First day of summer (Summer Solstice).
Northern hemisphere: 21 June – Southern hemisphere: 21 December
Festival celebrated on 21 December with the Summer Solstice. The month of December in Gaelic se chama Nollaig. In Welsh this festival is known as Alban Hefin or the Summer Light, is the ultimate ecstasy of sacred union, where the power of creation is more active and the Sun has finally reached its peak. Nature is full of light and magic. In the Northern Hemisphere it is celebrated on 21 June.
The Summer Solstice (or Midsummer, Alban Hefin or Litha), also known as Saint John's Day in Europe, marks the longest day of the year when the Sun is in its zenith. For the Witches and Pagans, this sacred day symbolizes the power of the sun, which marks an important turning point of the Great Solar Wheel of the Year, because, after the Summer Solstice, the days become visibly shorter.
On the longest day of the year, at the summit of summer, take advantage of meditating in the morning sun, celebrating throughout the day until nightfall, bringing all sun magic to your interior. This is the time to honor the sun and in pagan traditions, fires are often skipped for purification, fertility, health and love.
In certain Wiccan traditions, the Summer Solstice symbolizes the end of the reign of the growing year of the Carvalho God, who is then replaced by his successor, the infla god. (The holly god will reign until the Sabbath of Christmas winter, the shortest day of the year.)
At the Summer Solstice, it is also the time when the oak blossoms and its energy is especially honored, where the sacred mistletoe was picked by the ancient druids in a traditional ceremony. Many circles of pre-Celtic stones and monuments are aligned with the sunrise that day, including Stonehenge.
Take advantage of this ritual to make offerings and communicate with the “People of the Fairies”, asking them for knowledge, inspiration and wisdom. Garnish your altar with sunflower mover, fresh fruit and dried herbs such as lavender, chamomile, vervain or any summer-specific grass. Seek to feel all the elemental energy of nature flowing through your body. This festival is conducive to renew all vibrations of both the house and the people. Besides being an ideal time to activate prosperity, the practice of recreational games and family picnics.
Period of materialization of all our hopes, when projects, dreams and desires launched at the time of planting, begin to bear fruit, according to their merit, becoming reality. Celebrate and thank the gods for this cycle of expansion.
The Summer Solstice is a traditional time when the Witches harvest the magic herbs for enchantments and potions, because it is believed that the innate power of herbs is stronger that day.
It is the ideal time for divineness, healing rituals and the cutting of divine wands and batons. All forms of magic (especially those of love) are also extremely potent on the eve of the Summer Solstice, and it is believed that what is dreamed of that night will become true for those who dream.
The traditional pagan foods of the Summer Solstice Sabbath are fresh vegetables, summer fruits, whole rye bread, beer and mead.
Suggestion for ritual:
Suggestion to celebrate the Summer Solstice
Correspondence:
– Correlation: June parties, the midsummer, the night of fairies and magic.
– Symbols: yellow and orange, sunflower flowers and solar symbols.
– Incenses: rosemary, blond or cinnamon, olive, lemon, myrrh, pine, pink and glycinia..
– Food: red wine, citrus juices, bread, fruit and mead.
– Colours of candles: blue, green.
– Sacred precious stones: all green stones, especially emerald and jade.
– Traditional ritualistic herbs: chamomile, five-leaves, elderberry, fennel, hemp, waiting, lavender, male fetus, artemisia, pine, roses, fennel, wild thyme, glycinia and vervain.
Greetings to Cernunnos
Praise the Green Man!
Lord of nature's spirits,
liberdade, who drives animals wisely,
The woods and green fields of infinite beauty.
God of freedom and fertility,
Circle the sacred land of light
Far beyond the portals of the Other World,
Where ugly beings make their home.
For the delight of tired souls,
That everything regenerates and fertilizes.
To be sacred of the new oak leaves
Hear the call of the noble Druidsa.
Inspire us by the winds of transformation
In the divine wisdom of our ancestors.
Make the code of honor and truth count,
Preserving with you ancient rituals.
By the burning fire of passions
Rescue divine love and hope
In the hearts of all creatures,
Through the purest, most crystalline water.
