20/06/2024
SUMMER SOLSTICE - LITHA
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โ๏ธ With the Sun entering Cancer, a Cardinal water sign, the summer season begins. The Solstice marks the triumph of Father Sun, the bringer of life, light, and warmth, to which Mother Earth responds, nourishing and content, with all her abundance, beauty, and richness.
๐ฅ Solstice traditions involve lighting bonfires around which people used to gather to celebrate the arrival of summer.
๐พ Another very ancient and rooted tradition is the gathering of St. Johnโs herbs.
Plants collected on this day were believed to have almost miraculous powers. In particular, solar energy is concentrated in yellow flowers like marigold or St. Johnโs wort, known as the herb of good mood for its beneficial antidepressant effects.
The water element also plays an important role on this magical day, as the solstice coincides with the Sun entering the sign of Cancer, ruled by the Moon.
Solstice water is represented by the โSt. Johnโs dew,โ which is attributed magical powers such as regrowing hair, rejuvenating skin, or even promoting fertility.
๐ In the Celtic Wheel of the Year, the name of this celebration is Litha (named after the Saxon goddess of the harvest), which also reminds us of the agricultural cycle centered on cereals.
To celebrate Litha, we can do very simple things. For example, we can rise at dawn and observe the rising sun, meditating on its qualities and its destiny: the maximum strength coincides with the beginning of its decline. We can bathe in the precious solstice dew. We can gather the solstice herbs in the moment of maximum light, at noon, and keep them as lucky charms. Our ancestors used to hang bunches of St. Johnโs wort on their doorways for protection, and indeed its Greek name hyperikon means โto protect.โ
At sunrise, we can greet the sun by saying:
โHail to you, oh Sun, on the day of your triumph!โ
HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE!!!!! ๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐
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