Litha

Litha (the Summer Solstice) marks the longest day of the year. During the summer solstice, it is the time of the first harvest and the celebration of this bounty.

In times gone by this Sabbat was celebrated with large bonfires, they were burned to promote purification, fertility, and love. To leap over the bonfire was to assure a good crop and to encourage these qualities in themselves. This Sabbat glorifies the Sun God and the Sun, fire plays a very prominent role in this festival. The element of Fire is the most easily seen and felt element of transformation.

Litha comes from the Anglo-Saxon phrase Aerra Litha, which means “before Midsummer.” At this time the Goddess is fully pregnant, and the Sun God is at the height of his power. Litha is the traditional time for gathering magical and medicinal plants to dry and store for winter use. In Wales, Midsummer is called Gathering Day. Midsummer Night’s Eve has traditionally been a day to perform love and healing magic. This is also a perfect time to communicate with fairies, forest sprites, and pixies.

June was said to be the luckiest month to be married in and is the time of the mead moon or honeymoon. One tradition was for newlyweds to drink mead daily for a month after their wedding, which is why the post-wedding holiday was named the honeymoon. Even though the days begin to grow shorter after the Summer Solstice, the time of greatest abundance is still to come. The promises of the Goddess and God are still to be fulfilled.

Most cultures of the Northern Hemisphere mark Midsummer in some ritualized manner and people past and present acknowledge the rising of the sun on this day. At Stonehenge, the heel stone marks the midsummer sunrise as seen from the centre of the stone circle.

This is a good time for protection magic, empowerment magic, male rituals, and becoming in tune with nature spirits. It is a time of bravery, strength, and overcoming.