Litha *Repost*

When is Litha: June 20-22

Litha pronunciation: LEE-tha

Themes: abundance, growth, masculine energy, love, magic

Also known as: Midsummer, Midsummer’s Eve, Gathering Day, St. John’s Day, St. John’s Eve, Summer Solstice, Alban Hefin, Feill-Sheathain

“Litha” is the name given to the Wiccan Sabbat celebrated at the Summer Solstice. This is the longest day and shortest night of the year, marking the pinnacle of the Sun’s power to fuel the growing season. From here on out, the Sun will set a little earlier each night until Yule, and so we recognize and give thanks for its warmth.

Though it’s typically celebrated on June 21st, the exact moment of the Summer Solstice varies from year to year. This is due to a slight misalignment between the Gregorian calendar and the actual rate of the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. The Solstice also occurs at differing local times, so depending on where you live, it may fall the day before or after the date listed on any given calendar. For this reason, a date range of June 20-22 is often cited in sources on the Wheel of the Year.

As the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky, the God is now in his full power, and the Goddess of the Earth is bringing forth the greatest abundance of the year. The crops are reaching their full maturity and the forests are bursting with lush growth. In just a few short weeks, the harvest season will begin, but for now we pause to celebrate the manifestation of what was planted in the early weeks of Spring. The warm sunlight is a welcome contrast to the cold and dark of Winter, and we bask in its comforts. There is a focus on the Element of Fire in honor of the Sun God, but recognition is also given to the Horned God of the forest and its wild animal life.

Ancient pagans celebrated the Solstice with torchlight processions and giant bonfires to ritually strengthen the Sun. Another tradition found among European cultures was centered on the need for balance between the Elements of Fire and Water—large wheels were set on fire and rolled downhill into creeks, rivers or lakes, perhaps as a charm against summertime drought. This is also the traditional time for gathering wild herbs for medicine and magic, as most are fully grown by Midsummer and the power of this particular day will add to their benefits. For this reason, Litha is known as Gathering Day in Wales.

To celebrate this Sabbat, you can decorate your altar with summer flowers, herbs and fruits, and summer colors like yellow, green and blue. This is a traditional time for rites of re-dedication to the God and Goddess, as well as divination related to love and romance. Keep at least one candle lit throughout the day to honor the Sun, and if possible hold your Litha rituals at noon, when the Sun is at its highest point in the sky. Have an outdoor picnic feast to bask in the warmth of the day, and eat fresh fruits and vegetables—ideally from a farmer’s market or harvested from your own garden. This is a good time for magic related to masculine energies and any situation that needs to be “fired up” in your life.

Litha was long known as Midsummer, an older name for the Solstice that emphasizes the actual course of the warmer months in the Northern Hemisphere. Summer was considered to begin around May 1st, when Beltane (or May Day) is celebrated, with June 21st marking the midpoint of the season. The name “Litha” is traced back to an old Anglo-Saxon word for the month of June, and came into use as a Wiccan name for this Sabbat in the second half of the 20th century. However, many Pagans continue to use the more traditional “Midsummer.”

Ways to celebrate:

• Host/ Attend a bonfire
• Solar activities/ rituals

Solar Potion for Fortune, Success and Prosperity

Materials Needed – Makes 7 cups (56 ounces)

• 3 cups of a light, fruity white Wine – Abundance and Prosperity
• 1 cup Orange Blossom Water – Solar vitality and Good Fortune (Or substitute freshly squeezed juice of one large orange, strained of pulp blended with enough water to make 1 cup), God, Sun, Fire
• 1 cup Pomegranate Juice – Wishes and Wealth, Goddess, Earth
• 1 cup infusion of Cinnamon Bark – Power and Success, Love and Money, Fire, Sun
  • Pour 1 cup of boiling water over 1 cinnamon stick in a glass jar, cover and allow to steep for a few hours while sitting in the summer sun. Remove the stick. Alternatively, a single shot of Goldschläger cinnamon schnapps has edible gold flakes, which is as solar a potion as ever there was one, but beware the additional alcohol content.
• 1 cup infusion of Fresh Ginger Root – Success, Fruition, potency, Passion, Fire, Mars

Pour 1 cup of boiling water over 2 tablespoons of diced fresh Ginger root, in a glass jar, cover and allow to steep for a few hours while sitting in the summer sun.  Strain out roots.

After the cinnamon and ginger infusions are done, I like to re-bottle them in witchy-looking, food-safe glass bottles in fiery colors of yellow, orange and red. I think it makes a difference psychologically, especially in group work, when things have that dramatic aesthetic flare, but that part is totally optional.

Altar Tools needed for the ritual

• Chalice – the larger the better. We have a very large coven chalice that holds a whole bottle of wine, and we can mix directly into it.
  • Alternatively, a larger bowl, or pitcher, and a spoon to blend ingredients prior to pouring into a smaller ritual chalice…choose something special, perhaps that family heirloom crystal punch-bowl, or that glass margarita pitcher you pull out for the good parties.

• Athame – ritual knife

• Yellow or Gold candle lit to represent the sun.

