✨🍯🌻☀️HAPPY LITHA AND MERRY MIDSOMMAR TO YOU ALL!☀️🌻🍯✨
I hope that everyone had a blessed Summer Solstice (Or Winter Solstice/Yule for my friends in the Southern Hemisphere!)
I had a fairly productive sabbat, in comparison to usual, this year. I was woken up earlier than usual, but, in a way, it was kind of a blessing since I was able to spend more of the day awake enjoying the Sun’s light instead of observing my usual nocturnal schedule. I got up and poured myself a glass of orange juice and stepped out into the backyard to enjoy it while soaking in the warmth of the sun’s light, and then after some household chores, I made myself a wonderful brunch scramble of hash browns, eggs, and ham to enjoy with my coffee.
Unfortunately, since we are still in quarantine due to the pandemic, I am trying to minimize my visits to the Outer World so I do not put my mother’s health at risk. Typically, I like to go out and get fresh flowers for my altar, but I decided to just use what I have at home to decorate. So I poured some of my dried orange peels into one of my smaller chalices I always keep on my altar and placed eight (8) sunflower seeds to represent the Wheel of the Year and the sabbats around the base of the chalice as well as acting like rays of the sun extending from the center point of the spread, with a ninth (9th) seed underneath in the center to not only create the alchemic and planetary symbol for the Sun (☉), but to use the power of nine (9) to amplify more power into this solstice spread.
As I stated in my Dedication posts ( I & II ), I was going to dedicate myself to the Norse Goddess Freyja after she agreed to become my matron, and I wanted to make it a special day, so I chose to wait to perform my dedication on the solstice. Freyja always radiates warmth when I think about her, and one of the cards I pulled in my first spread about her was The Sun, so I thought it fitting to wait until Midsummer. I got all dolled up with a very summery look, donned one of my favorite dresses, and put on my special amber necklace with a few orange colored rings to further represent Freyja’s warmth.
Next, as part of my Dedication to Freyja for the solstice, I have been wanting to further decorate my wand I made. Eventually I'd like to find some nice cording to wrap around the handle and find a crystal to hang from the base, but with trying to keep my Outer World visits to a minimum, I decided to do a simple carving of the Fehu rune ( ᚠ ) above where my hand rests when holding the wand. I had considered doing the symbols for the elements, but liked the idea of the Fehu rune better to let Freyja know that my practice and magic is tied to her since magic is one of her many aspects. I will still add to my wand, and I’ll be sure to post a picture when it is complete.
Later in the afternoon, I took outside with me my cauldron, the dried remains of my flower crown from Beltane, my large citrine cabochon, and my vial of honey from my first offering to Freyja. I waited until the peak of the Sun’s light for where I live, and then took the remains of my flower crown and remembered back to Beltane and thanked it, then burned it in my cauldron. I had planned on leaving an offering for the Fae as well, but it looked like it was going to rain again, so I decided against it and I was also pressed for time to complete my rituals.
Then came my Dedication Ritual. Again, unfortunately I was a little pressed for time, so I wasn’t able to really take my time with the ritual and had to kind of rush through it. I called out to the goddess to make myself known and adorned my shield maiden circlet. I don’t remember the exact wording, but asked her to accept me as one of her devotees and that I would, from this day forward, serve her until the need for our partnership is through. On instinct, I grabbed the vial of honey, and clutched it to my chest, then opened it, taking a small dab of the liquid gold on my finger and drew the Fehu rune on my forehead. That wasn’t something I had planned, but I just felt called to do so and it felt so right.
After that, I brought everything back inside, and using the ashes from burning my Beltane crown, I made my first ever batch of Black Salt, or Witch’s Salt as I’ve come to hear people call it. I finally attained some activated charcoal from a friend recently (thank you!) and that was the only ingredient I had been missing to make some. So now I have some Black Salt for some added protection in spellwork and just for every day use as needed.
I had forgotten to set out my crystals and tools before going outside to soak up the Sun, so at this point I cleared some space on my window sill and placed them to charge. A funny thing happened though when grabbing my tarot deck, and I didn’t put two and two together until the day after. My deck was the last thing I grabbed to set out to charge, and I wanted to make sure the sunlight was hitting the cards instead of just the box they live in, so I took the lid off, and with the rush of air from removing the lid, a few cards came out, but the one that flipped to face me was the High Priestess. I acknowledged it, but didn’t truly understand until the next day. I have pulled the High Priestess a few times in personal readings about my relationship with Freyja as a representation of her, and I had a revelation that that card revealing itself to me was her acknowledging my dedication. I feel very happy about this connection and as small as the acknowledgment was, I now know she has heard me.
While waiting for everything to charge, I decided to sit at my altar because I was super inspired to create a new sigil! I had seen one recently while roaming the internet and thought to myself that I’d love to work on creating more sigils to use in my practice. I felt super inspired by the energy of the Sun and created A Sigil for Drawing in the Energy of the Sun (Drawing Down the Sun).
Since Litha fell on a Saturday this year, I also had my weekly D&D game with my friends, and to subtly continue my solstice celebration, I made a simple cocktail of Kraken Spiced Rum (spices for warmth), orange juice (fruits of the season and symbolism of the sun), with some lemon-lime soda (more citrus!). I imbibed on my drink while having a merry time with my s/o and friends, and closed out the evening by assembling the spread pictured. In retrospect, my spread seems to be largely and subconsciously reflecting the sigil I made, which I found very fascinating that it echoed what I had drawn so much without realizing it sooner.
In my leaf dish, I have my new sigil, the rings I wore in my ritual accompanied by my smaller citrine cabochon and my honey vial. Between the dish and the chalice, which unfortunately blocks it, is my sunstone cabochon for masculine energy and representation of the Sun. Then beneath that is the chalice filled with dried orange peels and the sunflower seeds as described earlier. Then beneath leading downward is my black onyx for protection, and although known for balancing the male and female energies, was giving off a very strong male energy to me that day, followed by my large citrine cabochon for prosperity and warmth, a small flat stone I found a couple of months ago that just gives off a friendly and soothing vibe (and I also enjoyed that it added to the black/yellow/orange scheme), capped with my wand cradled upward to keep the energy in the spread. Also displayed prominently is my deck with the High Priestess facing outward proudly.
This was, as I said, probably my busiest, most involved, and productive celebration of the sabbats so far, and I’ve written a novel of a post about it. I hope that you all had a wonderful solstice whether it be summer or winter where you live, and please feel free to share with me how you celebrated! I’d love to hear about your traditions!
