Summer Solstice

The gardens are blooming and summer is in full swing. Fire up the barbeque, turn on the sprinkler and enjoy the celebrations of Midsummer! Also called Litha, this Summer Solstice Sabbath honors the longest day of the year. Take advantage of the extra hours of daylight and spend as much time as you can outdoors.  In ancient times, the Sun was believed to be the center of the universe, the core of existence.  Sunrise in the Midwest USA will be 5:13 am on June 21.

The Summer Solstice or Midsummer was second only to Yule in importance to the ancient Northman. It is a time for general laughter, bonfires, food and dances. The day is dedicated to Baldur, God of Light and in honor of Sunna, Goddess of the Sun. A fire is lit in honor of a solar deity and the Sun, jumping through the flames will purify and renew energies. As we pass through the longest days and the shortest night of the year, it is appropriate to meditate on the good things of life.

The Sun is one of many objects in the sky that has been used in Wicca practices.  Early people believed the Sun was a symbol of the divine force that gave us life on Earth.  To physically feel the power of the Sun beating down on our skin, warming us, have it determine the length of the day and provide the light we need to survive under has made it an influential force.

Depending on your individual spiritual path, there are many different ways you can celebrate Litha, but the focus is nearly always on celebrating the power of the Sun. It's the time of year when the crops are growing heartily and the Earth has warmed up. This is the traditional time for Pagans to clear crystals and gather supplies from outside because the solar energy is at its strongest on this day. We can spend long sunny afternoons enjoying the outdoors and getting back to nature under the long daylight hours.

 

The Feast of St. John the Baptist

Solstice festivities in Europe were Christianized when the church set June 24th as a holy day celebrating the birth of St. John the Baptist. Jesus referred to John as "A burning and shining light" and so traditional pagan customs of lighting bonfires were easily appropriated for the Christian holiday.

Celebrate Fathers

By welcoming the God of your tradition, you can honor the men who have impacted your life - whether they raised you, loved you or are being brought up by you.  This simple rite also offers your boys a chance to get out there and dance, and to celebrate the masculine within themselves.

Invocation of the Four Directions

East: Welcome East, the power of air, of dawn, of Spring, of new beginnings. We welcome your return with your fresh breezes and flowers bursting forth. Let our imaginations soar like the eagle. Inspire our thoughts as we dream of a bright future and plant the seeds of hope.

South: Welcome South, the power of fire and summer. Bring back the strength of the Sun, but temper it with life giving rain. Help us to put our dreams for a better world into action. Give us strength and courage like the lion.

West: Welcome West, the power of water and evening. We are grateful for cool evenings and rains that keep our land green and help seeds to grow. We are grateful for loving families and the time we share with them each day.

North: Welcome North, Power of the Earth, winter and midnight. As we wake from our winter dreams and burst forth into spring, keep us grounded in the Earth. Help us remember to walk gently on the Earth and treat her with kindness, for she is our mother.

 

Norse Paganism

In Icelandic folk beliefs this shortest night of the year is filled with magical powers. Alfs and Vettir come out in the night and party and dance around the bonfire together with the people. Young women roll naked in the morning dew to become fertile. This probably connects with this day being a popular wedding or handfasting day.

 

Honor the Season

Many ancient cultures marked the Summer Solstice with rites and rituals honoring the Sun. Many congregate at Stonehenge in England, or other parks, on this day to watch the sunrise. The Sun generates warmth and keeps life on Earth moving.  Celebrate the significance of Midsummer with ritual and prayers that recognize the Sun and its magnificent power. Set up your Litha altar with symbols of the season - solar symbols, candles and Midsummer fruits and vegetables.

 

Clean Things Up

Clean your house. Take advantage of the warm weather to have a garage sale and get rid of all those things you don't want. You can also organize a swap with your friends or donate all your stuff to charities like Goodwill or Salvation Army. You've got plenty of daylight at Litha, so you can accomplish a lot in just a short period of time.

 

 

A Prayer to the Sun

The Sun is high above us shining down upon the land and sea,
making things grow and bloom. Great and powerful Sun, we honor you this day
and thank you for your gifts. Ra, Sun, Helios, Sunna, Svarog,
you are known by many names. You are the light over the crops,
the heat that warms the Earth, the hope that springs eternal,
the bringer of life. We welcome you, and we honor you this day,
celebrating your light, as we begin our journey once more into the darkness.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sxm33FJqOU&list=PLAA4961880F8EE3EB&index=6

 

Midsummer

Sabbats

Summer Solstice

Sunna

 

Father's Day

Midsummer Tree

The Strength to allow one to achieve in the face of opposition.

