Litha

Your solar-powered guide to a magickal summer.

“This is the solstice, the still point
of the sun, its cusp and midnight,
the year’s threshold
and unlocking, where the past
lets go of and becomes the future;
the place of caught breath, the door
of a vanished house left ajar...”

Margaret Atwood

Hello, sweet summery child 💛

Oh, the world is shimmering between rain and sunshine right now, getting ready for the big switchover:

The summer solstice.

The biggest solar festival of the year is a time when the light is at its peak. But with this thrumming burst of light also comes the promise of shorter days and longer, darker nights: the changeover into the darker half of the year.

This is a time to make the most of all that golden joy while it is still here.

Midsummer (also known as Litha or the summer solstice) falls when the world is pregnant with the world’s harvest - and this year it lands on Saturday 21st June. We do love it when a Pagan festival falls at the weekend!

It’s a time to raise a glass to the steadily growing green things in the farmers’ fields and beyond. Our attention turns towards the light, making this a good opportunity for us to honour ourselves, to reflect on the things we have accomplished and the practices we do that really make us shine our brightest.

Last week, I shared a post on my concept of “Bright Work”, on celebrating our achievements and acknowledging how far we have come from the dark explorations of winter. The summer solstice is the IDEAL time for this kind of practice!

Depending on your outlook, Litha is a celebration of the light… or, it is the start of the dwindling days.

I, for one, will be working with the solstice - rain or shine - to raise my arms up to the sky and give thanks for the light.

In this Litha edition of The Green Witch, I’ll be sharing:

• ways to celebrate the summer solstice

• an exclusive summer giveaway!

• Episode 2 of The Divine Void Podcast

• your June Glow-Up Spell

Stay bright, darling. Let me know how you celebrate Litha in the comments below!

Jennifer x

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The Divine Void Episode 2 - out now ✨️

Well, that was fast! I can’t believe our second episode is out already 😍

Join me and my fellow witchcraft author

Laura Derbyshire

for the latest episode of The Divine Void Podcast. Tune in for:

• the spooky side of the Fae

• welcoming in fertility

• the magick of putting seeds in your mouth (yes, you read that right)

• & two women going a bit feral over birds…

Listen at the link below and don’t forget to follow us on Spotify to get our next episode straight to your phone!

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See you at the Northern Literary Festival!

On Saturday 19th July, join me and authors Liz Flanagan (When We Were Divided) and Harriett de Mesquita (The Magickal Summer of Evie Edelman) for our “Something Witchy This Way Comes” panel, where we’ll discuss the power of nature, magick and intuition.

I’ll be signing copies of The Witch’s Survival Guide. Find out more info about the Northern Literary Festival (Preston, Lancashire) at the button below - I can’t wait to see you there!

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How to celebrate Litha

Summer is coming - it’s time to go big on the gold and glimmers. Here are some of the ways I’ll be celebrating the solstice this year:

• Get your altar shining. Time to change things up! Deck your altar out in a golden, white or yellow altar cloth and add gold jewellery, carnelian, amber, sunstone, mirrors and gold discs to represent the sun. You might also like to flex your painting skills and draw emblems of the sun. Write wishes and poems in golden ink, and adorn the whole thing with bunches of marigolds and elderflower. Add two candles - one white and one dark green - to represent the duality of the Oak King and the Holly King. (See solar herbs oil infusion below for more herb ideas)

• Speaking of elderflower… It’s cordial-making time! It isn’t summer without some light and floaty elderflower cordial. I shared my own recipe (because I didn’t have any citric acid, haha) a few weeks ago in my post, “8 Green Witch Tips for June.” I made my first batch a couple of weeks ago and it’s gone down a treat!

• Replenish your herb stocks. Elderflower isn’t the only thing to forage for at this time of year. Grab a small pair of scissors and head to the verges for honeysuckle (pic above), dog rose, pineapple weed and yarrow.

• Perform a solar ritual. I shared the full Litha ritual I’ll be practising on The Green Witch two weeks ago. Upgrade your subscription to view it and make it your own! Or create your own ritual using the solstice’s themes of: light, personal growth, joy and abundance.

• Head out to the reed bed. This one is niche, I’m not going to lie. But if you’re a birdwatcher like me, you’ll know that this is the time of year when the bird calls start to die down and things get very quiet. But not if you’re a sedge warbler! For me, these (flipping noisy) birds are the sounds of my summers in the countryside. Their call is wild, erratic and a bit all over the place - sounds like the sort of midsummer celebration I’d like an invite to!