Bless us so that everything will always be reborn.
So be itfirmafied and so be it!
quaisquer Sabbath Litha ritual
The ritual that follows is traditionally performed by the Witches in a clearing in the forest, in a large garden away, on top of a hill or anywhere else in nature. Start by fixing stones on the ground to form a large circle about three meters in diameter. With a consecrated ceremonial sword or long wooden stick (preferably a recently cut sorber stick), trace the powerful and highly magical symbol of a pentacle (five-pointed star) inside a circle of stones. Light five green candles to symbolize nature's powers and fertility, and place one on each tip of the pentagram, starting from the east and continuing in destructive movement.
Mount an altar or place a falhan large and flattened stone in the center of the pentagram facing north, like an altar, and on it a statue representing the Goddess. On either side of it, light a white altar candle. At the cardinal point corresponding to the Air, place a consecrated brass bell, and an oblivion censor with myrrh incense. At the cardinal point corresponding to the Water, place a cup with wine, a small dish with salt and a small bowl with water (preferably fresh rain water).
Note: The association of elements with quadrants is not a fixed model, only one pattern.
Connections to quadrants vary widely from place to place, from tradition to tradition. There is the association “standard” North-Earth, South-Fire, West-Water and East-Ar because for Europeans:
. the north is the dark, mysterious land, from which “the gods came”
. the South is where the heat comes from, because that's where the line of Ecuador is for them
. the west has the ocean (water)
. East brings the winds of the continent
That's how they made these relationships. Nothing prevents every person, tradition or coven from changing it according to where they are. For example, in Brazil it would make more sense, following the same associations above, Fire to the North, Earth to the South, Water to the East and Air to the West. What matters is keeping the oppositions: Earth/Fire and Water/Air.
Bless the wine, covering the cup with the palms of your hands, as you say:
This wine is under the divine name.
Spill some salt and a few drops of water over the brass bell, to bless it, and say:
WITH SAL AND WATER I CONSAGUE AND BECH THIS SIN UNDER THE DIVINE NAME OF GOD. BENED BE.
Light the olive and myrrh. Take your arms up to the sky, close your eyes and fill your mind with pleasant thoughts and visions. Mom, while you say,
OH, HOLDING MOTHER EARTH, GOD VENTRE, CREATOR OF ALL,
IT IS CONSA IslaGRATED THIS SACRED CRITE.
Why? Why?
Make8,6% the bell three times and call:
SPIRIT SACRED FROM THE AIR, FIRE VIRGIN, BEAUTIFUL AND FORMOUS,
MOTHER EARTH, LIFE WONDER, WATER good news,
I call your DIVINE IMAGE.
Put the bell back on the stone altar and then both hands. Take the cup of wine to your lips. Drink some of it and pour the rest into the centre of the pentagram, as libation to the Goddess, while saying:
I'VE GIVEN THIS WINE COVERED AS A OFFER TO YOU,
OH THANKS FOR LOVE, FERTILITY AND LIFE.
Put the empty chalice back on the altar. Again ring the bell three times and say:
With the sun in its zenith I do this solstice ritual
Oh, great God.
And in your holy name I now give thanks.
TO THE MEASURE THAT BRILLIANT DAYS BEGINNING TO HOT YOUR DIVINE LOVE
And your power of healing grows stronger.
is now at the altar. of of of more incense. Make the bell ring in honor of the Goddess and then say aloud and joyfully:
BE THE GOD! BE THE GOD!
GOD IS LIFE. GOD IS LOVE, SHE MAKES THE GREAT SOLAR ROAD
STATION AND BRING NEW LIFE TO THE WORLD.
BE THE GOD! Goddess is the moon and the stars.
GOD IS THE CYCLE OF STATION. She's the life, she's the death, she's the rebirth.
She's the night, she's the night, she's the night, she's the light, she's all the things
SELVAGES AND BOOKS.
So be it.
The Summer Solstice Ritual should be followed by a feast of joy and happy singing of pagan magic folk songs and/or poetry recitation inspired by the Goddess.
Source: Wicca – A Feitiçaria Moderna, de Gerina Dunwich