 

Dietary

Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management reasons. Although humans are omnivores, each culture and each person holds some food preferences or some food taboos, due to personal tastes or ethical reasons. Individual dietary choices may be more or less healthy. Proper nutrition requires the proper ingestion and absorption of vitamins, minerals and food energy in the form of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Dietary habits and choices play a significant role in health, mortality and can also define cultures and play a role in religion.

Breathe and eat correctly is one of the Thirteen Goals of a Witch.  Our religious tradition has no dogma, so different Paths will define terms like ethical eating or dietary values in different ways.  Food production has become a complex industry with potentially harmful effects, including: the overuse of fertilizers and pesticides; the mistreatment of food animals and workers; possible unintended consequences of genetic engineering; obesity among the poor who lack access to healthy food; energy lost by eating at a higher level of a food chain; conflicting ethical eating values; and classism, racism, and sexism.

The point of this post is not to propose a dietary code or insist on adherence to a particular set of rituals or religious beliefs.  It aims instead to help someone feel confident in making easy, tasty, nutritious food choices that fit with your individual ethical and spiritual values.  The "Nordic Diet" book is where many of these guidelines can be found.  And June 5 was the start of the Think. Eat. Save. action, to reduce the foodprint. 

One of the principles acknowledges the “Temperance and harmony protects the rhythm of daily life”.  Others affirm the importance of rights, respect and love. Together the principles form one holistic statement that helps to define a Path.  Again, this is just one thought, you are free to adjust to your own Pagan Path.

Eating, of course, is an essential element of our everyday experience.  If we can approach our daily meals with a sense of reverence, if we can recall each time we slip a forkful of food into our mouths the many miracles it took to cultivate, harvest and prepare that bite, we will be moving toward truly living this radical principle.

·       Food wrapped in plastic or styrofoam is ethical only if you're an astronaut. Reduce food processing and packaging energy (by eating foods as close to their original fresh state as possible).

·       Reduce food waste (by buying sparingly and using leftovers).

·       Transform your front lawn into a garden. Growing our own food helps us tune into the seasons and to what our own local environments can support.

·       Eat for social justice (by supporting fair trade initiatives that promote fair prices and sustainable production practices).

·       Reduce transportation energy (by eating locally produced meats, milk, grains, fruits, and vegetables whenever possible).

·       Eat lower on the food chain (which would have positive impact on health, land use, water quality and soil conservation). The environmental cost to produce a plant-based diet is dramatically lower than that of a meat-based diet.

·       Eat and act to promote good farming/fishing practices (that is, reward those who do it right).

 

Many Wiccans of several Paths share an intentional moment before a meal, to dwell in gratitude and remind ourselves of our ongoing commitment to use our gifts in service of our values. Such table graces create a space of centering and deepening, and give thanks for the effort and delight involved in bringing food, family and friends together. Table graces can be silent, spoken or sung. The specific forms and words are less important than the intention, and cumulative effect, of pausing in gratitude for and awareness of life’s gifts and potential.

 

"Loving spirit, be our guest, Dine with us, share our bread,

That our table might be blessed and our souls be fed."

 

 

The Fehu rune f represents mobile wealth.  To our ancestors, as with us in today’s society, the accumulation of wealth, when gained honorably, is a positive thing. It ensures survival as wealth in its purest sense is a steady food supply.  The cattle gives financial security, which in turn delivers comforts needed on all levels.

 

Naudiz n is a rune meaning need.  This rune represents ‘need’ in all its forms, from the need for food and shelter, to the need of personal fulfillment.  When you are in need and are aware and understand those needs, you are able to find a way to fulfill those needs.

 

 

http://www.thinkeatsave.org/
 

Fire: Body is a Temple

Fire                                                                                        Body is a Temple

South, Full Moon M, Summer, June, July, August, Summer Solstice (Midsummer), Lammas (Freyr Fest), Noon, Justice, Love, Growing, Red, Soul, Health, Sun, Candle

Asgard

Baldr

Cat

Dragon

Father God              

Freya  

Loki  

Mother Goddess

Muspelheim

Serpent

Sunna

Tyr

 

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light and various reaction products.  Fire has been an important part of all cultures and religions from pre-history to modern day and was vital to the development of civilization.