• Altar cakes of your choosing: orange, ginger or cinnamon favored treats are a good choice!

Prepare your altar and create sacred space in the way you normally would for your Litha Sabbat Give your chalice (and/or mixing bowl/pitcher) and athame a central place on the altar, and lay out the bottles of potion ingredients so they are easy at hand.

Call to be present any Solar God(s) and Earth Goddess(es) you work with.

Take up the Wine, holding it aloft over the altar:

Awaken wine, fruit of the vine! Lend your spirit of abundance and prosperity!

Pour slowly into the mixing vessel, chanting: abundance and prosperity!

(If you are working with others, this is where they can chant along with you.)

Take up the Orange Blossom Water:

Awaken Orange, Great God of the Sun! Lend your Spirit of good fortune and vitality!

Pour slowly into the mixing vessel, chanting: good fortune and vitality!

Take up the Pomegranate Juice:

Awaken Pomegranate, Great Goddess of Earth! Lend your Spirit of wealth and fertility!

Pour slowly into the mixing vessel, chanting: Wealth and fertility!

Take up the Cinnamon Infusion:

Awaken Cinnamon, of Fire and Sun! Lend your Spirit of success and energy!

Pour slowly into the mixing vessel, chanting: Success and Energy!

Take up the Ginger Infusion:

Awaken Ginger, of Fire and Mars! Lend your Spirit of passion and potency!

Pour slowly into the mixing vessel, chanting: Passion and Potency!

Stirring the potion now in the pattern of the invoking pentagram, then circling deosil 13 times, chanting to build power:  Prosperity, vitality, fertility, energy, potency! (repeat with vigor until you feel it is well charged.) Pour some solar potion into your chalice, if it isn’t there already.

Holding the athame now high over the chalice, visualizing the bright sun shining down, and the dark nutrients of the earth rising up. Where they intersect, see the growing bounty of the plants grow lush and green, full of flowers. Lowering the knife slowly to dip into the potion, say:

As the Athame is the God, so the Chalice is to the Goddess, and when conjoined, all blessèdness flows.

Once more, draw the invoking pentagram in the potion with the athame, and see all the raised power filling the cup.

Bless your altar cakes with gratitude for the promise of sustenance they fulfill. Touch a drop of potion onto each cake.

Offer a libation of cake and potion to the powers who’ve aided your work.

Hold the chalice in both hands, in a powerful stance raising your glass to the high sun. Say:

Powers of the Sun, shine through me! In fortune, success and prosperity! As I will, so mote it be!

Now, drain that cup of every delicious drop of liquid sunshine. Enjoy your cake, and meditate while visualizing yourself glowing yellow, warm, full of good cheer, fortune, shining brightly. Just like the massive ball of burning gas that is our actual star, you have the gravity to attract all the resources and opportunities you need so that you are fulfilled on all levels. See that the outcome of your Great Work of magick, that you’ve been striving toward all year, is being achieved.

Litha recipes:

Midsummer Ale Bread: Yield: 3 loaves

Ingredients:

• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 2 tbsps granulated sugar
• 12 ounces ale
• ½ cup melted butter

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Mix flour and sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon. Blend in the ale in incriments.
• Transfer batter into three 6x3in loaf pans and drizzle butter on top.
• Bake for 50 minutes.

Tip: 

• If you use all purpose instead of  self-rising flour, you may substitute with 3 tsps baking powder and 1 ½ tsps salt in the flour and sugar mixture.

Elder Flower Chicken: Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts
• ¼ fresh elder flower heads (5-6 clusters)
• Salt
• 4 egg yolks
• ⅛ tsp ground ginger
• Almond milk (see DIY Almond Milk)

Instructions:

• Place chicken in a pot with enough salted water to cover it. Poach the chicken, simmering until cooked (approx. 35 minutes). Strain broth and set aside 2 cups for almond milk. Set chicken aside.
• Making the sauce: Carefully strip elder flower heads from stems. Grind elder flowers and salt to season in a mortar and pestle or food processor. Combine flowers and almond milk mixture in a saucepan. Beat the egg yolks and mix them into almond mixture. Stir sauce frequently over fairly low heat until it thickens (avoid boiling). Season with ginger.
• Skin chicken and cover with sauce to serve

Note: You may substitute 2-3 eggs and 1 tsp rice instead of 4 egg yolks.

Note: While exact measurements vary, the ratio is always 3 parts almonds to 4 parts broth or water.

DIY Almond Milk: About 3 cups

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water or vegetable broth
• 1 ½ cups ground almonds

Directions:

• Bring water/broth to a mild boil. Turn off heat.
• Add almonds and allow to steep for 10 minutes.
• Cover a widemouthed pitcher with cheesecloth. Carefully pour half of the almond mixture over the cloth, straining the milk and catching the almonds.
• Once liquid has been strained, carefully pour the remainder of liquid over cheesecloth.
• Ensure the almond milk is not gritty. The thicker and smoother the milk, the better. If it comes out lumpy, strain the mixture again. You may also choose to strain the milk through a fine-mesh strainer or sieve.
• Save strained almonds for other recipes.