The Longest Day: Messages From Light & Shadow
By Melanie Paquette
Back to basics.
That was the message I got when considering what to write about for this turn of the wheel. For me, back to basics means back to my first love (so to speak) – tarot.
Everyone celebrates summer solstice as the beginning of summer, but it’s also the day that we begin our return to the dark. So while it brings us the longest day, it also means that every day from now on, a tiny bit of daylight is stripped away – the light tips us into shadow. I figured the Revelations tarot would be a perfect deck for this reading since it shows both the light and shadow aspects of the card in a single image.
I asked the question, “What does the longest day have to tell us about this turn of the wheel?” I shuffled the deck. And about half of the cards fell on the floor. It’s often said that when cards fall out of the deck, they should be included in the reading, but that would have been one very long reading. Seriously, there were over 30 cards on the floor. So I took note of the fact that so many cards left my hands and started again.
I shuffled again, managing to keep the cards in hand this time, and held my intention. Then I drew three cards – choosing the ones that made me feel something in my body when I touched them.
The Lovers
Strength
8 of Pentacles
I sat with these cards for a while – there was something interesting about the arrangement – a shimmer of something I couldn’t quite grasp. And then it hit me – the cards I pulled drew a line through the arc of the summer itself – from Gemini to Cancer (which aligns with Summer Solstice) to Leo to Virgo.
The Lovers, aligned with Gemini, opens the doorway just before the solstice—a sign of choice, duality, and connection that leads us into the light. The Lovers sings the soul-song of connection. Often mistaken for mere romance, she is a much older spirit than that. She is choice, alignment, and discernment – the vow made not to another but to the self who longs to live in wholeness. But Gemini can be tricky – she’s called the twins for a reason. In shadow, Gemini can be two different people, making us wonder which version will show up next. The mutable airiness of the sign is reflected in the card – represented here as opposing forces – angel and devil. At best, we’ll find ourselves flexible in our thoughts, willing to listen to others and adjust. At worst, we’ll find ourselves overthinking, changing our minds, and trying to please others by changing who we are. So as the portal to Cancer opens, The Lovers asks us to embrace the best of Gemini – the ability to listen with keen perceptiveness and cut through illusions. We’re about to enter the time of the crab – the outer shell is tough, but under the shell is a tender, emotional being. We need to keep our wits about us and be clear about who we are to move through the early days of summer when tender shoots are growing more resilient and hardy.
Strength, the card of Leo, brings us through the next turn of the wheel at Lughnasadh. The Lion brings strength of will. The fortitude to keep going, to keep tending to the spark of inspiration. At her best, Strength speaks of grace under pressure, of inner fortitude honed not by struggle alone but by love for the path we’re walking. In shadow, Strength can be overbearing, inflexible, ready to burn it all down. But if we burn it down, we won’t reap the rewards of the harvest to come. The Lion’s appearance at the gateway of the solstice suggests that this turn of the wheel asks us to be both the flame and the hearth that holds it.
The 8 of Pentacles corresponds to the Sun in Virgo, picking up where Strength leaves off and taking us through to Mabon. This card holds the cycle of earth itself. It speaks of the devoted maker, the hands that weave, carve, mend, and tend with patient care. This card honours the ancient truth that magic is not in the grand gesture but in the daily devotion: mixing herbs, stirring pots, shaping words. It asks us to recommit to the sacred dailyness of the craft. In shadow, the 8 of Pentacles whispers that we are not working hard enough, not doing enough, not fast enough. This pushes us out of alignment with cycle. The lesson is to remember that it is not wasted effort when the world does not immediately change – when we work with the season, things will unfold in beauty and reverence, and in perfect timing.
And what about the dropped cards?
I take that to mean that there is more to the question than can be held in three cards alone. There’s a complexity, an unfurling, a collective energy that can’t be contained in just three cards. So many of us are feeling scattered, undone by the intensity of modern life, longing for grounding, for a circle to sit within. The three cards that were drawn are like a map, showing us how things may unfold through the summer months. Guiding us to be discerning, to be both the flame and the hearth, and to embrace the magic of daily devotion. Telling us that the longest day is a sacred threshold, asking us not to cling to the light but to learn how to carry it home through the darkness.
Hey, I'm Melanie, I read cards and host workshops here at Ninth Wave Arts, and I make magic. Specifically I make the kind of magic that you can wear every day, and that serves as a reminder to step back from the daily nonsense and bullshit, and remember that you are amazing, this too shall pass, and things will be fine. Magical even. I was born on Halloween – magic has been part of my life for as long as I can remember.
