#8 Litha

Litha – Summer Solstice – The White Goddess

“On Summer Solstice 2017, I would invite you to do three things:

• Be outside the evening of June 20, at 9:42 pm (or whatever the time is in your time zone). Watch the sky. Be in joy.
• Take a look back at what you were doing last year, at this time. What has happened since then?
• Take a look all the way back at the 9 Year Cycle we talked about with our 2017 Forecast. What are you beginning now?

The summer solstice arrives in the northern hemisphere on June 20, 2017, bringing with it the longest day in the year — which means lots of extra sunlight for festivities. The day is considered to be sacred by many pagans around the world who celebrate the solstice among their other yearly holidays. In this month of Summer Solstice, I invite you to:

• Live “en plein air” as much as you can.
• Rise early, with the birds.
• Notice the air on your skin
• Eat plant foods with vital force
• Forest bathe: just you and the trees.
• Begin to observe the first sunsets of summer.”

Paraphrased from Sara Wiseman

Some refer to the summer solstice as “Litha,” a term that may derive from 8th century monk Bede’s The Reckoning of Time. Bede names “Litha” as the Latin name for both June and July in ancient times.

Just about every agricultural society has recognized the high point of summer in some way, shape or form. As well as the travels of sun being marked and recorded in Stone circles like Stonehenge to orient and highlight the rising of the sun on the day of the summer solstice.

It is on this day, that is often refered to as Litha, the opposite of the darkness of Yule.

Keeping the brushes wet,

Teresa Beyer