I celebrated sunrise on this solstice day at Stonehenge with thousands of other people, in honour of my soul friend Em, who had intended to celebrate her 40th here this year.

Alas she passed last December at age 39 from a tragic accident and so I accompanied her husband and three children to honour her wishes, which also coincided with her youngest’s first birthday, so a bitter sweet day. My youngest Eben chose to join us too.

It was manic, busier than I have ever experienced Stonehenge and while I managed to touch a couple of outer stone and the famous heel stone, it was impossible to penetrate the inner circle - it blows my mind that Stonehenge has the power to attract this many people after all this time.

Em would have loved it. She always said to look for her in the sunrises and sunsets. Her husband and I were very aware of this as the sun rose and the crowd cheered, Bodhi, her son, smiling as if he could see his Mum.

The children were amazing, staying top late last night to make the most of the pool where we are staying and up to leave at 3.15am this morning, let alone the 30 mins walk from the carpark to the stones and back again.

Mid morning Eben and I headed to Glastonbury, which was just as manic. Apparently it was challenging accessing the top of the Tor this morning due to the thousands celebrating here. Certainly the town was still busy, lots of camper vans, tents at the bottom of the Tor, someone had even taken a mini sofa up to the top!

We headed straight to Chalice Wells for their celebrations, the gardens are especially stunning at the moment, and the place was filled with people, many women especially brandishing roses, for the 12pm midday celebration, of silent meditation at the well head before releasing rose petals down the water way.

We headed up to the Tor at midday, Eben doesn’t do silence very well and it was so hot, we relished the breeze at the top, plus shade. There was a really chilled atmosphere and certainly the smell of cannabis has been a theme today, not least up the Tor but in the town and of course at Stonehenge this morning too!

The highlight though, as always, a dip in the white spring. There were so many people milling around awaiting 1pm opening time, such was the heat and the ambiance in town, but we got to the front of the queue, stripped and dipped so I was out ahead of the queues of naked women and indeed men needing a cool down and a cleanse.

I can’t really express how much of I feel as if I am touching home visiting Glastonbury, it is a magical place, that resonates on a very deep level and also shares something new with me. Today it was a wand man who makes and sells wands to share happiness, love and wand wishes, Eben was especially taken and impressed me with his, “mustn’t judge a book by it’s cover mummy”, when he realised the wand man wasn’t as scary as he looked. Beautiful man.

Weirdly his ‘thing’ is about connections and how the wands connect people. Lo and behold while here with him - for our second time, opposite Drapers - two Reiki students of times gone by happened to bump into me, independently too, both with their partners. Weird. And yet not.

We just had the most amazing time from random hugs to vegan treats and the most delicious chai.

We headed back to Amesbury for more play with Em’s children, celebrating Bodhi’s birthday, and making the most of the pool in these very warm temperatures, and off to Woodhenge for sunset, gifting a random encounter with a couple who also home school and celebrate Stonehenge and Glastonbury - they found Stonehenge incredibly intense this year too.

Many things stood out today:

Never judge a book by its cover. This is so true.

And as Em’s husband and I were saying, you just never know what life is going to throw at you; a year ago he was welcoming Bodhi into the world gently at home and had no idea that a year on he’d be widowed and raising three children on his own.

I am also blown away by the love today, by the number of people honouring the sun and the land - I truly feel Gaia is marching on and taking us with her - things are changing, more people are switched in to the shifting paradigm, making it so, by honouring more of their heart and soul and joining Gaia’s march.

The other thing - connections. I realise I was being shown this today, how connected we are, and how people appear in our life exactly when they are meant to, to give deeper meaning to the moment and to the path we are walking. How we cannot control this, and nor should we, how magic and mystery weaves its way through life in the present moment, unplanned.

Finally, to make the most of life. We may never know when it might be our final solstice sunrise and sunset.

Love Emma x

Happy summer solstice!

Being ourselves, children too