The Longest Day is Longer Now

[kniteracy]

This is my third summer solstice in the UK. Despite identifying as pagan for more than 25 years, I haven't yet done any serious searching for pagan groups here in the UK. Originally, I was told that without initiation credentials from a traditional wiccan coven, I wouldn't be taken very seriously by wiccan people here, so I didn't investigate that too closely when I moved here. As for searching out things that might appeal to me more, like druidry groups, I simply haven't taken the time. So when my atheist (but not fundamentalist) husband suggested that we get up seriously early in the morning to watch the sun rise, just because, I gave it a serious think.

I think we're probably going to do that, though I don't think we'll make the trek up to Primrose Hill or even Oxleas Wood (maybe we'll save that for the weekend). filceolaire asked, "What time do you want to get up?" so I went to timeanddate.com to find out what time the sun rose tomorrow. It's 4:42 am, by the way, although the sky will be light for an hour before that. Tomorrow will be sixteen hours, forty minutes, and seventeen seconds long, between astronomical sunrise and sunset. I knew that England is closer to the top of the darkness curve than Atlanta was, but only comparing the two day lengths really convinced me how far I've come.

We're less than a thousand miles south of the arctic circle here. Given that the distance between the (geographic) north and south poles is about 12,500 miles, it's safe to say I'm pretty close to the top of the world-- for very liberal values of "pretty close"! I live more than 750 miles north of where I used to live. That's less-impressive sounding than when I tell people I moved over 4,000 miles to start this rich and satisfying life. Of course, if you compare that to the 6,700 miles we travelled from here to Singapore, it seems paltry. Between September, 2005 and July, 2006, I moved a total of 17,400 miles. Hey, the circumference of the earth at the equator is only 24,900 miles....

In Atlanta, the sun will rise at 6:27 am local time, an hour and a half later in the Atlanta day than here. Sunset will occur at 8:51 pm. The sun won't set here until 9:22, half an hour later. Tomorrow will be fourteen hours, twenty-four minutes, and four seconds long in Atlanta.

In two hours, the air will already be thick with birdsong and the streetlamps will be superfluous. Tomorrow at work, we'll all complain because it's going to get up to 22°C in London, and it's going to rain. That's 72°F, on the summer solstice. Three words folks back in the US would have been shocked to hear me say? "I love summer." And I have two hours, sixteen minutes, and thirteen seconds more daylight than I used to get at midsummer? That's a nice, long day to live through well.

Bonus link: How to get to the Land of the Midnight Sun by train.

Comments

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I had heard from several people that Americans just aren't taken seriously in pagan circles. And the truth is, I've been so busy getting my life together, what with Singapore, here, visa, work, cash flow trouble, work, trip to US, work, (and did I mention work?) that I really haven't looked in to it.

--how did the New Forest rite go?

[silme.livejournal.com]

Well, we're in a very mellow circle, all egalitarian, no set high priest nor priestess. We take turns. We also tend to like to do some lighthearted rituals every now and then.

I missed the ritual last night due to sinus issues and exhaustion. I was long asleep by the time Ian returned home (they go to a pub after the ritual), and I haven't heard from him about how it went yet. :)---