Photo by Lukáš Kadava on Unsplash

• Make a solar herbs oil infusion. Place calendula, rosemary and chamomile (all plants associated with the sun) in a jar of carrier oil - like olive or jojoba. Let them steep for 7-14 days in direct sunlight. Remove the plants, then use the oil to anoint candles for abundance and joy spells, as well as your Solar Plexus Chakra when you need courage, positivity and energy.

• Eat and be merry. Before the ritual, after the ritual - any time of day is good for some strawberries and cream. Celebrate with real summer foods like this moist lemon cake, or a broad-bean and goat’s cheese tart with honey-roasted vegetables. They’ll go down a treat.

• Honour the Oak King. The summer solstice is the Oak King’s last stand. Poor guy, he did good all throughout spring! As the ruler of lighter months, on 21st June he will be defeated by the Holly King, the ruler of shadow and the darker months of the year. Celebrate his honour by adding oak leaves to your altar or practising your Litha ritual near or around oak trees.

• Host a “divination picnic.” I would argue that Litha is one of the most sociable spokes on the Wheel of the Year, so, make the most of it! Make the recipes above, then head out to the garden or park with your friends and pull Tarot or oracle cards, bring out the pendulum and journal together on the themes of the festival.

• Make Sun Water. Make your ritual water solar-powered. Infuse water with light and solar herbs for use in magick that needs a positive, revitalising or masculine charge. I shared how to do this in last year’s Litha newsletter, so check back and find out how! As you can see, Linnet loves it.

For a closer look at summer green witchery, read my post: “8 Green Witch tips for June.” Or find more ways to celebrate Litha in my book, The Wheel: A Witch’s Path Back to the Ancient Self.

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Win a Summer Reset Reiki Session with me!

To celebrate the solstice, I’m giving away a free summer reset! Enter my Instagram giveaway to win a Distance Reiki session with me 🍓🌿

In your session, you’ll receive:
a 15-min video consultation - 45 minutes of Distance Reiki to reset and rebalance your energy - a detailed write-up of the session with a run-down of all the chakras

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is head to my Instagram post and:

• follow me (@thegreenwitchwriter) on Instagram

• like this post

• comment below the post, tagging two friends who’d love to win a summer Reiki reset

• get an extra entry by sharing this post to your IG story and tagging me so I can see it!

Enter by 8 pm on Sunday 22nd June (winner announced via Instagram on Monday 23rd June). This giveaway is open to entrants in all countries. Good luck, lovely 💚🍀

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A Litha Glow-Up Spell

Step into the light - and let yourself shine.

As I mentioned in my Bright Work post last week, this is the time of year for celebrating how far you’ve come and enhancing the light you radiate.

Below is a spell for confidence and letting yourself shine bright: ideal for witches reclaiming their space, voice and self.

Or, if you’re after a full ritual to celebrate the summer solstice, look no further! You can find your Full Litha Ritual in my post from two weeks ago.

But now, on with the spell!

You’ll need:

• a mirror (could be handheld or standing)

• gold pen

• a small piece of paper

• sunshine (or a period when it’s not so cloudy/rainy!)

• cleansing method: either a bundle of garden sage and matches, a sound bowl, or your preferred method

• optional: a solar-themed Litha altar (see ideas above)

• optional: a yellow, white or golden cloth pouch

To be performed around 12 pm (noon)

1. Before you begin, cleanse the mirror and the space you’ll be using with your preferred method (see list above). Sit somewhere where the sun shines directly onto the mirror - ideally with the light facing you.

2. Raise your face to the sun and say the following words aloud:

“Sun and shine, truth and flame,
I call my power, I name my name.
In light I stand, in gold I gleam:
I stand in my power. I am seen.”

Feel the sun’s heat on your face, marking you in gold.

3. Now, you want to write a powerful statement about your inner light on your paper in gold pen. This could be: “I am radiant, bold and present”, “The world welcomes my voice and sees my light” and “I am golden. I am whole.”

4. Hold the mirror so the sun reflects onto the words as you read them aloud, seeing both the message and your reflection glowing together.

5. Repeat the first incantation three times:

“Sun and shine, truth and flame,
I call my power, I name my name.
In light I stand, in gold I gleam:
I stand in my power. I am seen.”

6. Fold the paper containing your statement towards you once, turn it clockwise, then fold it towards you again, then once more (three times in total). Place the paper beneath the mirror on your altar, or carry it in your bag (or bra) as a talisman. To make this easier, you may like to put the paper in a cloth pouch.

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I'll see you on the next turn of the Wheel: Lammas will be here on Friday 1st August. Watch out for your newsletter a few days before. See you then!

Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate your ongoing support and feedback on my Substack. If you want to share some love or wish to support me, you can upgrade your newsletter subscription below ⬇️