Litha: The Summer Solstice

Blessings on The Sun God and Goddess of Fertility

Photo by Jack B on Unsplash

Today, 21st June is midsummer’s day or the Summer Solstice, one of the eight sabbats in the Pagan calendar. It is the longest day, and the shortest night. After this day the wheel slower turns, and light gradually gives over to dark. In the time of rural communities, and living off the land, the seasons were of vital importance. Communities lived in accordance with the rotation of the seasons, a time to sow, a time to reap the harvest. The seasons of fertility were balanced by the wintry periods when the land slept and became barren.

Solstice comes from the Latin word solstitum. Its literal meaning is ‘sun stands still.’ As the longest day of the year this is an extreme event in the sun’s calenear, where the sun hangs in the sky for the longest period of the year.

Litha celebrates the day when the Pagan Sun God is at his zenith, the highest point of his virility. The fertility and abundance of the earth’s bounty heralds a time of rejoicing and celebration. Yet it is also the pivotal moment when the sun’s power, having reached its highest point, has nowhere else to go, except in decline. Following this day, the sun’s power will slowly begin to diminish and darkness will start to descend. So it is a turn of the wheel from fullest light to a gradual return to dark that…