Litha/ Summer Solstice

Celebrating Summer Solstice 1, Host a Bonfire

Summer Solstice is all about the fiery aspect of the sun, so why not celebrate the fertility of the gods with a blazing, roaring fire in your backyard? It’s the longest day of the year, so stay up lat...

Celebrating Summer Solstice 2, Get Back to Nature

Go for a hike in the woods with your family. Enjoy the sounds and sights of nature. Take lots of pictures, or plan a scavenger hunt—have each of the kids bring a “nature bag” to fill up. Remember, don...

Celebrating Summer Solstice 3, Get Your Body Moving

Litha is a magical, mystical time of year. Why not host a drum circle or spiral dance? You’ll need a large group for this, but it’s a lot of fun once you get everyone moving. In addition to being ente...

Celebrating Summer Solstice 4, Read a Good Book

Summer can be a hectic and chaotic time of year. Maybe you’re someone who needs to slow down and take a break. Litha is a good time to rejuvenate, so why not sit out in the sunshine and immerse yourse...

Celebrating Summer Solstice 5, Celebrate Family

Turn off the phone, step away from the computer and television, and spend time just having fun with the people who love you most. Take the day off work if possible and spend it any way you like—go to ...

Celebrating Summer Solstice 6, Clean Things Up

Clean your house. Take advantage of the warm weather to have a garage sale and get rid of all those things you don’t want. You can also organize a swap with your friends, or donate all your stuff to c...

Celebrating Summer Solstice 7, Host a Barbeque for Friends and Family

Have a barbecue, and invite all your family and friends over. Decorate with colors of the sun—yellows, reds, and oranges. Feast on lots of summery food, like watermelons, strawberries, and fresh green...

Celebrating Summer Solstice 8, Learn and Grow

Spend some time on spiritual growth. Use this time of year to learn something new about your tradition, develop a new skill, or take a class in Tarot, Reiki, yoga, or whatever appeals to you. Create a...

Celebrating Summer Solstice 9, Honor the Season

Many ancient cultures marked the summer solstice with rites and rituals honoring the sun. Celebrate the significance of Midsummer with ritual and prayers that recognize the sun and its magnificent pow...

Thoughts on the Summer Solstice Well Dressing 1

A dressing created on Solstice Eve, in the softening light of the summer sun, reflected in our Well lantern(s) and candles. Healing herbs and flowers ~ calendula, jasmine, hypericum, lemon balm, yarro...

Thoughts on the Summer Solstice Well Dressing 2

The sun, at its strongest on this side of the world now, provides the warmth for maturing growth and ripening in preparation for harvest. This season belongs to the oak, a tree synonymous with longevi...

Thoughts on the Summer Solstice Well Dressing 3

As we consider the sun’s power, we may also consider our own. In this time of restriction, we have had an opportunity to consider what we value, what makes us feel whole and strong, where we want to p...

Thoughts on the Summer Solstice Well Dressing 4

A dressing created on Solstice Eve, in the softening light of the summer sun, reflected in our Well lantern(s) and candles. Healing herbs and flowers ~ calendula, jasmine, hypericum, lemon balm, yarro...

Enchant Your Hearts with the Magick of Summer Solstice 2

Allow this energy to transform your visions from one phase of being to the next. Let your hearts to be illuminated with the inner connection to your destiny through the miracle of manifestation that i...

Enchant Your Hearts with the Magick of Summer Solstice 3

Never forget, within the cycles of nature you can access your power with the deep inner connection of the glorious ebb and flow of life which attunes you to earth’s natural energy. Dreams are realised...

Enchant Your Hearts with the Magick of Summer Solstice 4

You’re all a powerful force of nature and to move from the conscious to the subconscious you must harness a connection to all the elements. For you’re all earth’s gems and the ‘salt of the earth’.

Summer Solstice Oil 1

4 drops lavender 3 drops rosemary 1 drop pine Use sunflower oil as a base

Summer Solstice Incense 2

1/2 part mugwort 1/2 part vervain 1 part St. Johnswort 1/2 part frankincense 1/4 part mistletoe 1/4 part bay

Summer Solstice Incense 1

4 parts myrrh 3 parts frankincense 3 parts oak bark 2 parts witch hazel

Midsummer Incense 2

3 parts Frankincense 2 parts Benzoin 1 part Dragon’s Blood 1 part Thyme 1 part Rosemary 1 pinch Vervain a few drops Red Wine

Midsummer Incense1

2 parts Sandalwood 1 part Mugwort 1 part Chamomile 1 part Gardenia Petals a few drops Rose Oil a few drops Lavender Oil a few drops Yarrow Oil Burn at  rituals at the Summer Solstice (circa June 21st)...

