The sun rises early and takes flight high up into the sky, and makes me long for the sunset and some cooler air. Must be summer solstice!

Summer Solstice- AKA Litha or Midsummer- is one of the eight Wiccan sabbats, and is celebrated by members of countless earth-centric traditions. Next to Beltane, I think it’s gotta be one of the most popular holidays with the Pagan crowd. Some see it as the marriage of the goddess and the god, and some celebrate it in alignment with the sun’s energy, so themes of the summer solstice center around creativity, sex, fertility, and love. We also see the veneration of faeries, too, especially at dawn and at dusk. The solstice is seen as a liminal occasion, a time outside of time, and it’s thought that during this in-between moment the thinning of the veil between this world and the faerie world occurs and we can commune with the fae!

Deities honored during this solstice time tend to be either solar or fire deities- Apollo, Ra, Helios, Beiwe, Sunna, Amaterasu, Hestia, Vesta, Lugh, and many more. If we aren’t honoring a firey deity, we often see deities of love, earth or celebration honored- Aphrodite,  Astarte, Freya, Frigg, Dionysus, Hathor, Sekmet or others. The foods often served at Summer Solstice are usually solar-related or are in-season produce and are usually served at a cool temperature. Because it’s a million degrees outside.

 

Let’s talk about ritual! What do people usually DO during the center of a Litha ritual? Well, it usually depends on the deity honored, but also centers around the themes I already mentioned.

Here are a couple ideas:

• Create a Litha craft, like a sun catcher
• Put together a talisman and charge it under the sun to store the suns energy for later in the year when you need it
• Make a faerie garden
• Greet the sun at dawn or thank it at dusk
• Create a candle and light it to store the spark of the sunlight
• Make solar water by leaving a bowl of spring water out under the sun
• Give offerings to deities
• Make a sun dial
• Create a labyrinth or spiral using luminarias
• Use solar paper to make prints from natural objects
• Craft a flower crown from wildflowers and fresh herbs

Do you want Solstice recipes and craft ideas? Check out my Summer Solstice pinterest board!