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Summer Solstice

On or around June 21 when the Sun enters Cancer

Litha, Summer Solstice or Midsummer is a celebration of the Goddess and God at the height of their power.  They are the King and Queen of the fertile lands, and together they rule over the fertile, growing Earth.  Their mature love for each other ensures the success of the ripening crops. The Goddess heavy with pregnancy mirroring the heavily laden fields, orchards and gardens. The God is the living representation of the summer sun, the Sun King who nurtures and protects the Earth Goddess.

The Sun God of Litha is also the Oak King, God of the light half of the year.  The Oak King is also at the height of His power, but a new challenge to his authority, the Holly King, God of the dark half of the year, is born on Summer Solstice. Though Litha marks the zenith of the Sun and the day of the longest light, it is also a day of sadness.  From this day forward the Oak King/Sun King will begin to falter and weaken, for with birth comes death,  the birth of the Holly King brings the death of the light half of the year and we begin to spiral into the darkness. We have begun to move towards winter.
 

The power of the Sun at Solstice is protective, healing, empowering, revitalizing and inspiring.  It adds a powerful charge to all spells, crystals and herbs.  Divination on this night is traditional.

LITHA SUMMER SOLSTICE SABBAT 8 pages

 

Litha Prayer for the Earth

 


Litha Correspondences

Animals: Butterfly, bee, wren, robin, snake

Colours: Gold, red, orange, blue, and yellow, green,

Deities: Aine, Freya, Flora, Habondia, Lugh, Greenman, Oak King, Bast, Brigit, Hathor

Faeries: At Summer Solstice the phenomenon of the Trooping Faeries will begin.  Trooping Faeries live in large communities like a clan and may travel great distances in long processions. You will know that the Trooping Faeries are about when you hear other-worldly music and the sounds of a raucous party.  Their favourite pastimes according to Yeats is feasting, fighting, making love and playing music. On Mid-Summer night, keep your eyes and ears open and you may be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of them!

Foods: All early summer fruits and vegetables, ale and mead, honey cakes,  red wine, strawberries, sun tea, herbal teas,

Herbs & Plants:  Mugwort, vervain, chamomile, rose, honeysuckle, lily, oak, lavender, ivy, yarrow, fern, elder, wild thyme, daisy, carnation.

St. John's Wort - At Summer Solstice the Sun has reached its zenith in the sky and is as close to us in the northern hemisphere as it will ever get before it begins its slow descent which will lead us into winter. At Summer Solstice Saint John’s Wort is also in its height of flowering, and with its golden star-flowers full of stamens that look like rays bursting forth, the sun’s uplifting energy is captured on earth in the form of a humble flower.

Magick - Healings, growth spells, empowerment spells, and love magick are all incredibly potent at this time

Gems: Amber, tiger’s eye, jade, emerald

Litha Incense:  Sage, cedar, frankincense, lemon, myrrh, pine, rose, and lavender

Solar System - Sun

Element - Fire

Trees - Beech, elder, holly, laurel, linden, oak

 

The Wisdom of the Greenman

The Greenman is a woodland God that represents the wild, untamed Spirit of Nature. His face is covered in foliage, and He often has leaves pouring out of His mouth and nostrils. 

His domain is the wild places in nature, the places untouched by humans. He is the male energy and force behind nature and is sometimes seen as the male counterpart to 'Mother Nature'. He is the Lord of the Greenwood to some and the Dying Resurrecting God of Vegetation to others.

In the Northern Hemisphere, His power cycle tends to be when the green growth of the world is at its zenith, from the spring equinox to the summer solstice, peaking at Beltaine or May Day. Because he returns each spring with new growth, He is associated with renewal, resurrection, and rebirth.

Though He is most often depicted with oak leaves and acorns, He is at times shown with holly leaves and berries. Because of this, He is associated with both the Oak King and the Holly King and seen as seasonal versions of the two Kings by many. 



