Driving home last night, I heard the news. Immediately, I felt the heat of anger welling up inside of me. As a veteran, this hit me especially hard.

The military is supposed to stand as the ultimate symbol of freedom. We put on the uniform, and we stand up for everyone’s right to believe and live a life as they choose, free of persecution. We sign a blank check to defend a Constitution that explicitly guarantees the free exercise of religion. But watching the military roll back its recognition of pagan faiths makes one thing painfully clear: that freedom apparently comes with an asterisk. It forces a hard, heavy question to the surface: Is what we have truly freedom, or is it just a highly organized system of control?

Admitting that hurts. It feels like a betrayal of the years spent in service, the sacrifices made, and the ideal we thought we were protecting. It brings up a chaotic storm of feelings, and honestly, it left me feeling completely ungrounded. But as the heat of that anger made my skin flush, my mind pulled back to the macrocosm, to the natural flow of the seasons and the cycle we are standing in right now: Midsummer.

At the Summer Solstice, the sun reaches its absolute peak. It is a time of maximum fire, passion, relentless solar force, and raw willpower. Fire is a destructive force, yes, but it is also a transformative alchemy. The fires of anger we are feeling right now do not have to be a wildfire that burns us out from the inside. Instead, we can lean on the natural cycle of the Earth to help us process these feelings, reclaim our strength of will, and channel that raw heat into refined, unshakeable intent.

If you are feeling ungrounded, furious, or betrayed by these systemic steps backwards, here is how we can shift our collective energy from reactive rage into protective, purposeful work.

The Alchemy of Anger: Mental Health & Purpose

Anger is not a spiritual failure; it is a boundary keeper. It is the part of your psyche that loves you enough to say, “This is unjust, and I deserve better.” When an institution tries to erase your identity or the identity of your siblings in arms, anger is the correct, healthy, and honorable response. The danger to our mental health only happens when that anger has nowhere to go, turning inward into depression or exploding outward into aimless burnout.

To protect our own and ensure our freedom isn’t chipped away, we have to treat our anger like fuel for a forge. We don’t throw fuel around randomly; we contain it, heat it, and use it to shape tools for the work ahead.

• Acknowledge the Heat: Do not try to love and light your way out of this. Let your skin flush. Let the adrenaline move through your body. Anger is energy, and it must be spent, not stored.
• Pivot to Sovereignty: Remind yourself that military recognition did not give us our gods, our magic, or our connection to the Earth, and their lack of recognition cannot take it away. Government acknowledgment is a convenience, not a validation. Our freedom is intrinsic, ancestral, and absolute.
• Commit to the Work: True protection isn’t about offensive outbursts that alienate others; it’s about building unshakeable internal structures. It means supporting pagan veteran networks, practicing openly with fierce pride, and quietly, stubbornly refusing to be erased.

The Solstice Forge: A Midsummer Ritual of Transformation

We are skipping the cliché of burning a piece of paper. This isn’t about wishing away bad feelings or making a gentle release. This is about taking the red hot, raw iron of your fury and hammering it into a weapon of absolute resolve.

This ritual utilizes the peak energy of Midsummer, the forge of the Sun, to transform passive anger into active, protective willpower.

Prerequisite Materials

• A sturdy iron cauldron, a large stone, or an anvil-like surface (something that can take a physical impact).
• A heavy hammer or a large, heavy stone that fits comfortably in your hand.
• A piece of raw, unshaped iron or a heavy iron nail.
• A vessel of cold water (salted or infused with protective herbs like rosemary or mugwort).
• A large red or gold candle (representing the midday Solstice sun).

Ritual Steps

1. Stoke the Inner Hearth. Sit before your altar or your ritual space. Light the red or gold candle. Close your eyes and intentionally recall the news that sparked your anger. Do not shy away from it. Feel the flush in your chest, the tightening of your jaw, and the heat in your blood. Breathe heavily, feeding the oxygen to that internal fire until you feel fully connected to your wrath.

2. Cast the Heat into the Iron. Take the iron nail or piece of raw iron into your non-dominant hand. Focus all of that internal heat, that sense of betrayal, and that fury into the metal. Imagine the iron absorbing the chaotic, destructive edges of your rage, turning the metal white hot in the spiritual realm.

3. The Strike of Will. Place the iron onto your cauldron, stone, or anvil surface. Take the hammer or striking stone in your dominant hand. Raise it high, calling upon the unyielding, fierce energy of the Midsummer Sun.

Bring the hammer down onto the iron with force (safely, but with true physical intent). As it strikes, let out a vocal release, a shout, a chant, or a heavy breath.

With each strike, declare what you are forging. Hammer it out loud:

• Strike: “I shatter the illusion of their control!”
• Strike: “I forge my anger into unyielding armor!”
• Strike: “I claim my sovereignty!”

Do this until the chaotic energy in your body shifts into a feeling of solid, heavy power.

4. The Quenching. Take the iron, now charged with your transformed, focused will, and plunge it into the vessel of cold, salted water. Listen to the psychological hiss of the heat meeting the cold. This is the moment the metal hardens. This is the moment your anger ceases to be a volatile emotion and becomes a permanent, unshakeable boundary.

5. The Sovereign Charge. Remove the hardened iron from the water. Hold it to your chest. Speak your vow of purpose: “They may remove the name from their ledgers, but they cannot remove the fire from my blood. I am a protector of my people, a keeper of the old ways, and I will not be erased.”

6. Close and Carry. Extinguish the candle. Pour the quenching water out onto the earth as a libation, returning the excess energy to the ground. Keep the forged piece of iron with you, in your pocket, on your altar, or in your vehicle, as a physical touchstone of your unshakeable strength and intent.

A Note for the Path Ahead
Freedom has never been granted by a bureaucratic pen; it has always been maintained by the quiet resilience of those who refuse to bow. We stand on the shoulders of ancestors who practiced in the shadows for centuries, under far worse penalties than a lack of official recognition. We know how to survive, we know how to thrive, and we know exactly who we are. Stay grounded, stay fierce, and let’s get to work.

So Mote it Be!

For more details: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/authors/kimberly-horn