 Fire is one of the four classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and science.  It was commonly associated with the qualities of energy, assertiveness, and passion.  In one Greek myth, Prometheus stole fire from the Gods to protect the otherwise helpless humans, but was punished for this charity.

It is fire that our ancestors used to warm our homes, used it to cook food, sit around it to ward of the darkness of night and it fuels our passions.  Fire, unlike the other elements, does not exist in a natural state.  Its physical form can only take place by consuming some other element. It is the transformer, converting the energy of other objects into other forms: heat, light, ash and smoke.

Fire is one of the elements that appear in most Wiccan traditions.  In rituals, fire is represented in the forms of burning objects, love spells, baking and lighting candles or fires.  The manifestations of the element are found in the sun, volcanoes, lava and all forms of light. Cats of all types, especially the lion and tiger are also thought to personify the element of fire, as are all predatory creatures, such as the fox.  Other mythic and legendary creatures of fire include phoenix, dragon and occasionally the hawk.

Fire is sometimes associated with deities of trickery and chaos - probably because while we may think we have domination over it, ultimately it is the fire itself that is in control. Fire is often connected with Loki, the Norse God of chaos, and the Greek Hephaestus (Roman Vulcan) the God of metalworking, who demonstrates no small amount of deceit.

Fire in many ancient cultures and myths has been known to purify the land with the flames of destruction, however, it is also capable of the renewal of life through the warmth and comfort of those very same flames.  It represents the creativity and passion that all intellectual and emotional beings have. Fire is an active element force that has the passion to create, destroy and animate things.  This destructive aspect should not be seen as negative, forest fires actually help, clearing away underbrush and encouraging seeds lying dormant within the Earth to burst forth into new life.

The home of all Fire in the Norse cosmos is Muspellheim, the fire-world. Its keeper is Surt, the great Fire giant who engineered the beginning of Midgard by deliberately steering his fiery realm into the ice-world of Niflheim.  Surtr is foretold as being a major figure during the events of Ragnarok; carrying his bright sword, he will go to battle against the God Freyr, and afterward the flames that he brings forth will engulf the Earth.  Surtr, fire, both creates and destroys. 

Use fire to call to action your body temple.  What if your duty was caretaker of a temple? Undoubtedly, you would do so with greatest sincerity. You would daily sweep the walkway of leaves and debris.  Your body is merely a sacred temple with legs.  Take care of your physical sense of well-being in the  same way you would a temple. You should be well informed and motivated to engage in your temple of good forms of exercise for your body’s age, make-up and ability. Your physical wellness should feel healthy and vibrant, the result of daily taking in pure water, clean fresh air and sunshine.

People born under the astrological signs of Aries, Leo and Sagittarius are thought to have dominant fire personalities. Fire personalities are believed to have good leading qualities and also tend to be enthusiastic, extroverted, rebellious, passionate, brave and valiant; however, they can also be hot-tempered, snappy, uncontrollable and angry.

To feel the manifestations of this power, go out on sunny day and feel the warmth and light of the Sun, hear the crackling of logs and smell of smoke from a burning fire. As you gaze into the transformational flame of a candle, immerse yourself in the energy of Fire.

 

Cen c is the rune of the brightly burning torch that lights up the hall in the evening, whose flames represent the safe, tempered Fire of the hearth. Cen depicts the magical-sexual heat of the Goddess Freya, which slumbers within ourselves, waiting to be kindled.

Kenaz k rune is the flame of transformation and regeneration. It is the flame of the forge, the volcano and deep Earth energies. It is the controlled flame of the artist and craftsman. It holds the power to create or destroy. It is the primal force of creation. In Norse and other mythologies, it is the Fire and ice that produce the life force.

Cweorth rune is the Fire twirl. Like Kenaz, it is a rune of Fire, but where Ken is the smith's Fire that forges, or the torch of Truth that lights the way; Cweorth is the Fire of purification and destruction, the funeral pyre that burns away the dead flesh. It is a good rune to use when

wishing to change something negative into something positive, for instance, hatred to love, poverty to wealth, physical death to spiritual birth or sickness to health.

 

Oh fire shower upon me all that is beneficial, health and wealth.

Put an end to the evil in the minds of my enemies, let the pure fire burn forever.

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suvuOLEegJw

 

Air: Spirit is Enchanted

Your Spirit is Enchanted

Clean Air Day

Earth is Home

Earth Day

Elements Table

Fire: Body is a Temple

Your Body is a Temple

Fire Prevention

Water: Mind is Divine

Your Mind is Divine

World Water

Rune Yoga