyone.
IMPORTANT: Please bring a meal to feed 4-8 people versus just a snack or drink so there's plenty of food for everyone to enjoy.
All are welcome, whether vegan or not.
In the spirit of compassion and in honor of animals, we request that all food is vegan and all clothing is free of animal products. For food, that means no flesh, dairy, eggs, honey, or derivative byproducts in food. For clothes, that means no down, fur, wool, or leather. Please share your delicious vegan dishes and favorite vegan clothes with us!
RITUAL:
For the ritual, tea lights will be provided. You're welcome to bring your own candle. Here's an option if you want to purchase vegan candles (Etsy).
Ancient Aliens: Interstellar PORTALS led to Stonehenge?!
(HISTORY)
Oct. 2, 2024: A shocking DNA study released in 2018 reveals that the original builders of Stonehenge mysteriously vanished [from the face of the earth]. See more in Season 14, Episode 17, "The Secrets of Stonehenge." Ancient Aliens explores the controversial theory that extraterrestrials have visited Earth for millions of years.
Nick Pearce analyzes Neolithic standing stones in Orkney
Remarkable new scientific research at Stonehenge has revealed an extraordinary new mystery.
Mineralogical tests on the massive six-tonne stone at the heart of the monument show that this central rock, known as the altar stone, was brought to Stonehenge from the far north of Scotland.
[The greatest disappointment when visiting Stonehenge is that there is a sign along the walkway from the car park to the stones that explains that the stones were adjusted for millennia. So it is not as if some group, human or extraterrestrial, knew what it was meant to be and do (as a calendar) and did it. It has been adjusted all along, perhaps never more than about 50 years ago when cranes and modern equipment were brought in to lift fallen stones and place them just so. What we have today is what was recently created from stones that had laid around in a fallen state for who knows how long. The use of cranes was not a secret when it was happening, but it sure seems to be one now. Most people have no idea of the modern interference.]
The altar stone is arguably the most ritually important stone in Stonehenge, because it is the rock that marks the intersection of the prehistoric temple’s two most important celestial alignments – the winter solstice sunrise to summer solstice sunset alignment, and the summer solstice sunrise to winter solstice sunset alignment.
It’s already known that some of the monument’s smaller stones were brought to the site from southwest Wales, around 120 miles away. But moving a rock from northern mainland Scotland or Orkney would have involved a journey of well over 500 miles.
The discovery has huge implications and is likely to transform archaeologists’ perceptions around key aspects of life in prehistoric Britain.
Up to now, most scholars have assumed that British Neolithic society was exclusively local or regional (based on tribal, clan or similar identities), but the newly discovered Stonehenge-Scotland link, when combined with the Welsh origin of some of the Stonehenge stones, suggests that there might also have been a pan-British aspect to how Neolithic Britons lived.
PHOTO: Aberystwyth University geologist Nick Pearce analyzes Neolithic standing stones in Orkney (Prof. Richard Bevins, Aberystwyth University)
Protest the environment with cornstarch.
The newly revealed Scottish link implies that 4,500 years ago, there was already at least some political and religious cooperation across Britain. That’s because the Neolithic people who transported the six-tonne rock from northern Scotland or Orkney to southern England must have known that Stonehenge existed, that it was being expanded, and precisely what shape and size of giant rock was required.
What's so special about this weekend? Thursday is the Summer Solstice, Friday is the Full Strawberry Moon and Lunar Standstill (the 18.6-year lunar cycle) of Luna rising and descending. It's also the Year of the Dragon for transformation (and Hot Ugly Rat Year), so it's a time to manifest.
Why is June’s full moon called the “Strawberry Moon”?
The Indigenous Algonquian and Ojibwe cultures nicknamed this full moon the Strawberry Moon because it marks the month when strawberries are ripe and ready for picking in the northeastern USA. In Europe, people call it the Honey Moon because June is when honey was typically ready to harvest.
When did DisclosureFest begin? Years ago, Adrian and his spiritual business partner were on the radio (Coast to Coast with guest host Jimmy Church) talking about bringing a FREE Burning Man, Coachella, Woodstock festival of music, yoga, vegan food, ecstatic dance, yoga, and ET/UFO disclosure to Los Angeles.
What is the disclosure? We're not alone.
Where could it be held? How about a cornfield in DTLA, next to an art colony, by historic Chinatown under the elevated Metrorail train? Yes!
They talked the City of Los Angeles into it, and it went off without a hitch. Eventually, it got so big it moved to Las Vegas like most music festivals eventually do. (There are fewer regulations and hassles there).
See the spectacular Full Moon Ceremony like they have in Buddhist Phuket, Thailand
Founder Adrian, spiritualized nerd
The pandemic slowed it down. But it's a year-round series of initiatives. It centers around the Mass Meditation Initiative as its center with sound baths and other healings.
This year the fest it is at the Castaic Lake Lagoon in northwestern LA County, 40 minutes from DTLA, out past Magic Mountain. Castaic is a reservoir along the 5 Freeway. It's three days full of music, workshops, yoga, and speakers Stairway to the Stars including these notables:
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