It's time for Midsummer!!!! It may be better known as Litha or the Summer Solstice, and is usually celebrated around 20th-21st June in the Northern Hemisphere. (In the Southern Hemisphere, the date is 20th-21st December.) Within Druidism, it's known as Alban Hefin which means "Light of Summer".
This is the time when the light is defeated by darkness which is why after this, the nights grow longer until the Winter Solstice when light is the victor. Sometimes the light is substituted with the Oak King and the darkness with the Holly King. There are a couple of different variations of this story with one saying these Kings do battle at the Solstices when their strengths are at their peak, and another saying that they do battle at the Equinoxes after reaching peak strength at the Solstices.
Regardless, this particular celebration is all about the Sun and its power. When I recently sat and considered about the themes of Litha, themes of abundance and prosperity, lots of gold-coloured decorations and symbols, all came to mind. I forgot to decorate my Tree of the Year with my Litha decorations but I was dealing with a fair amount in the weeks leading up to it. My Tree of the Year is a "christmas" tree that I never take down and instead I try to decorate it halfway between each Wheel of the Year celebration since there's roughly 6 weeks between each one.
In a lovely turn of events, I received a beautiful little "altar" cauldron in the June 2024 Witch Casket! This item is one of my favourites (although I do love everything from that Casket) and I immediately knew I could use it for mini simmer pots!! I don't use my normal pans for simmer pots because I have a tendency to forget about pans while I'm cooking so I've kind of avoided trying them out so I don't destroy anything in my kitchen. But with this little cauldron set up, I thought that it was time for me to try simmer pots out so I got started with some research and I now have a dedicated Simmer Pot Recipe Book. I do need to change the amounts to suit my little simmer pot though so that'll be fun!
I looked through my herb collection after having a look online for assistance - literally none of the magickal books in my "witchy" library had anything useful about simmer pots in them. But online is quite useful and helped immensely because I was able to choose four herbs that I felt fitted what I wanted. I've included the amounts I used for my little simmer pot as well but if you'd like to use it, I would recommend finding out how much of each ingredient to use for your own pots as they are unlikely to be as small as mine.
1/2 jewelled teaspoon Mint - prosperity, abundance
4 Juniper Berries - attraction, renewal
1/2 jewelled teaspoon Orange Peel - abundance, wealth, luck, prosperity, happiness, renewal, blessings, manifestation
1/4 jewelled teaspoon Crushed Cassia - sensuality, success, awareness, passion, prosperity, protection
When I spoke with a friend recently about this recipe of mine, she asked me what Cassia is so I figured I might as well share that knowledge here: Cassia is related to Cinnamon but can be confused with each other. Cassia has a bolder taste and smell while real Cinnamon is more subtle. Both can be acquired in sticks of rolled bark and Cassia is darker and thicker while Cinnamon is lighter and its rolls are thinner. Cassia might also be known as Chinese Cinnamon. If you're buying it from your local supermarket, if it has more of a reddish-brown colour, it's likely to be Cassia as Cinnamon doesn't have the red.
Now that I've shared what I did, I think it's time for me to do the collective reading for this time. I found a spread by The Witch of the Forest and decided to use my Ogham staves for this rather than an oracle or tarot deck.
How can we nurture our growth, especially since the Winter Solstice six months ago?
Nion/Nin/Nuin - Ash
With this Ogham stave, the message is that what we do can and does affect the people around us, even if we don't think it does. Standing and accepting the knowledge that not only does our actions affect our present but it also affects our future. Everything we do or say will have some sort of impact and it's up to us what that impact is.
Something else this Ogham stave says is that we can nurture our growth with the knowledge and universal truth that struggles and challenges are a natural part of life and they are actually instrumental in initiating our growth. Remember that plants and trees will grow their roots during the harsh Winter and then their branches in the changeable Spring.
How can we nourish our souls?
Huath - Hawthorne
This Ogham stave is saying that we can nourish our souls by not trying to do an impression of an ostrich sticking its head in the sand. We can't avoid problems or issues within our lives forever and they will only get worse if we try to, so we have to face them before they become too big and uncontrollable.
Hawthorne cautions us to open our minds to different ideas if we truly wish to nourish our souls. By accepting these other ideas, we can be more creative, find new solutions and be morein tune with ourselves as individuals and as a wider community.
Another way that we can nourish our souls is by providing assistance, guidance and/or strength to others who are facing similar challenges to our own.
How can we shine our light more?
Ailim/Ailm - Silver Fir or Pine
With this Ogham stave, the message is that we need to see the bigger picture. Our light may be blinding us but this can mean that we don't see the number of people who are drawn to us like moths to a flame. Remember that there will be others following in our footsteps so we need to be able to shine our light to guide them along the path but also to us so we can share with them the wisdom we have learned.
We should also consider that our perception should include long-term goals and ideas while also preparing for what may be coming along the path. We don't know what the future holds so being as prepared as possible is always a good idea/plan, instead of trying to control it.
Another way we can shine our light more is by releasing the fear, panic and/or anxiety that we don't need.
Where do we need to conserve our energy?
Tinne/Teine - Holly
This Ogham stave comes to tell us that we can conserve our energy by releasing the ideas that we are being secretly sabotaged or that there is an underhanded plot against us. Neither of these things are true for the wider world but it is true within our own individual minds. We can be our own worst enermy and biggest obstacle so it's important that we move out of our own way.
We can also conserve our energy by standing together as a community rather than as individuals constantly in competition with everyone else. We can share resources (including energy) and make achieving our goals much easier, as well as finding protection in that trust.
How can we embrace our radiance?
Quert/Quiert/Ceirt - Apple
With this Ogham stave, the advice is that we need to embrace choices and decision as a part of life. But we also need to be wise enough to understand the difference between what we want and what we need, what is "right" for us and what makes us happy - they are not always one and the same.
We can also embrace our radiance by remembering that we matter just the way we are. We don't have to prove ourselves with productivity or work because it's ok to slow down and be still.
Our calm but bright radiance can be embraced by knowing that sometimes life doesn't make sense in the moment but that we can usually learn from it in the future.
So struggles, challenges, choices and decisions are all a natural part of life, and things that we know we will face at some point or another throughout our lives. We may want to control every aspect of our lives but this isn't something that we can actually achieve because we can't control the actions and reactions of others, which inform how we act and react as well.
I don't know about you but those Ogham staves are hitting pretty hard and making me think about how I can be even brighter and help more people. But has this made you think about what you're doing in your own life? About how brightly you could be shining?
I hope this has been helpful and useful, but if you'd like a more personal look at how you can work with the energy of Litha, you're welcome to get in contact.
Peace and love to all!!!!
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