Category: Summer Solstice

Litha 2022

8/28/2022

Litha, Camera, Action!

Ah, Litha - that most glorious Sabbat! Sunna shines, but the hottest days of Summer are not yet upon us. This year, it was as if the Gods of the North blessed us with one more cold evening to remember them by. I loved it!

We call this time Litha, in the manner of the old Anglo-Saxons, as described by Bede. I first read about the Anglo-Saxon names of Moons/months in the excellent novels Rhinegold by Stephan Grundy, and The Wolf And The Raven by Diana Paxson. I much prefer these over the uncited Moon names found in most modern Pagan books and calendars. They are also indicative of the ever evolving nature of Wicca, which draws inspiration from ancient sources, made usable by modern practitioners.

These Sabbat names, much like Magical Names, Robes, Magical Tools, etc. make for a more highly charged magical environment. Virtually everything we do is aimed at this singularly focused goal. Along these same lines, we refer to the Solstices and Equinoxes as Solar Sabbats, and they are an essential part of the Wheel of the Years. There are no Greater or Lesser Sabbats in our Tradition; all of our Sabbats are great!

But I digress.

Litha marks the end of Gemini and the start of Cancer. Lady Morgana also told me it was her favorite Sabbat*, thanks to the procession of torches. The torches have become various flameless luminaries over the past three decades, thanks to the massive drought we are surviving here in the West. ICS like TOTIC before us, fastidiously follows all fire restrictions that are established to cut down on the threat of wildfires. Anybody that doesn’t should stay their inconsiderate asses home. Especially as windy as it was!

The day was beautiful and bright, and the site was one of our favorites. Several of our people were away on Summer vacation, and some were out with Covid, but our smaller crew laid out the Ring and set up a gorgeous Altar. Sabbat days, while a lot of work is involved, are also great social times and a wonderful bonding experience.

As nightfall approached, the call “Robe up!” went up. There is just nothing like all of your fellow Witches decked out in their Sabbat Best! Our procession for paying respects is a time honored and beautiful part of our Tradition.

The Ring was further prepared by a Pentagram Ritual, and the Maiden of the Ring sweeping it with the traditional chant given to us by Lady Morgana’s Lady

Our Quarters were called by two first timers, and a First Degree Initiate and an Elder. One thing about our Tradition that is different from most is that we call our Quarters before throwing a Ring, mainly so it isn’t immediately broken. The mix of energy of the different levels of experience amongst these folk was very exciting, and magically effective.

In our Coven, everyone can and often does play every part, regardless of gender. The Priestess of Bealtaine served as the Priest of Litha. The Priestess of Litha will be playing the Priest of Mabon. Looking back a year, Litha 2021 featured 2 males playing Priest and Priestess. We truly embody our Lord Mordred’s motto ‘Everyone Has A Right To The Goddess’ and our Sabbats are all the better for it!

Our Priest and Priestess this year have been classmates for quite a long while and were perfectly attuned to each other. They moved together as if in a dance, and led the Coven in this dance. This takes the form of a spiral with the procession of torches, which then light the Center “Fire”. It’s so much fun!

After the Ring is picked up, and the Quarters dismissed, all take part in the consecrated beverage and cakes, and at Litha, we dance some more, and listen to the wise words of a yearly chosen “Old Man.” She was awesome!

Piles of food. Drink. Songs, jokes, and stories. The Farrars write that Sabbats should become a party, and ours always do. Even the wind, more so even than at Bealtaine, was very much an honored Sabbat guest. C’est la vie!

Litha was fabulous. This high point of the year was celebrated in high fashion - as was the online Sabbat, which involved several Witches who couldn’t attend the live event.

Now comes the heat of the Summer- the sign of Cancer and the first half of Leo, before Lammas is here. The providence of the Earth Mother becomes apparent before the first harvest and this Litha was a triumphant way of kicking it off! We are so proud of all the Great Work our people have done. It’s one of the most gratifying aspects of being a Guardian of our Tradition.

*Lady Morgana named each Sabbat as her favorite Sabbat depending on the time of year, and to whom she was speaking. One of the beautiful things about Wicca is its adaptability. If you don’t feel about all the Sabbats the way Lady Morgana did, you can change them so that they all become your favorite.

-Lord Tanys

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Midsummer Past

5/21/2022

Tonight's class (ICS holds classes 6+ days a week) watched a video of our Midsummer 1995 Sabbat, when we were Temple of the Inner Circle.

