S: you are listening to episode 25 Litha. So what is litha? Litha, or Midsummer is the celebration of the summer solstice. It can be celebrate on the actual solstice which is the longest day and shortest night of the year or it can be celebrated for all of the days surrounding it which would be from June 20 to the 23rd in the northern hemisphere and December 20th To the 23rd in the southern hemisphere. Litha is the transition from the light half of the year to the dark half of the year when the days start getting shorter. Litha is more widely celebrated by Wiccan specifically but you can absolutely still celebrate it if you're pagans. and wiccans celebrate it as a time when the God and Goddess that were married on Beltane that we talked about are now pregnant so it's time when the deities are the most powerful and passing that onto the land. I don't really know anything beyond that because I am not a wiccan, I just know that kind of in the cycle of things Beltane was when they got married and now they're pregnant.
T: yes so this is a time of abundance it's celebrated a lot with all the bounty of the earth a lot of fruits and vegetables, also it's a time when the god is considered Stronger because if you've ever known someone who's pregnant or been pregnant yourself pregnant women are both strong and incredibly weak sometimes just because of all the hormones, so this is really a time with God and his strength, so the sun God is at his strongest and it's a time of basically like you said pregnancy and growth so a lot about fresh fruits and vegetables, yes
S: fertility, fertility that is transferred onto the land. another belief surrounding this holiday is that of the Holly King and the oak king making it also a transitional period Rather than just a celebration of the abundance of the crops so it's believed that the Holly King battles the oak king for his position on the throne and the holly king succeeds the oak king, bringing in the dark half of the year. During Litha's opposite on the wheel of the year is Yule, and that is when the oak king wins, bringing back the light half of the year. so many Wiccans believe that the kings are simply different sides of the horned god
T: that's the same as if you say that the maiden the matron in the crone they're all symbols of one they just wax and wane depending on the time of year
S: just beyond the gods and goddesses associate with this holiday, it's also that Marks something called the trooping of the fairies. This is more prevalent in in Celtic countries, but it is believe that this is the time of year the fae that exist on this plane gather together in large groups and move from site to site as they migrate across countries. and it is believed that they will stop at peoples houses and collect offerings so that is also a good time to connect with them if you want to work with them.
T: Yes so it's a time of abundance but we also share that abundance that's why a lot of offerings are of wheat and honey and milk things that are not going to traditionally be around in the winter because we have them to share now.
S: before we get into all of the different ways you can celebrate, we'll run through the correspondences really quickly and the colors are the colors of summer really they're very bright and vibrant blues greens and golds. the animals associated with Litha snakes bees butterflies eagles and seahorses. the the crystals are jade emerald topaz amber onyx and Tiger's eye. the herbs are thyme chamomile fennel mug wart and elderflower. the flowers and trees are oak beach lavender honeysuckle and peony. The foods are pastries, potato salad, honey and lavender cookies and wine. The incense and oils are saffron orange frankincense and the spells that are best around this time of year are those for love, luck money fairy blessings and happiness.
all of the different ways that you can celebrate as always you can wear the colors of the season decorate your altar. and since it is the solstice one of the really fun things is to watch the sunrise and sunset on the actual day.
T: I always do that.
S: it's such an easy one. I love lazy witch craft that's one of the easiest ones but it's also there for a really good day and time to charge your crystals because you can either charge but you can either charge them with either solar Energy or lunar energies so if your charging your crystals with solar energy this is the perfect day to do it.
T: because it's the longest day of the year.
S: exactly how I am in general a great way to celebrate this day is just get outside and do some outdoor meditation or grounding. I wouldn't say that there's a ton of ton of things going on surrounding litha but a ton of things called Midsummer. It's definitely not celebrating the traditional pagan aspect of it but if you just want to get outside and celebrate, wear some flower crowns, you can go to a festival for Midsummer. another good thing to do this time of year is to eat local foods because once again we are celebrating the abundance and especially things that are locally grown like if you're like us we live in the Midwest it's a short season season to get things locally like local fruits and vegetables and honey and things like that it's just it's a limited season to enjoy. so this is a great day to do that.
T: this is actually a really good time me and my friends usually have a picnic and we do everything with fresh fruits and vegetables and that's a good way to celebrate with people that maybe don't necessarily want to celebrate the holiday but it's a good way to share the abundance of what's been happening.
S: You could pick berries and gather herbs.
T: yes I always get herbs on this day as well because it's a good time to do it.
S: as a note just to just be not just a good witch but a good human in general if you're gathering herbs the general rule of thumb is together no more than 20% of what the plant has to offer because that way you leave enough for it to keep reproducing and also you should leave an offering like water.
T: yes and be very careful of any roots you gather you don't take 20% the roots, take only the roots are of be very careful.
S: but another thing that you can gather at this time of year it's also a good time to make wands or besoms which are the broom but people who handmake their own often use fallen tree branches that they find outside, that's a popular activity to do this time of year.
T: Note for those that are paying attention to the range of dates Steph is giving you'll notice that this is earlier in the year that's because 2020 is a leap year and because these are all based on our astrology and how the planet aligns to the sun and moon it changes and because of that extra day thrown in early you'll notice that our holidays are kind of moved from where they may more traditionally be found.
S: yes we are giving you ranges but obviously if you want to find the exact time you can look it up.
the last thing that I think is a fun way to celebrate with is, Tarot cards pendulums divination things like that we went over that this is considered half of the cycle if you really think about you with a being opposite of you all on the wheel of the year it's a good time to do with the half cycle divination at this time of year because as we said between like holly king and the oak king this is considered bringing in the dark half of the year where the days start getting shorter so it's a good time to practice divination by looking at what's coming between Litha and yule and sort of looking ahead to watch those next few months offer in terms of what's coming your way. I thought you should be ready for what the universe wants you to know. We talk about doing cyclical divinations where we kind of go from holiday to holiday, but if you want a 6 month view, this is a good time to do it.
And that is the last thing that I have and that sums up all that we have for you on Litha so let us know if this is one of the holidays that you love to celebrate if you can find us on Instagram and we will as usual be posting pictures of whatever we are doing and don't forget that we are going to offer subscription boxes so when we have enough people interested, let us know and let us know if you wanna tell us how you celebrate this particular holiday.
T: and I am interested in that this is not one of the traditional holidays that I celebrate a lot other than eating a lot of food so
S: Yes me either it's Not really in my wheelhouse, I am dark like my soul I like all of the dark half of the year holidays, those are mine.
T: I like all of them this one is hard for me because there's so much sunlight and it makes me so happy but then I know the darkness is coming.
S: that is all we have for you this week we will see you next week
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