 

Litha Prayer

I draw the summer sun into my soul
And hold my power high today.
As Solstice energy courses
through my veins and connects
To the ancients, my ancestors,
And all who have gone before.
I am divinely alive.
I feel the warmth of
My beloved sun as its rays
Dance upon my skin on this,
The longest day of the year.

by Sage Goddess

 

 

Litha Incense

3 parts myrrh

1 part apple blossoms

½ part bay leaves

½ part cinnamon bark

1 part chamomile flowers

1 part lavender flowers

2 parts mugwort

½ part rosemary

 

 

Midsummer Potpourri

1 cup oakmoss
2 cups dried lavender
2 cups wisteria
2 cups verbena
25 drops of lavender oil or lemon oil

 

 

LITHA SABBAT LABELS - 6 Labels - 2 sizes large and small

 

Midsummer's Day Herb Gathering Spell

 

Midsummer's Day is a traditional time for Witches in all parts of the world to gather herbs from their gardens or from the wild to use in potions, dream pillows, and other forms of spellcraft.  They may be dried and burned on a charcoal disc during your magick spell or ritual.  All herbs collected at Litha are considered to have extra magickal and healing properties. 

To be recited on Midsummer's Day, thrice before and thrice after gathering herbs for magickal workings:



"Herbs of magick, herbs of power,
Root and bark, leaf and flower,
Work for me when charms are spoken,
Potions brewed and curses broken!"

 LITHA HERB GATHERING Rite

 

Burning away Negativity Spell

Light a bonfire and throw into it all things that have unhealthy, unwanted associations for you.


Fire burn Solstice night
Transformation makes things right!

LITHA SUNRISE RITUAL

 

To Celebrate Litha Today

 


At Litha we celebrate the power of the Oak King yet it is also the birthday of the Holly King who will grow in power and eventually overcome the Holly King. In honour of the Holly and Oak King place holly and an oak leafs side by side on your altar.  At the end of your ritual place the holly leaf on top of the oak leaf.

Light a bonfire as a tribute to the sun.

Place an offering in a well, stream or spring to encourage continued water supplied to thirsty growing crops.

Decorate an oak tree with ribbons and flowers.

Watch the Litha sunrise and sunset.

Gather herbs for magick and healing.

Cast a midsummer spell and divine your future.

Midsummer is the best time to charge your crystals with the magickal energy of the sun.

Create a magick wand.  Go before dawn on midsummer morning to your chosen tree.  Cut the wand with a single stroke and leave an offering for the tree.

Leap the bonfire for luck and health in the coming year.

Wear a crown of ivy, oak, holly and flowers on your head.

 

 

Magick & Divination

To discover when you will marry, find a meadow or lawn where daisies grow.  Close your eyes and pull up a handful of grass, the number of daisies in the handful is the number of years you will remain unmarried.

Midsummer pillow divination

  • Place daisy roots under your pillow to dream of an absent lover.
  • Place ash, laurel, sage or mugwort gathered at midsummer under your pillow for prophetic dreams.
  • Marigold petals placed under your pillow will reveal a thief or robber.
  • Rosemary will ensure pleasant dreams that you can remember.
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LITHA WISHING SPELL

 

 

To charge a sun catcher with midsummer energy, hold it in your power hand and raise it to the sun.  Chant:


Lord of the Sun, I call upon Thee.
Consort of the Goddess I call upon Thee.
Lord of the Greenwood I call upon Thee.
Charge this stone with your Power.

 

Midsummer Faeries

 

Midsummer Eve along with Beltane and Samhain is a night of faery activity.  They frolic around midsummer bonfires and love to play tricks on unsuspecting humans! 

To glimpse the Fae folk look through a loop made of a rowan branch or through a stone with a natural hole in it. 

If you see eerie mists in your garden, look for a faery mound nearby. If you find a gap in the mist and pass through, you may find yourself in the Otherworld. 

Faeries are most often seen at noon, midnight or twilight and may be visible to one person while invisible to another. 

If you see a faery, hold your gaze steady, for if you blink the faery will disappear!  Certain herbs, such as four-leaf clover, thyme and primrose will help to "open the sight".

 

 

 Wake of Lugh the Sun King

 

O tell me why, o tell me why,
Tell me why must the clouds come

To darken the sky

This is the wake of Lugh the Sun King;
He lost His life on the Solstice day.
This is the wake of Lugh the Sun King;
He lost His life on the Solstice day.

O tell me why, o tell me why,
Tell me why must the clouds come
To darken the sky

This is the wake of Lugh the Sun King;
He steps into the dark and guides the way.
This is the wake of Lugh the Sun King;
He steps into the dark and guides the way.

O tell me why, o tell me why,
Tell me why must the clouds come
To darken the sky

This is the wake of Lugh the Sun King

He steps into the dark and guides the way.

LITHA QUARTER CALLS - 8 Printable Cards

 

 

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