On a chariot of flames I was chanting the NameThe hummingbird came and so it flowsWell I was in need of the medicineThe company of my brethrenThe Elk grew antlers once againHoka HeyThat's what we would sayWhen the morning cameAll through the day Sita Ram I praiseThis is straight ohanaOh Grandfather guide the way...
~Uncle Jo,Trevor Hall with Nahko
“June is the sixth month. June is named after Juno. Juno was the queen goddess in Roman mythology. She was married to Jupiter. Juno was the patron goddess of the Roman Empire...also the patroness of marriage. This may explain why so many consider the month of June to be a favorable time to get married.” ~https://mysticalnumbers.com/nummober-6/So, here we are in the 6th month, June, and doesn’t it make sense, that the month of June, named for Juno, is considered the perfect month for weddings (at least in the Northern Hemisphere)! I wonder was it named that because of its warmth and good weather, the flowers in bloom and the late spring movement towards the height of Summer around June 21st, the Summer Solstice. Regardless, June is a lovely month; although in Santa Barbara we also have our “June Gloom” marine layer that keeps the hot weather at bay until at least July. Still many people come here to get married; one summer I remember 3 weddings happening concurrently in Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens, with 3 more wedding parties waiting in the wings for their turn. (I do believe that was the weekend of 7/7/7, we’ll talk about that number next month!)I find it interesting that June was named for Juno, when the Summer Solstice seems to me to be a time for celebrating the masculine forces of nature. Apollo who pulls the sun behind him in his chariot around the world must have great love for Juno, or am I getting my Greek & Roman gods/goddesses mixed up...I do so often! So in June, along with all the weddings, In Santa Barbara we also celebrate the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere; the Solstice celebration is celebrating summer and Father Sun! I imagine that Father’s Day was created, similarly to Mother’s Day/May Day, to integrate the pagan celebration of Father Sun, since there was no way to stop the ages old celebration instigated by the natural world and insisted upon by the biology and history and ancestral memory of indigenous human beings. (After all, we are ALL indigenous human beings, most of us have just forgotten!)In Santa Barbara we have a fabulous parade and festival every year in June on the weekend closest to Summer Solstice; each year has a theme and the parade celebrates that theme. It is my favorite parade, because everyone dresses themselves up in the most colorful, whimsical and playful outfits and parades themselves up State street. The year I was in the parade I was the Queen of Hearts, carrywearing a giant heart with six foot colored foam flames up State Street, calling out, “Off with your Heads..Into your Hearts!” as I trundled along. I believe that this parade started as the celebration of a specific man’s birthday, who, with his friends, used to parade up State Street naked, perhaps at least in body paint! It has become a very family friendly event these days and is a time of celebration and fun for all of Santa Barbara.At the festival there is a drum circle at one end and a stage with bands playing at the other. In between there is food and fun and lots of amazing vendors selling any and everything fabulous and colorful and celebratory of this longest day of the year; hula hoops, tie dye, fairy wings, face painting, henna tattoos… the list goes on and on, there’s even a children’s section. On Friday night, the park celebrates in a gentler fashion, a sort of a locals night where old friends and neighbors get together and relax and socialize while the city fills up in preparation for the big event on Saturday. It’s such a sweet time for those of us who have been here a long time and want to celebrate but perhaps not in the fullness or the thick of it that happens the next day.
When times are hard I know you'll be strongI'll be there in you heart when you'll carry onLike moonlight on the water, and sunlight in the skyFathers and daughters never say goodbye…
~Michael BoltonFathers and Daughters
Some years Fathers day and the Solstice celebration fall on the same weekend, and that merges the two beautifully. Because my relationship with my own father was not ideal, my relationship to Father’s Day was often awkward. Then I began to look at all of the amazing fathers and men who have influenced my life all along and began to celebrate them on Father's Day. My Grandpa Roger, Uncle Dennis, my Stepmother’s husband, Chris and my cousin Illya; Mr. Celis from junior high; Mr Cunningham and Coach Roche from high school; My ex fiance, Lenny, my dear friend Tony, and so many of the other fathers I was blessed to observe and be in their presence as they raised children I have provided care for and taught over the years, among many others.
...On behalf of every manLooking out for every girlYou are the God and weight of her worldSo fathers, be good to your daughtersDaughters will love like you doGirls become lovers who turn into mothersSo mothers be good to your daughters too...
~John Mayer,Daughters
So many men have blessed my life with their loving presence, strength, and kind hearts and showed me what a wonderful father is despite the absence of my own (who I beleive did a pretty good job in the beginning, and who, at the very least, gave me the spark of life and half the DNA and ancestral line I carry forward with me now, along with wonderful relatives). So now on Father's Day I take time to thank all Fathers who hang in there, all men who strive to make the world a better place by being their best selves and doing good work in the world! Everyone is really doing the best they can, and I applaud them (and us) all for showing up!Esther Perel on Fatherhood today and What Makes Us Feel Meaningful
Six is a number perfect in itself,not because God created all things in six days; rather,the convert is true God created all things in six days because the number is perfect.