Summer Solstice Rituals and Ceremonies1

Depending on your individual spiritual path, there are many different ways you can celebrate Litha, but the focus is nearly always on celebrating the power of the sun. It’s the time of year when the c...

Summer Solstice Rituals and Ceremonies2

Here are a few rituals you may want to think about trying. Remember, any of them can be adapted for either a solitary practitioner or a small group, with just a little planning ahead. Before you get s...

Summer Solstice Rituals and Ceremonies3

Depending on your individual spiritual path, there are many different ways you can celebrate Litha, but the focus is nearly always on celebrating the power of the sun. It’s the time of year when the c...

Summer Solstice Wales1

The summer solstice is the first day of astronomical summer and the longest day of the year for people in the Northern Hemisphere. In ancient times, solstices and equinoxes were important in helping p...

Summer Solstice Wales2

In Wales prehistoric sites such as at Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey, the open burial chamber dated to around 2000BC, is so perfectly aligned that for only 20 minutes each year, a beam of sunlight aligns ...

Summer Solstice Wales3

Mistletoe was important to the Celtic Druids as it was believed to cure all ills. On Midsummer Eve, it is reported that they would cut it with a golden scythe and catch it in a cloth before it touched...

Summer Solstice Wales4

With the coming of Christianity, people were encouraged to give up their old traditions, by their incorporation into new Christian practices. For example, the summer solstice became known as the feast...

Summer Solstice Wales5

In Wales it is called Gŵyl Ifan Ganol Haf (St John’s of Midsummer) . Great agricultural fairs, which included dancing, merriment and the lighting of bonfires, were held at this time. Welsh tradition s...

Summer Solstice Wales6

A sprig of mistletoe gathered on Midsummer Eve and placed under the pillow was said to bring prophetic dreams and branches from birch trees were used to decorate maypoles town squares.

Summer Solstice Wales7

With the advent of non-conformist beliefs on the Welsh socio-political culture, this (among so many other similar festivals) suffered greatly, and its observance finally died out by the end of the 19t...

Summer Solstice, Litha A time To Celebrate

There are many ways to celebrate Litha and the Summer Solstice. You can spend time with loved ones, sing, dance, laugh, and watch the sunrise. Spend some time outside in nature. If you can, and it’s s...

Summer Solstice, Litha, The Longest Day

The Summer Solstice, also known as Litha, occurs on, the 21st of June, marking the astronomical first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. The sun is at the height of its power – the longest day!...

Shamanic Summer Solstice4

Summer Solstice allows us to absorb beneficent power and strength from the Earth and Sun into our minds, bodies, hearts and souls – just as are the plants, animals and other beings drawing power and s...

Shamanic Summer Solstice3

Summer Solstice celebrations honour the energy of the day and focus on the themes of fulfilment, enlightenment, abundance, sharing, and the joy of living on this beautiful Earth and are full of Shaman...

Shamanic Summer Solstice2

In Shamanic practice the Summer Solstice is one of the most sacred days of the year. At this time the Sun and Earth align in such a way as to support all growing things to come into their completeness...

Shamanic Summer Solstice1

Celebrations of the Summer Solstice vary across the globe and from culture to culture. In some cultures, it is also known as “Midsummer’s Night” and celebrations begin with twilight. In others the Sum...

Summer Solstice St John’s Wort Flowers1

Typically flowering on the longest day of summer, this ‘sunshine’ plant is a powerhouse of usefulness. Topically it is a skin plant for cuts, burns, wounds, bruises and some skin diseases. You can use...

Summer Solstice St John’s Wort Flowers2

St John’s Wort is, of course, invaluable internally for low mood, depression, S.A.D and more. (It also comes with a long list of when you must not and cannot take it, and having read this through, you...

Summer Solstice St John’s Wort Flowers3

Another use for St John’s Wort is to increase deep sleep (rapid eye movement). It helps to normalize and balance neurotransmitter function as it contains amino acids that are neurotransmitter building...

A Summer Solstice Stone Ritual

This ritual can be used to absorb the courage, power and joy of the season. You can carry out this ritual at any time during the three-day period. You might like to perform it at dusk on the eve of th...

Litha, The Summer Solstice7

Associations Candle colours: Gold, orange or red to mirror the Sun at its height Symbols: Brightly-coloured flowers, oak boughs, golden fern pollen that is said to reveal buried treasure wherever it f...

Litha, The Summer Solstice6

Summer solstice rituals are for courage, male potency and fertility, for achievement, success, confidence, health and happiness, for fulfilling potential and providing ever-expanding opportunities bot...

Litha, The Summer Solstice5

The power of the summer solstice can be harnessed for tackling seemingly insoluble problems and bringing light and life and hope to those who are depressed or who have been unable through circumstance...

