Litha | Summer Solstice | Midsummer

Celebrating nature's cycles, the turning of the wheel.

Welcome to this edition of Liminal Walker Musings!

If you are a new subscriber, a special WELCOME! A full year has gone by since I started my Wheel of the Year series focusing on the eight Sabbats. The wheel has completed its rotation, now returning. I have decided to continue exploring these holidays by diving deeper. Here is my post from last year. Welcome to Litha. Love to you all!

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Litha | Summer Solstice | Midsummer

Litha (pronounced ‘lee-tha’) is a beautiful time of year! The buds and sprouts of spring are now maturing and growing. Young birds have hatched, as I got to witness on my recent trip to Mt. Shasta. While hiking along a rim trail I came across a big aerie atop of a dead tree where two young ospreys were outside it perching on nearby twigs. Back home, in my garden many pollinators are busily flitting and drifting from flower to flower. Making the vegetables of late summer possible.

Litha is one of the eight sabbats that make up the Celtic/Gaelic/Pagan year. Considered a lesser sabbat, it’s one of the four that transpire on the solstices and equinoxes. The main sabbats happening on the midpoints between them. These “lesser” sabbats are more recent celebrations whereas the “main” ones have a fuller history and have borne the test of time. Beltaine the sabbat before Litha, is considered the start of summer and why Litha is regarded as midsummer.

This time of the year is about honoring the sun as it reaches its zenith in the sky. The word solstice originates from the Latin word solstitium, translated literally as the “sun stands still.” Appearance-wise it does give this impression! However, it rises and sets as always, instead it does so in the same location for a few days.

This sabbat is about recognizing the sun’s magic rather than letting it become a normalized part of our day-to-day existence. The sun may have regular cycles, yet every day it rises and sets in unique ways. Sometimes with vibrant palettes of color, other times hidden by clouds, even part of occasional eclipses. This illuminating orb provides heat, light, energy and gravity, the necessities for life as we know it. Heat also evaporating water to form clouds, eventually releasing rain, an essential part of the water cycle and our climate. Light from the sun helping plants grow, part of the photosynthesis process supplying the oxygen we breathe.

In days of old, celestial objects in the sky invoked awe and wonder, becoming part of the mythos and stories of daily living. In our current time we tend to be either moving too fast or focusing on the logical aspects of nature rather than its mystery. Instead, let us rejoice and celebrate this mighty star in our sky. It may be one of the many within the milky way galaxy, yet this one we call home. I hope many of you are spending time outside, taking advantage of warm days. I know I am. Grateful to be in the open air, gardening, walking, playing, traveling and hiking. Every now and then I get to catch the sunlight reflecting off tree leaves as they blow in the wind, emitting enchanted fairylike sparkles.

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

To those in the south, Yule and winter solstice blessings! A time where the growing darkness has brought you to the longest night. Where the lengthening of the days begin as the sun’s rebirth within this resilience of darkness. May your sabbat be festive and your hearths, fires, wood stoves and/or candles burn warmly and brightly. This is a sacred time for regeneration, renewal and a taking of a “long winter’s nap.” A turning inside. Like the animals that hibernate in womblike lairs, caves, and dens.

THE SOLSTICE and the MOON

A solstice occurs when one of the planet’s poles is at its extreme inclination toward or away from the sun. In the Northern Hemisphere the solar declination is reaching its fullest 23.5° axial tilt toward the sun, this is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. In the Southern Hemisphere the tilt is away from the sun making it the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. Both are happening on June 20th at 1:50 pm PDT.

This year the solstices happen around the time of the Full Moon. Exact lunation occurring roughly 11 hours after the solstice event on June 21st at 12:28 am PDT. The full moon begins in Sagittarius and moves into Capricorn 15 hours later.

Being that the sun is entering Cancer, and the moon is ruled by Cancer and that it’s a solstice, this makes this Full Moon quite potent. The moon in Sagittarius calls to our adventurous expressive side. With the sun in Cancer this means speaking the truth with those we are close to, our loved ones, family and friends. As the moon transitions into Capricorn, this is a time for balancing work and home, discipline and play.

ÁINE - QUEEN | GODDESS | SIDHE

Art by Helena Nelson Reed

Áine (pronounced ‘Awn-Ya’) is a significant part of honoring Litha. Her presence arose during pre-Christian times in Ireland. Áine’s history has been quite mixed with many different tales and myths, each one telling a different story. Her lineage claimed by several tribes as their sovereign queen, legitimizing the kings right to rule over a particular territory. She is also considered by many as an Aphrodite type goddess, one of fertility, love and pleasure. By others she is a daughter of a druid and a fairy, full of magic, play and mischief.

One story comes from a time where Áine was taken against her will by the King of Munster. Áine is remembered as being fierce and powerful for she fought back and in her fury she bit off his ear maiming him for life. In Celtic tradition only an unblemished person is deemed worthy to be king, thus taking his power of sovereignty away.

Over time Áine seems to have become a combination of all three; queen, goddess and sidhe. Her name means brilliance and light and is associated with midsummer, the sun and the moon. A provider of warmth, growth and vitality. As a shapeshifter she is known to transform into a red mare, running wild and free through the hills. While also able to walk among people unnoticed. Áine can also be capricious and unpredictable in her dealings with humans, bestowing both blessings and challenges that test one’s resolve.

Celebrating Litha

My Litha Altar

There are many ways to honor Litha, here are a few:

• View a sunrise or sunset.

• Create a headband/wreath of flowers.

• Set up a midsummer/Litha altar.

• Light a candle or have a bonfire.

• Go swimming, play in the water.

• Work with Áine.

• Give or receive a Tarot reading. (see questions below)

POEM FOR SUMMER

Cycles keep swirling
spirals of ongoing moments.
Turning, shifting, changing,
as tides ebb and flow.

Summer arrives as an eruption.
Sprouts and buds called forth
into maturity of expression.
Life dances unabashedly.

Flowers layered in brush strokes
of various tones and hues
exposing precious ambrosia.
Bees intoxicated with their nectars.

Birds no longer care to gather
nest makings of twigs and grasses.
Now nourish and foster new chicks
preparing to take their first flight.

The sun’s warmth calling forth
an approaching harvest.
But for now, as the wheel circles
I’ll enjoy the dog days of summer.

BLESSING:

May this time of Litha be full of warmth, renewal and growth. As the sun shines down upon us from the skies above, may we feel its rays of life and sustenance as fuel nourishing our bodies, hearts and souls. May we dive deep into the workings of life with wonder and humility. A reverence for this amazing intricacy that existence is. From the monumental land masses to the microscopic mycelial threads that is the nerve network beneath it. May we release any need to dominate, conquer and bend this sacred intelligence to our will.
May we let go into life, as life itself. BEING IT!

Blessed Be!

Questions for you…

• What warms my soul and heart?

• What illuminates my life?

• What do I need to release and offer to the fire?

• What needs more time to grow?

Would love to know your thoughts and feelings. Let’s have a conversation…

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