Sultry, sensuous summer

A contemplation.

A few years back, I planted daphnes. Shallow rooted, they struggled at first. But now they are healthy and vibrant and oh so sensuous. The variety is called Eternal Fragrance and it doesn’t disappoint.

"Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains..."

— Diane Ackerman

We spent last week on Cape Cod with Andrew’s family. I’d only been once before, decades ago. A visit to Provincetown with an old girlfriend. It was strange to walk the same streets, a different configuration of family in tow. I saw an older gay couple, tanned and laughing, and had a pang for my uncle who died of AIDS. He never got to be an old gay guy in Provincetown. Nothing but those two old gents looked the same as it had the last time I’d been there. Clothing stores have been replaced with tchotchke shops. But the light smell of salt mingling with fried dough and shucked oyster shells, that was still the same.

On summer solstice I found a snake skin. Five and a half feet, perfectly shed. You could even see where the skin had stretched over the eyes like little goggles. I keep thinking about that: shedding completely, down to the way you see the world.

I think I could do it… as long as the smells remained the same.

We haven’t had a seasonal reflection in a while and these sultry summer days seem perfect for a little introspection. We’re in what I think of as the resting energy that surrounds each solstice. The hectic energy of spring has peaked. Looking back on the past few weeks, can you feel the pause?

Take an inventory: how does your body feel at this time (feel into your belly and your heart, your throat and your tongue. Sense your skin. Notice your eyeballs.)? How does your mind feel?

In the days to come, the solar tide begins its slow recession. On the far side of the summer solstice is the shortening of days as we head toward autumn. In the plant kingdom, energy is shifting. The peak of spring growth has been reached and the plants will now slowly shift toward the preparation of fruit and seed.

And yet we are just coming into the heat, the fire, of summer (which, less poetically, has to do with the tilt of the Earth’s axis). So while the days are imperceptibly shortening, the heat is rising. The sun—fire— is the element that is prominent now. Our days are hot and sun-drenched, our nights still, warm and, where I live, muggy. It makes the other elements feel especially delicious: a breeze through the window, a cooling summer shower.

How does the fire of this season affect your body? How about your mind? Your emotions? Your personality?

Understanding how you react, cyclically and seasonally, gives you insight into how to plan your life to best support your individual being.

Let these questions guide your thoughts. Perhaps you’ll decide to journal on them. For me, asking myself questions like these are part of my seasonal practice, it’s how I pull the energy of the season into my everyday life, allowing my inward thoughts to reflect the doings of the outer world.

I return to these ideas over and over, season after season. My answers change and I’m sure yours will as well.

If you are so moved, I’d love to hear your thoughts and truths in the comments below.

xx Maia