Litha, The Summer Solstice4

St John’s wort, the golden herb of midsummer and symbol of the summer solstice, was said to offer fertility and powers to attract love if picked at midnight on 23 June, the eve of St John’s Day, or th...

Litha, The Summer Solstice3

There is a long-standing pagan tradition of lighting bonfires on beacon hills to strengthen the power of the Sun before it began its decline. On Midsummer Day, fire wheels were rolled down the hillsid...

Litha, The Summer Solstice2

The height of the festival is the first light falling on the morning of the solstice, like a shaft of gold across standing stones and stone circles, linking the dimensions. Many circles throughout Eur...

Litha, The Summer Solstice1

Time: Three days beginning from sunset around 20 June (20 December in the southern hemisphere) Focus: Full potency, illumination, mysteries revealed; healing, the height of joy, fulfillment, the need ...

A Witches Guide to the Pagan Summer Solstice Celebration

Litha, also known as the Summer Solstice, is a pagan holiday celebrated on or around June 21st in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the longest day and shortest night of the year, and marks the official ...

Winter to Summer

Winter’s chains are broken for good as the wheel of the year turns from winter to summer. Love is in the air as bee carries pollen from blossom to aromatic blossom and honey drips from the comb. The s...

Origins of Litha

Litha is a pagan holiday; one of their eight sabbats during the year. Litha (also known as Midsummer) occurs on the summer solstice, and celebrates the beginning of summer. The traditions of Litha app...

Summer Solstice Celebration

Summer Solstice presents us with a time to celebrate! The Summer Solstice arrives on the longest day and the shortest night of the year. Solstice happens twice each year – in Winter near December 21 a...

Summer Solstice

Since the bleak midwinter, the sun’s litha has been steadily growing. The earth is bursting with beauty and bounty. The Mother Goddess is great with child at Summer Solstice and the Oak King is at his...

SELF-DEDICATION LITHA RITUAL

For hundreds of years’ people or groups have been performing dedication rituals to their Gods and Goddesses, this was done to declare themselves to the divine, it solidifies the relationship you have ...

Litha History – Celebrating the Summer Solstice

An Ancient Solar Celebration Nearly every agricultural society has marked the high point of summer in some way, shape or form. On this date–usually around June 21 or 22 (or December 21/22 in the south...

Summer Solstice—Midsummer’s Day

Summer Solstice—Midsummer’s Day, the longest day of the year, when the sun reaches its peak of power, and begins to decline. We mark this day as the beginning of summer, of the time of ripeness and ha...

Blessings on Summer Solstice

This was when the whole world measured time This is when the light would turn around This is where the past would come undone and the spinning earth will mark a new beginning Let’s go back in time, to...

Summer Solstice Grange Stone Circle

The importance of Summer Solstice ties back to ancient Celtic society’s reliance on agriculture and crops. The reliance and appreciation for the sun is what brought people closer to nature and further...

Litha

(NORTHERN HEMISPHERE) Date: June 20th – 22nd Other Names: Alban Heruin (Druidic), Summer Solstice Pronunciations: lee-thuh, lii-thuh Although the name Litha is not well attested, it may come from Saxo...

Summer Solstice Blessings

In Latin the word ‘solstice’ literally translates to ‘the sun stands still’. In the Northern hemisphere we will enjoy over 16 hours of daylight – and thousands will gather at sacred sites around the w...

Summer Solstice: Longest and Shortest Day of the Year

The June solstice is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. Solstice’ (Latin: ‘solstitium’) means ‘sun-stopping’, because the point where th...

Summer Solstice Ireland

The ancient Celtic festival acts as a timely reminder and celebration of who, where and what we really are. Summer Solstice celebrations date back to over 5,000 years ago in ancient Ireland, For north...

Enchant Your Hearts with the Magick of Summer Solstice 1

The Summer Solstice is a powerful gift of solar energy given to the world. The seasons do change as the planet orbits the sun and Gaia is bathed in light, seeded with the wind and quenched with the ra...

Summer Solstice Protective Ritual

The protective rituals on the night of the summer solstice included also the preparation of wreaths. Unmarried girls were carefully selecting the herbs and flowers for their wreath. Its shape and colo...

Summer Solstice

At the Summer Solstice the Sun has reached its climax. It is the longest day of the year. At its most glorious peak the Sun God sacrifices his power and bestows his solar seed upon the Earth womb. On ...

A Summer Solstice Blessing

It’s the midsummer’s evening, the shortest of night, Where our planet is blessed with the greatest of light. The sun at its power, sharing its wealth, With the earth glowing in abundance and health. T...

Summer Solstice St John’s Wort Flowers

Typically flowering on the longest day of summer, this ‘sunshine’ plant is a powerhouse of usefulness. Topically it is a skin plant for cuts, burns, wounds, bruises and some skin diseases. You can use...