~Saint Augustine,City of God
“The Pythagoreans acknowledged number 6 to be the first perfect number.In mathematics a perfect number is when all the numbers divisors (excluding the number itself) are added, the sum equals the number itself. 1+2+3=6.In addition when including the number itself and dividing by two the result is the number itself. (1+2+3+6)/2 = 6Perfect numbers are rare. The Ancient Greeks recognized four perfect numbers: 6 – 28 – 496 – 8,128. Throughout history perfect numbers have fascinated mathematicians and more perfect numbers have been discovered.” ~ https://mysticalnumbers.com/number-6/Ahhhh so there is the link back to Juno, and June, the 6th month. The number 6 is a feminine number and one that is representative of the earth and mothering. I love the way it looks, the line curves down around and in and back down again, curling up, head down, like a child in the womb. It is a number of love. And I’d like to imagine it is love in all its fullness, not just the idealized aspects of love; just as the Earth loves and cares for us completely and is also doing her own journey and growth which we are a part of (all hail the Goddess Pele who is making a bigger island!). We do not control the earth or love, we are lucky enough to be here and enjoy the ride!
In the tarot, the number 6 is represented by the (6) Lovers card (LINKED to my article on the Lovers) and also by the (15, 1+5 = 6)Devil card (linked to my article on the Devil), which are mirror opposites of each other. The lovers represents the inner mystical marriage and the ideal of love. It looks at our journey to become whole human beings in relationship with other whole human beings. As a part of that process we must spend some time looking at our shadow, calling out and naming the Devil inside of ourselves so we can get thee behind us!Esther Perel on Relational Intelligence
We are all born whole and beautiful straight out of the spiritual world, right from the heart of God, and then we are socialized in this world of duality and we experience wounding that can lock us up in pain and shame. By looking inside, and feeling it all, loving ourselves through the pain and shame, we are able to unlock ourselves and become whole. The nature god Pan plays the devil on the sun and moon devil card, but he is simply the god of nature, when we accept our animal nature and trust our instincts while at the same time bring our attention into our hearts and align ourselves with our connection to God, we bridge the heavenly and material worlds and with one hand in each we bring them together with LOVE.
The 6 of cups is one of my favorite cards. In the sun and moon tarot it shows two children playing in the water, sharing water with each other. In the Rider Waite deck it shows a boy on bended knee giving a cup of flowers to a girl. Both of these cards take us back to childhood, before we had ever had our hearts broken and remind us of the innocence of love. When we see this card in a reading we are reminded of the ideal picture of love we had as children. I have always known that I came here to love and be in partnership, I knew at age 5 the kind of relationship I was heading for, even though I did not see it modeled for me by any of the adults I knew. Each time I have been truly and deeply in love as an adult, I have had a sense of that memory of love from my childhood. In order to allow myself to love again I commit to keeping my heart open as it once was when I was a child and to seeing the innocence and light in the other as their child reaches for mine. This is shown so sweetly at the end of this video by my friend Ruth.
In the 6 of wands, in the sun and moon tarot, a woman is dancing on a high cliff holding a torch while 5 other torches light up the area around here. This is a victory dance, a joyful celebration! In this card in the Rider Waite deck a man rides a horse, holding a wreath of leaves on the end of his staff, it looks like a victory homecoming and more celebration. Some have said the man on the horse has come to propose marriage, perhaps that’s also why the woman is dancing on the cliff? Regardless, there are many reasons for celebration. This card represents a beneficial relationship and breakthroughs of many kinds, creative and otherwise. Remember that wands are spirit in action, the element of fire; and here in the 6 of wands we see that the spotlight is on us, on victory and on celebration! Maybe we should all dress ourselves up this month and dance a victory dance up State Street with the Solstice Parade!
In the 6 of swords in the sun and moon tarot we see a young person sitting with a computer, busy studying. The six swords have created a cross of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn which “represents the ability to think analytically and to consider all information” (vanessa decourt)When this card makes its appearance in the reading I see it as a few specific things around schooling; either the querent is thinking about or in the midst of, studying something new, or they are actually “getting schooled” by the universe. This card represents exploring things in a new way, using our rational mind and thinking and studying. This is not a “feeling our way through it” situation it is actively thinking our way through it. When we “get schooled” the universe is helping us see things in a new light!
And finally we have the 6 of pentacles. Here, in the sun and moon tarot a girl stands holding out her red dress to catch the “pennies from heaven”. This represents a financial windfall, money comes from unknown or even un-imagined resources. How lovely to find that $20 bill in those jeans just out of the dryer or that jacket we haven't worn since last fall! This can also be a gift from a substantial benefactor or a helpful and wealthy friend who admires our work ethic and tenacity, someone who sees and rewards our inherent worth. And this is also money well earned, for all that good work, perhaps a promotion that we hadn’t expected. We are feeling success for our hard work, it has been noticed and we are reaping the rewards, whether we know the source or not! When this card enters a reading it brings with it wealth and reward aplenty!So, in honor of June and the number 6 and our Father’s, let’s take some of that unexpected extra income, use our most creative thinking (tapping into our childhood innocence and love of fun) to come up with a really fabulous costume made of re-purposed materials and do a victory dance all the way up State Street this summer with the Solstice Parade! (Some people have even been known to actually get married as they were parading up the street!)After you’ve finished (or maybe before you start), please stop by Paradise Found and show me what you’ve come up with! I’ll be here, from 11:00am-1:00pm and again from 3:00pm-6:00pm. In between you will find me, dressed up, glittered out and dancing with the drummers up State Street behind the giant balloon that ends the parade every year! See you there! Blessed Be.
Now We Are Six
When I was One,I had just begun.When I was Two,I was nearly new.When I was ThreeI was hardly me.When I was Four,I was not much more.When I was Five,I was just alive.But now I am Six,I'm as clever as clever,So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.
~ A.A. Milne
