Litha

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Correspondences

Animals - Bee, butterfly, caterpillar, horse, lion, phoenix

Colors - red, orange, yellow, green, white, gold

Deities - Oak and Holly King (Celtic); Hathor, Isis, Nut, Ra (Egyptian); Apollo, Hestia/Vesta (Greco-Roman); Baldur (Norse)

Food and Drink - berries, carrots, cheese, citrus and tropical fruits, fish, herbed potatoes, honey, mead, melons, milk, salads, tomatoes

Herbs - calendula, cinnamon, clover, daisy, dragon’s blood, frankincense, goldenrod, rosemary, saffron, sandalwood, stinging nettle, sunflower, tiger lily

Crystals - bloodstone, carnelian, citrine, clear quartz, red jasper, sunstone, tiger’s eye, yellow topaz

Astronomical Basis

Ancient Sites

Pagan Cultures and Deities

Ancient Traditions and Modern Spells

- Midsummer Ritual Nap

Ingredients

• Dried lavender buds
• Dried chamomile flowers
• Lemon
• ½ ounce witch hazel
• Distilled water
• Lavender essential oil
• Fresh picked summer flowers
• Empty tea bag or tea infuser
• 2 ounce mister bottle
• Teacup
• Blanket
• Pillow
• Sunblock
• Label
• Pen

1. Tea blend: in the tea bag, blend the lavender and chamomile. Pour boiling water into a teacup and allow to steep for 5-10 minutes. Place a lemon slice on the surface.
2. Lavender spray: fill the mister bottle with ½ ounce distilled water and ½ ounce witch hazel. Add 20 drops lavender essential oil. Turn gently to mix.
3. Protect your skin with sunblock and then lay your blanket and pillow in a grassy area under the glow of the sun. Spray both with the lavender spray.
4. Sit on the blanket and drink your tea. As you do, meditate on a sigil for charging your energy.
5. Once you finish the tea, take the flowers and arrange them into your sigil somewhere on your skin.
6. Lay your head on the pillow and close your eyes. Visualize the sun charging the sigil and the energy entering you. Nap or meditate.
7. Upon awakening, blow the flowers off your body.

- Besom of Vesta

Ingredients

• 4 foot hardwood handle (ash, hawthorn, hazel, or oak)
• Bundle of 10-12 inch birch twigs or woody herbs (lavender, mugwort, rosemary, or thyme)
• 3 long slender willow branches or lengths of heavy cord
• Bucket of warm water at least 12 inches deep

1. Soak all materials except the handle in the bucket of water for 24 hours.
2. Lay the handle on a large, flat surface. Bundle the bristles together. Cut across the top stems to make an even line, then line that up with the handle so that the even ends are about 6 inches up from the bottom of the handle.
3. Tightly bind the bristles to the handle with the 3 lengths of cord. One about 1 inch above the bottom of the handle, one about 1 inch below the top of the bristles, and one in between. As you bind the besom, say, “Into this besom of tree and herb, I bind the power of the hearth goddess Vesta. I bind the power of family. I bind the power of home. I bind the power of connection.”
4. Allow the broom to dry for a few days before using it to energetically cleanse your home.

- Serpent’s Egg Amulet

Ingredients

• Small glass jar
• Sacred water
• Serpent’s egg stone

1. Find a small, oval-shaped stone that is banded or serpent-like, similar to granite, marble, ammonite, or agate. You could also use a hag stone.
2. In your glass jar, collect water from a fresh source on Midsummer’s Day. Cleanse and charge your serpent’s egg by dipping a finger from your left hand into the water and massaging it into the egg. Perform this cleansing and charging ritual anytime you feel the amulet has lost its luster.
3. Keep the egg in your left pocket to shield you from negative energy.