Wicca Spirit Newsletter Book of Shadows

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Wicca Spirit Newsletter

Litha is a Pagan Sabbat: a holiday celebrated by Wiccans, Witches and many others whose religions fall under the umbrella of Earth spirituality and Paganism. It glorifies the Sun and the male aspect of nature.

The God and the Goddess are in Their prime, at Their highest power. This is the longest day of the year and the shortest night. The Goddess is pregnant. After this day, the light begins to wane until the Winter Solstice.

On Litha, we celebrate the power of the Sun and play outside as much as possible, taking pleasure in Nature as a child would. Summertime flowers can be collected and used to adorn the altar, the home, and the body. Many people like to make love charms at this time and also cast love-related spells and any other kinds of magick, since this is the highest power of the God and Goddess and therefore there is quite a bit of energy to harness. Some people believe the elves and faeries are afoot and leave out food for them. Some like to cook potpourri made of flowers. One custom is to make one yellow feather wreath and one red feather wreath and tie them together with ivy.

The focus of this holiday is on fertility but also on strength and focus. Plans made at Imbolc, put into motion at Ostara, and encouraged at Beltane should now be in fruition. It is a time to give thanks for the gifts and for our health. After this day things will change somewhat, waning again, and this must be prepared for. This is a celebration of work AND of pleasurable activities. It is also a good time for a dedication rite or a re-affirmation spell.

Spellwork appropriate for Litha may include all magick, love spells, healing spells, prosperity spells.

Ritual actions for Litha may include placing a flower-ringed cauldron upon your altar, plunging of the sword (or athame) into the Cauldron, bonfire leaping (outdoors) and the gathering and drying of herbs. Herbs can be dried over the ritual fire if you're celebrating outdoors. Leap the bonfire for purification and renewed energy. Ritually, use mirrors to capture the light of the Sun or the flames of the fire.

Some things that are considered taboo on this Holiday are giving away Fire, sleeping away from home and neglecting animals.

Altar decorations might include Summertime flowers, love amulets, seashells, aromatic potpourri and Summer fruits. Healings and love magic are especially suitable at this time. Midsummer Night's Eve is supposed to be a good time to commune with field and forest sprites and faeries.

Since the Sun at Litha is entering Cancer, a water sign, this holiday is one of the best ones for gathering your magickal water which will be used on your altar and in your spells for the coming year.

On the darker side, Litha is when the dual nature of the God battles.

Cancer is the sign of the crab, but it is also the sign of the dark devouring mother, the dark Goddess, taking the defeated, and some say slain king, into her arms to the Underworld to await rebirth. Six months from Litha, at the Winter solstice, the two battle again, with the Oak King as the foregone winner being the reborn Oak King.

Wiccans consider Litha to be an especially potent time of renewal, and the spells they cast acknowledge the reaffirmation of their commitments and the renewal of their purpose.

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Ideas for spells, activities and magickal workings:

· Light a bonfire Midsummer night and jump it, for Litha is a fire festival.

· Stay up to greet the Midsummer dawn. If you do, keep a pair of garden shears handy. Midsummer's Eve at midnight, Midsummer's Day at dawn and Midsummer noon are prime times to collect plants sacred to the sun or special to the fey. In fact, any magickal herb plucked at Midsummer is said to prove doubly effective and keep better.

· Cut Divining Rods on Midsummer's Eve - they are said to be more infallible when cut at this time.

· You can charge your charms, depending on their purpose, at midnight, noon or in dawn's first light. Charms traditional at Litha include those for courage, dream divination, Fertility, invisibility, love, luck, protection, wealth, the restoration of sight and the ability to see the fey.

· Midsummer is a fey time, both by tradition and observation. The scent of the air is thick, green and juicy; it's lost its spring astringency and is simply lush. The whole world is stretching its limbs and frolicking. The fey are big on that. Especially for charms of love, gardening and magickal abilities, the fey are a great help in herb collecting. In exchange, they like gifts of milk and honey, cookies, sweet liqueurs, or any sweet food, drink or liquor. They also like baubles, particularly pretty or shiny. Or cold hard cash -- but in coin, not paper, and it's best if shiny.

· To stay in good with the fey and the herbs you collect from, leave enough of the plant or other plants of the type that the herb survives in the spot collected from. Remember too to always ask the plant before taking a cutting, and to wait for an answer. A quid pro quo usually works: a shiny dime, some fertilizer, or a bit of your hair or clothing -- whatever you think the plant most wants.

· Have children make their own "Green Man" mask. Cut eye-holes in a paper plate. Let them glue on real or construction paper leaves.

· Go berry picking. Have the children chose their best berry and throw it back into the berry bushes as they thank the Goddess and the bushes for the fruit.

· Make a Wicker Man and burn him in your Litha bon fire

· Burn your remnants of your Yule Tree or Wreath in the bon fire or try using Wreaths of Vervain and Mugwort which were burned in ancient times at the end of the festivals to burn away bad luck.

· Many families placed roses on the altar, as this is the Goddess flower for this time of the year. Try this yourself for a beautiful and fragrant decoration.

· Leave out milk and honey as an offering to the Fae folk

· Have a mock battle between the Oak and Holly King. Remember that this is part of the cycle and as the wheel turns the Holly King will rise again at Winter Solstice

· Put a ring of flowers around your cauldron or around a bowl full of mugwort

· Hang a bundle of fresh herbs out to dry and use them to spice up a Litha feast of cooked summer vegetables

· Light a white candle and place it in front of a mirror. Say your own Litha prayer over it, and then let it burn out

· Make a charm to hang around your neck with a seashell

· Offer a gift of lavender to the Gods in a bonfire. Pass St. John's Wort through the smoke and then hang the herb up in the house for protection.

· Make your own Stonehendge at the beach like you would a sand castle

· Have an outdoor breakfast picnic to welcome the Solstice

· Stay up and watch the sun go down on the longest day of the year!

· Draw a picture of the sun at sunrise and sunset and meditate on it

· Try a fire divination, stare into the coals of your bonfire as it settles or look for forms in the leaping flames.

· Create a ritual to bring healing and love to Mother Earth

· Dispose of those qualities that trouble you: project them into a burn-able (bunch of dry twigs, paper, etc.) and thrust the mass into a cleansing fire

· make staffs

· make dream pillows

· make herb craft items like wreaths

· make a witches' ladder

· Make a Catherine Wheel, or frame of sticks and withies (slender, flexible branches) with flammable material among the spokes. At the climax of your ritual, ignite the wheel and send it rolling down a hillside into a pond or lake. (obviously the hillside should be stone, bare earth, or covered with moist vegetation--no dry grass or underbrush!)

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Book of Shadows

Volume II Issue 4

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