Please register using this link!

This event will take place on Sunday, June 21st, 2026 at 09:00am PDT, 09:00am AZT, 10:00am MDT, 11:00am CDT and 12:00pm EDT

The summer solstice, the longest day of the year, marks the arrival of summer. The seeds and buds that started emerging in spring come alive as flowers and fruits in summer. Nature is abuzz with returning migratory birds and butterflies, fireflies dot the night sky, bees and other insects are busy scattering pollen. It is an exciting and alive time for nature—human and our non-human kin.

Summer is also a time of contrasts. The sun feels luscious on our skin, but it can also burn. Dry, blue sky summer days lure us outside to our favorite parks and trails, or our favorite swimming spots. At the same time, many farmers and gardeners are struggling with extended drought. Our gardens might flourish with abundant blooms, but we can’t help but notice the pollinators are not as abundant as they once were.

It seems like these contrasts are even more pronounced in this time of climate crisis and political division. So much is threatened and changes are occurring more rapidly than our human and natural worlds can respond.

This Summer Solstice we come together in the liminal space of abundance and scarcity, of flourishing and decline. We embrace the contrasts of summer and the challenges of these times. We ask, “What does it mean to be a woman in these times?” “How do we flourish in the midst of uncertainty and unpredictable change?” “How do we balance despair and hope?” “What is mine to do?” “What is ours to do?”

Core to the Center for Nature and Leadership (CNL) is our commitment to nature as teacher and guide for living whole and vibrant lives. We gather each season to pause, reflect, and share from our hearts in community. By weaving a program of poetry, silence, reflection, and conscious conversation, all participants have a chance to remember our true nature and the rhythms that guide us. The guides offer a short teaching on the season’s wisdom to frame our time together.

**Please bring a candle, pen and paper, if possible.** We also invite you to spend some quiet time, ideally in nature, before or after our Council zoom call, based on your own schedule. There, we encourage you to reflect on the contrasts of summer in your own life, and the questions we pose in this article.

What: Summer Solstice Seasons Council Gathering – for members and guests
Sponsored by the Center for Nature and Leadership

When: Sunday, June 21st, 2026 at 09:00am PDT, 09:00am AZT, 10:00am MDT, 11:00am CDT and 12:00pm EDT. Zoom will open 15 minutes early for socializing.

Why: Coming together for community, insight, inspiration and hope.

Please join us, as we come together to share from our hearts and the wisdom of nature and personal experience. Together we will remember that “all flourishing is mutual” (Robin Wall Kimmerer).

Your Hosts

Cary Gaunt, Ph.D.

Two great loves comprise the heart of who I am and the work I do in the world. One is a profound connection with the earth forged by my childhood on a small farm and honed through a lifetime of listening to the land, exploring, and living in natural places. The other is a deep spirituality comprised of contemplative and nature-based practices, Soulcraft™, spiritual discernment, and wilderness rites of passage. I weave these two great loves in my work as a sustainability leader and contemplative practitioner and teacher. My commitment is to support organizations and individuals in moving beyond sustainability to restoration and flourishing.

 

Beverly Winterscheid

Beverly is a mentor and motivator for women who want to change the world through passionate commitment to their ideas, families, organizations, and communities. After investing two decades in change management with a large systems focus, including a Ph.D. in Strategic Management, she came to the conclusion that change happens one person at a time. In 2008, she founded the Center for Nature and Leadership (CNL) to blend traditional leadership development with scientific findings on the beneficial effects of Nature on humans. She launched the The Generative Council, CNL’s keystone program, designed to provide diverse women leaders the time & space to develop their personal & professional impact, CNL now offers virtual and regional programming based on these same principles. Creating and achieving bottom-lines of all sorts, and helping other women see the wisdom of Nature at work in their own lives is what she loves to do. Cultivating fearless leaders, those who stand firmly on authenticity and truth, who strive to bring new visions into reality in concert with others is her passion and expertise.

 

Photo credit: NPS/Jim Peaco