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Affect & Energy

The Solstice Cycle Assessment

The arc of your energy

~10 min · 36 questions

What it measures

Solstice maps your energy as a cycle with a peak and a turning point. Not a fixed level. It measures how activated you feel, whether your energy moves toward or away from the world, and which direction the cycle is heading.

How do you burn, and which direction is your energy turning?

Why it matters

Your energy level shapes how you socialize, how you make decisions, and how you recover from stress. Solstice shows you the direction your energy is heading. Are you building toward a peak, or settling into a period of rest? That direction shapes how you plan your near future.

A solstice is the moment a cycle reverses. Summer solstice: the longest day, after which the light recedes. Winter solstice: the longest night, after which the light returns. Your energy follows the same pattern. Solstice maps where you are on that cycle and which way it's moving.

Measured dimensions

Each assessment is built from smaller dimensions that together produce the final result.

Solar Height

How bright or quiet your energy runs by default. Alert and ready, or calm and still.

Tidal Direction

Whether your energy moves outward toward people and action, or inward toward reflection and depth.

Trajectory

The felt direction right now. Gathering momentum, settling toward rest, or holding steady.

Theoretical foundations

Each dimension draws from published, peer-reviewed psychology research.

Russell (1980), Circumplex Model of Affect

Emotions organize on a circle defined by activation and valence. Grounds the wheel structure.

Carver & White (1994), BIS/BAS Scales

Approach and withdrawal are separate systems, not two ends of one line. Grounds Tidal Direction.

Schimmack & Reisenzein (2002), Energetic Arousal

Energetic arousal is its own activation type, distinct from general arousal. Grounds Solar Height.

Zuckerman (2007), Sensation Seeking

Stimulation appetite is a stable individual difference. Grounds the stimulation facet of Solar Height.

Carver & Scheier, Self-Regulation Theory

People perceive whether they're moving toward or away from their goals. Grounds trajectory.

How the assessment works

0132 questions place you on two continuous scales using a 7-point bipolar format. Each question presents two opposing statements and you pick where you fall between them.
024 additional questions ask about the felt direction of your energy right now, using the same format.
03Two axis scores emerge: Solar Height (your activation level) and Tidal Direction (outward vs. inward).
04Your position on the wheel picks a season. A direction label. Gathering, settling, or steady. Sits alongside it.

How results are generated

+Each axis score is 0–100 with 50 as the midpoint. Being at 51 doesn't make you a different person than being at 49.

+Your seasonal type comes from the combination: bright + outward = Summer, bright + inward = Autumn, quiet + inward = Winter, quiet + outward = Spring.

+Trajectory is computed separately from four directional items and added as a modifier.

Result outcomes

Each result has a detailed explanation of what the label means and how to interpret it.

Summer

Energy runs bright and reaches outward. Abundant, generative.

Your energy runs bright and moves outward. You probably feel most yourself when you can act, connect, and put visible effort into the world around you.

How to read it. Think of this as a season of available momentum. If your direction is gathering, that momentum is still building and new commitments may come easily. If it's settling, the same outward energy is there, but something in you is starting to turn inward and consolidate.

What makes it different. Summer shares its brightness with Autumn, but moves outward where Autumn turns in. It shares its outwardness with Spring, but with more immediate force.

Autumn

Energy runs bright but turns inward. Consolidating, selective.

Your energy runs bright, but it turns inward. There's real intensity here. It's just selective, focused on sorting, finishing, and deciding what matters.

How to read it. There's energy here, but less appetite for exposure. You might be busy internally: deciding what to keep, what to release, what to transform into something useful.

What makes it different. Autumn shares Summer's brightness, but not its outwardness. It shares Winter's inward turn, but with more charge behind it.

Winter

Energy runs quiet and turns inward. Deep, rooted, renewing.

Your energy runs quiet and inward. This isn't emptiness. It's the part of the cycle where restoration, depth, and private reflection come forward.

How to read it. Notice what becomes clearer when you stop pushing. If your direction is gathering, energy may be slowly returning. If it's settling, this is a natural time to rest and integrate before the cycle turns.

What makes it different. Winter sits opposite Summer. Quieter where Summer is bright, inward where Summer reaches out. It's softer than Autumn, with less charge behind it.

Spring

Energy runs quiet but reaches outward. Tender, emerging.

Your energy is quiet but beginning to move outward. It often feels tentative, curious, and gently drawn toward contact and new possibility.

How to read it. Read this as emergence rather than weakness. You may not have Summer's force yet, but the appetite is returning: small initiatives, curiosity, a desire to begin again.

What makes it different. Spring shares Winter's quietness, but reaches outward where Winter turns in. It shares Summer's outwardness, but at an earlier, more delicate stage.

How to interpret your result

Your result gives you two things: where your energy sits right now, and which direction it's heading. Summer means bright and outward-moving. If the direction is gathering, you're still climbing. If it's settling, you can feel the turn. Neither direction is better. Gathering gives you momentum, settling gives you space to consolidate.

Tips for reflection

  • +Trajectory is about this moment, not a permanent trait. It shifts with circumstances.
  • +Gathering is a good time for new challenges. Settling is a good time to rest and integrate.
  • +Retake the test after a few months and your position may shift. Arcs move.

Ready to take Solstice?

~10 min · 36 questions

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