Our Coven's High Priestess consecrated the Circle "in the elements of Earth and Water", and our High Priest was the Summoner.

Lord Mordred used to say "Once you get on 'the Sabbat Train' life moves really fast" and it's so true. We are already practicing for our Summer Solstice Ritual, organizing all the mundane activities, and even re-examining our Ritual, which we have performed for thirty years with very little modification.

The Summer Solstice will be here before we know it!

Midsummer 2017 Newsletter

6/19/2017

Midsummer - Summer Solstice
Estival Solstice
Tuesday, June 20, 2017 @ 9:24 PM PT

The Solstice is a celestial event that occurs when our planet's rotational axis, in either the northern or southern hemisphere, is most inclined towards the sun. The Earth is actually farthest from the Sun during this time of the year. The exact instant of time when the Sun is directly overhead the Tropic of Cancer marks the exact day and time of the solstice in June.

Isn't the Summer Solstice
the 'Beginning' of Summer?

When you look at your modern calendar, the Estival solstice is labeled as the beginning of Summer, so why do we call it Midsummer?

If we were to actually begin the seasons with the cross-quarter days of

Imbolg, the very beginning of spring,
Bealtaine, the very beginning of Summer.
Lughnasadh, the very beginning of the Autumn harvesting season, and
Samhain, the early beginning of Winter

then it's easy to see why the Summer Solstice is known as "Midsummer". (and why Yule is oft called "Midwinter".)

LITHA

Venerable Bede

Litha is a name often heard bandied about as another name for the Summer Solstice. Litha first came into use as a result of research by Aiden Kelly from a treatise called 'The Reckoning of Time' (De temporum ratione) written by a Northumbrian monk, Bede in 725 AD. The scholarly Bede described a variety of ancient calendars, including the Anglo-Saxon calendar that named the month of June (se Ærra Liþa, early Litha month) and July, (Æfterra Liþa, later Litha month). "It may have helped that it had been appropriated, as “Lithe,” for the Midsummer festival in the hobbits’ calendar in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien 1966)." Aiden Kelly also brought the names of Mabon and Ostara into the neopagan vernacular so that all the sabbats could have traditional names.

Ancient Celebrations of the Solstice

Epona - a Vestal Virgin - Kupala See below for links

Celebrations of the Summer solstice occurs in history around the world, much like that of all the quarter days.

"In ancient China, the summer solstice was observed by a ceremony to celebrate the Earth, femininity, and the “yin” forces."
"In ancient Gaul, the Midsummer celebration was called Feast of Epona.
"Some Native American tribes held ritual dances to honor the Sun.
"For the Greeks, it would, according to some calendars, mark the start of the new year and the month-long countdown toward the Olympics.
"For the Romans, the solstice was the occasion for another unique exception to everyday life: on the first day of the festival of Vestalia, married women could, for one day only, enter the temples of the vestal virgins to make offerings to Vesta, goddess of the hearth and home.
"Mayas and Aztecs used the day as a marker by which to build many of their central structures, so that the buildings would align perfectly with the shadows of the two solstices, summer and winter.
"In Jewish tradition, it’s known as Tekufat Tammuz, the solstice of the month Tammuz.
"Eastern Europe celebrates the solstice with Kupala, a Slavic holiday with pagan roots. Named for the Slavic goddess Kupala, it was originally conceived as a fertility rite.
"Throughout Austria (and especially in the mountains of the Wilder Kaiser region of Tyrol), fires dot the countryside to celebrate the solstice."

Quoted from The Scientific American

How You Can Celebrate Midsummer

Osterfeuer TK on the beach of Binz, Rügen island, Germany by Tom Küpper - See below for link

Honor the longest day of the year. Wake at dawn. Stay up the entire day & night to greet the next day's sunrise.
Celebrate the power of the sun. Light candles specifically for the Sun when indoors or host a get-together around a bonfire.
Have a Midsummer's Night Bonfire Ritual. Include a barbecue feast to follow. Don't forget the Goddess! Supply a kiddie pool, squirt guns, water balloons and other water features.
Celebrate Fathers: Litha falls near Father's Day, so take some time and honor dads and the sacred masculine.
Use the day to recharge your magical tools by the light of the sun and the glow of the moon.
Attune with the God of the Green. Visit a nearby forest. Hike a trail. Meditate about and ground with your surroundings.
Head to the beach to soak in the heat of the Sun God but remember to cool off with the Ocean Goddess. Spend the evening there as well, with a bonfire to fight the chill coming off the water.
Light your bonfire by drawing down the sun and use a bit of the flame to light a brand new everlasting altar candle or lamp.

