Today is the Summer Solstice, Litha or Midsummer on the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. Often observed on the day of the solstice itself, many witches also celebrate Midsummer's Eve on June 23 and Midsummer on June 24 (this corresponds to the Christian St. John's Day). It is the longest day of the year, the peak of solar power, the Sun's equivalent to the Full Moon. It is the time of year when we celebrate the Earth's bounty and the divine couple, the Goddess and God, at the peak of their power.

Bee, Martha's Vineyard.

Christopher Penczak describes Litha in The Outer Temple of Witchcraft:

The theme of the divine couple, at the peak of their power, is constant at Litha. The Goddess is the Queen of the Bountiful Garden. Her love for the king and all of us is reflected in the lush greenery of the land. Her love makes the harvest grow. She is the Divine Mother providing nourishment with the growing plants. The energy of the land builds to its crescendo. The God is matured into his role as Divine King of the Land. He is the caretaker and protector. The solar and green attributes are merged into one, as he is both Solar King and Grain Lord bearing fruit.

Although he is at the peak of his power, all he can do now is wane. Tradition says he must face his shadow. The Shadow of the God is the Dark Lord and Underworld King. He is the Horned God and the Holy King. The God of Light faces the God of Shadow, and is defeated, as is preordained on this day. He relinquishes control of the year to the Dark God. This shift is symbolic of the shadows we must all face. They are not evil, simply another side of us that we must look at as part of our development and growth. There can be no growing season without the waning season. Death makes life that much sweeter.

On Saturday I attended a Litha ritual hosted by Unicorn Books in Cambridge. While we were joyously celebrating the warmth of summer, the Priestess leading ritual reminded us to think about the coming darkness and guided us in a meditation to travel to the dark part of ourselves to find that which we will need to protect us in the coming year. Afterward, I also was thinking that at this time of year, when it's starting to get warmer and our thoughts are turning to holidays and beach days, it's good to remember to take some of the bountiful light with us - in memory, ritual, talisman - to save some of the joy of the light to sustain us as the darkness grows.

There are so many wonderful things that others have written about today's celebration that I thought I'd point you to a few of my favorites.

I've been reading Midsummer: Magical Celebrations of the Summer Solstice. It's part of Llewellyn's series of books about the Sabbats. In it, Anna Franklin gives a comprehensive overview about the origins of Litha, how cultures around the world and throughout history have celebrated the Summer Solstice, and covers magickal themes and traditions, Gods and Goddesses of Midsummer, rituals, correspondences, spells and divination, recipes and herb craft. She gives you everything you need to know to create a meaningful Litha celebration for yourself. I particularly enjoyed her section on Animal Totems for Midsummer, one of which is the Bee.

The honeybee orientates itself on its journey by the angle and position of the sun, and the Celts regarded it as a messenger who traveled the paths of sunlight to the realm of the spirits. Being winged, bees share with birds the ability to carry messages from this world to the world of spirits, and the old practice of telling the bees in the hive all the family news originated with sending messengers to souls in the Otherworld.

One of the pagan participants at Street Prophets posted a great diary On The Summer Solstice. Alexandra discusses how after the King has taken up his mantle, with the privileges of kingship, come responsibilities. She equates this to how we as adults, and as witches, must take responsibility for following our true will, knowing what it is we want our life to become and making it happen.

So this is the challenge of the Summer Solstice. Know your kingship! Own your kingship! Be yourself, in all the wonder and glory and  beauty that you as a child of the divine possess! And with your soul in right relation to the Divine, set in harmony with the flow of the world, rule! Know your true will, and live it.

The Arizona Daily Star did a nice article about the Sonoran Sunrise Grove's solstice celebration:

Ancient Gaul celebrated the Feast of Epona, named after a goddess who represented fertility and agriculture. Stonehenge, built between 3000 B.C. and 1600 B.C., aligns directly with the rising of the sun on the longest day of the year. Ancient Druids (and thousands of current ones) gathered there around the summer solstice. Scholars even tie the Christian feast day for John the Baptist (June 24) to pagan solstice celebrations, because the solstice also represents light's triumph over the dark. The solstice, which falls on June 21 this year, has been a time to ask the gods for a bountiful harvest.

Thanks to my blog friend John Campanelli for the amazing photo of Summer Solstice at Stonehenge.

At Litha and always, may your heart be filled with warmth and joy, may your life be filled with bountiful blessings, and may you always know your true will.

Blessed be,
Nixie

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 12:16 PM