June 20th 2016 summer equinox11/30/2023 Most wild herbs are fully mature by Midsummer and this is the traditional time for gathering magickal and medicinal plants to dry and store for winter use. They are reaching the pinnacles of maturity and coming closer to the harvest time. Although the hottest days of the summer still lie ahead, from this point onward we enter the waning year, and each day the Sun will recede from the skies a little earlier, until Yule, when the days begin to become longer again.Īgriculturally, the crops are in full growth. In Cornwall up to the mid 18th century the number and appearance of fires seen from any given point was used as a form of divination and used to read the future.Īstronomically, it is the longest day of the year, representing the God at full power. Around these flames the festivities would take place. The Celts would light balefires all over their lands from sunset the night before Midsummer until sunset the next day. Blazing gorse or furze was carried around cattle to prevent disease and misfortune while people would dance around the balefires or leap through the flames as a purifying or strengthening rite. The use of fires, as well as providing magical aid to the sun, were also used to drive out evil and to bring fertility and prosperity to men, crops and herds. The Norse especially loved lengthy processions and would gather together their animals, families and lighted torches and parade through the countryside to the celebration site. It was often marked with torchlight processions, by flaming tar barrels or by wheels bound with straw, which were set alight and rolled down steep hillsides. In ancient times, the Summer Solstice was a fire-festival of great importance when the burning of balefires ritually strengthened the sun. At Stonehenge, the heelstone marks the midsummer sunrise as seen from the centre of the stone circle. Most cultures of the Northern Hemisphere mark Midsummer in some ritualised manner and from time immemorial people have acknowledged the rising of the sun on this day. It can burn, consume, cook, shed light or purify and balefires still figure prominently at modern Midsummer rites. The element of Fire is the most easily seen and immediately felt element of transformation. Because this Sabbat glorifies the Sun God and the Sun, fire plays a very prominent role in this festival. Midsummer or the Summer Solstice is the most powerful day of the year for the Sun God. Incense: Sage, mint, basil, Saint John's Wort, sunflower, Lavenderĭecorations: Dried herbs, potpourri, seashells, summer flowers, and fruits. Litha (Midsummer, Gathering Day, Summer Solstice, Alban Heffyn, Feill-Sheathain)
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