The God Face Surreal by Kyle Pearce - See below for link

Midsummer Folklore & Magic

Jumping a bonfire safely would guarantee good luck for the coming year.
Make an amulet of protection from the ashes of your Midsummer bonfire.
Create a stone circle and sit up all night on Midsummer's eve to see the fae. Carry rue in your pocket for protection or turn your jacket inside out to confuse them.
Whisper a wish to a pebble, circle the Midsummer bonfire three times and then toss the stone in to fulfill your wish.
Write your prayer (wish) on a paper boat, fill it with flowers, set it on fire, and let the boat travel down a stream.
Raise a tall, leafy Maypole to dance around.

'Fairy Islands' from the book Elves and Fairies 1916 by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite - See Link Below

Sun Gods

Ra aboard the Atet, his solar barge - See link below

Ra - Horus - Apollo - Helios -
Freyr - Huitzilopochtli - Lugh - Hvar Khshaita -
Inti - Liza - Mithras - Sol Invictus -
Surya - Tonatiuh - Utu (Shamash)

Apollo in his chariot with the hours by John Singer Sargent in the Museum of Fine Arts - See link below

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Bealtaine 2017
June 2017 Newsletter
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Midsummer Information gathered from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/why-we-celebrate-the-summer-solstice/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reckoning_of_Time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bede
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00155870802352178
Photo credits:
Globe Photo from http://www.michaelquinton.org/summer-solstice.html
Epona ~ The Celtic Horse Goddess By Emily Balivet, 2009 http://www.emilybalivet.com/Epona.html
Vestal Virgin by Jean Raoux (1677–1734) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jean_Raoux_-_Vestal_Virgin_-_WGA18999.jpg
Kupala (aka Festivities on Midsummer Night) by Wojciech Gerson (1831–1901) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gerson-Kupala.jpg
Osterfeuer TK on the beach of Binz, Rügen island, Germany by Tom Küpper
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Osterfeuer_TK.jpg
The God Face Surreal by Kyle Pearce
https://www.flickr.com/photos/keepitsurreal/1794450683
'Fairy Islands' from the book Elves and Fairies 1916 by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27Fairy_Islands%27_from_the_book_Elves_and_Fairies_1916_by_Ida_Rentoul_Outhwaite.jpg
Ra aboard the Atet, his solar barge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_deity#/media/File:Ra_Barque.jpg
Apollo in his chariot with the hours by John Singer Sargent Museum of Fine Arts
http://www.mfa.org/collections/publications/john-singer-sargent-murals-museum-fine-arts-boston
Copyright © 2017 Inner Circle Sanctuary, All rights reserved.

Litha 2016

6/26/2016

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Litha Sabbat 2016

High Priestess: Lady Sistterwolf High Priest: Lord Rand

It is not so often anymore that we are able to have our sabbats in the Spring Mountains. There was a time when we were there even in the snowy, bone-chilling cold of the Yule and Imbolg seasons. However, having been driven off the mountain by blizzards and having the amount of snowfall prevent braving the location, we still try to utilize our favorite site whenever possible during the Spring and Summer months. And though we are restricted to a propane firepit, we revelled in the respite from the 113 degree Las Vegas valley.

Lady Sistterwolf and Lord Rand led the ring and group wonderfully, despite the blood loss suffered by the High Priest right at the beginning of the ring; a quick tape up and he was ready to go. Our Lord Summoner for the ritual was the lovely (and stern) Lady Earnelian who instructed the coveners where to be and what to expect next. Lady Bearkasl swept the ring with grace and quarter callers, Lady Nashoba, Lady Sive, and Lady Rosmari invited the elementals in with love and strength. The celebration of the Golden Season looked amazing with the remnant of the setting sun illuminating the night sky.

Individually, we take away the best memories for ourselves with everyone’s being different. The few I heard from loved the camping, others the ritual, and others the comradery. An unprecedented amount of guests joined us in our festivities and they made the merry-making even more joyous. Many were very curious as it was their first time at a Wiccan sabbat and questions abounded. Hopefully, the memories they took away are as enchanting and diverse as they were for the rest of us.

Atheona

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