SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION
JUNE 21, 2007
OPEN SUNRISE(5:07am)-SUNSET(8:28pm)
*Gates will open at 4:45am and will close at 9:00pm

Join us for our annual Summer Solstice Celebration. America’s Stonehenge is a 4000 year old archaeological site that is astronomically aligned to mark ancient holidays including the Solstices and Equinoxes. We will be open from Sunrise to Sunset so that visitors may witness this ancient calendar at work.

 A Traditional Solstice Celebration will be held at 2pm followed by the lively Celtic music of Ryan Thompson at 6pm. Our kid’s gemstone dig will be open for the duration of the day.  

The thirteenth annual

        Summer Solstice Celebration at America’s Stonehenge
                                                                    Thu. June 21, at 2:00 pm

America’s Stonehenge, located just over the border in New Hampshire, is a large megalithic complex constructed over 4000 years ago.  It is about one hour drive from Boston.  The site consists of stone walls, chambers and standing stones that are aligned to the equinoxes and solstices.

The solstice is a turning point.  It marks the longest day in the year when the sun has reached its furthest point to the north before it starts its journey to the south again.  It is the time when the sun is at its utmost strength and when the earth is opening to her full creativity, vulnerability and expression.  It is in this moment of fullest light that we become aware of the change it foretells.

Our Planet is changing and shifting.  It calls the ways we have been doing things in question.  The disconnection from our true self and earth are deeply interwoven.  An insatiable hunger for love, always looking for it outside of ourselves, tangles us up in fear.  The Great Mother underneath our feet, always there, responds.  Her womb is open, to receive and birth us again and again.  Each flowering season she is cheering us to have courage and trust, to express our true selves.  Held by her love, allow your feet to be guided to your loving self. 

Katja Esser and Valerianna Claff guide you through this very participatory ritual where we will reconnect with the divine feminine, through the womb of the earth.  The delicate flower, not trying to be something else, not afraid to be open, becomes the symbol of who we can be in the world.  Find the flower that expresses your truest self or depending where you are in your journey, what still wants to bloom inside you.

As we fill up the mother we fill ourselves.


 Also this year we will create a colorful procession through the site.  We encourage you to carry fabrics, banners.  Costumes and colorful dresses please spirit.

This ritual is highly participatory and it is quite a production.  We need your involvement during and before the ritual! Please come early to help set up the shrine of flowers, the archways and the ritual space.  We will be arriving around 11:00 AM to begin setting up the space. Helping brings your energy to the ritual.  By 1.30 PM we will explain the details of the event.
We need drummers and singers to keep the energy up.  Drummers please meet with us at 1.00 PM so we can review the ritual with you.  We also like gatekeepers that escort people into the ritual space.  


 Gathering time for the ritual is 1:30 PM; please come early:  Please arrive in the parking lot by 1.15 PM, so you may hike to the site.  At the site at 1.30 PM you will get a layout of the event and your part in it.  It is a collective experience.                                                                                                                  There is a suggested $5 donation per adult at the ritual site to cover expenses.  America’s Stonehenge stays open till sunset on the Solstice.  The celebration is followed by Celtic music.  

This is an open ritual.  We encourage children to come, as long as they are accompanied by adults.  Bring a friend and please pass this information on.

What to bring:  (Very needed:) Your single flower that expresses you and additional flowers with showy heads, drums and bells if you have them, natural bug repellent, raingear, and potluck food with your own plate, cup and flatware to prevent further accumulation of garbage.  Bring a snack and water for before the ritual because it lasts a while. Leave your potluck food in the car until after the ritual, just make sure it stays cool.                                                                                                                                             
Who to call: Please contact Valerianna at (413) 296-0330 or Katja at (617)365 4024, if you want to volunteer.  Email: Valerianna@earthlink.net  and katjacreates@comcast.net. Check out Katja's web site www.ritualexpressions.com

 Directions:  From I 93, take exit 3 in NH, take Rte 111 East (app. 5 mi., crossing Rte 28) to Island Pond and Haverhill Rds. (there will be a sign here for America’s Stonehenge on your right).  Follow Haverhill Rd. south to entrance.  The earlier you come the more chance there is to park close to the building.

Valerianna Claff is an artist, teacher, sound healer, and ceremonialist. She is steward of RavenWood Forest Retreat in Western Massachusetts which is dedicated to deep healing, soulful self-expression, and the nurturing of sacred relationships between the Earth and Her creatures.. She has over 20 years of teaching experience and combines her lifelong exploration of creativity, spirituality, music and healing to invite authentic self-expression and deep transformation. At RavenWood she paints, sculpts, offers private healing sessions, and facilitates groups and workshops. She teaches at Clark University and The Rhode Island School of Design. She completed Priestess Path Apprenticeship with Alisa Starkweather and has studied a variety of shamanic and vibrational healing modalities. Her CD, Breath and Bone, is a collection of original songs and chants. Valerianna has been co-facilitating Solstice Ceremonies with Katja Esser at America's Stonehenge for the past 5 years.

Katja Esser is an inspirational artist, mask and costume designer, ritualist, photographer and performer.  She has exhibited her work in the Netherlands, New York and Boston. Katja has studied different forms of movement and voice. She has created sacred ceremonies for the seasons since 1992 for small and large groups of people of which the summer solstice at America’s Stonehenge is most well known. She is very involved in african based spirituality with Malidoma Some and the East Coast Village which has brought her to Africa a few times.  She creates rituals and gives talks on colleges and universities.  Katja sings with Bonesong, an improvisational sacred singing quartet that sings in a cave. She has performed with the Theater Behind The Mask in schools and at First Night.  Katja has an extensive website www.ritualexpressions.com at which her work can be viewed.   

Photos from past Summer Solstice Celebrations: