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Midsummer Solstice

By Anna Franklin

The celebration of Midsummer is a pan-global custom. Every culture has, at some point in its history, marked the time and held it to be enchanted. The Celts, the Norse and the Slavs believed that there were three ‘spirit nights’ in the year when magic abounded and the Otherworld was close. The first was Halloween, the second was May Eve and the third was Midsummer Eve. On this night, of all nights, fairies are most active. On this night the future can be uncovered. As the solstice sun rises on its day of greatest power it draws up with it the power of herbs, standing stones and crystals. In the shimmering heat haze on the horizon its magical energies are almost visible. And as the mist gate forms in the warm air rising beneath the dolmen arch, the entrance to the Otherworld opens- Avalon, Tir nan Og, the land of Youth where it is always summer and death and old age are unknown. Shakespeare captured all the magic of the occasion in A Midsummer Night’s Dream where fairies, magic and mischief abound on one bewitched night in the forest.

Every ancient religion had its own customs and traditions associated with Midsummer. These appear in the lore of Greece and Rome, the myths of the Norse, the Maya, the Aztecs, the Slavs, the writings of the ancient Egyptians, and the Old Testament of the Jews, while the Celts has a large collection of myths associated with Midsummer. Vestiges of these festivities can still be witnessed today. In places we may still see the baal fires, the torchlight processions, the rolling of a sun wheel downhill, the casting of spells, divination, love magic, and the blessing of crops and animals with fire.

The cold, dark days of winter and blight are far away, the time of light and warmth, summer and growth are here.  The summer solstice is the longest day and shortest night of the year. It falls around June 21st in the northern hemisphere and around December 21st in the southern hemisphere.

It is a natural time of celebration.

THE SUN GOD

The sun is the largest and brightest object in our skies and all of life on earth is dependant on its light and heat. During our own temperate summer we have long, warmer days when animals produce young and plants flourish and bear fruit, but during the winter the days are short and cold, vegetation dies and animals struggle to find food – survival is harder and sometimes impossible. For our ancestors, winter often brought starvation and death.

 The sun governs the pattern of life, its cycles dividing the hours, days, months and years, the round of sowing, growth, harvest and decay. The Egyptians called the sun the divine creator of all things, the master of time and the seasons. Its regular daily and seasonal rotations stand as a symbol of cosmic order. From where we stand on earth, each day the sun seems to rise in the east, scattering the powers of darkness and diffusing light and fertility as it climbs to its zenith at noon. Then it declines, descending into the west and eventually sinking below the horizon, only to return with the following dawn. The Egyptian sun god Ra was born as a baby each dawn, grew to maturity at noon and became an old man at sunset, ready for death. Each sunrise demonstrated the victory of life over the forces of death and darkness; it was a metaphor for human spiritual and physical life, reflecting our own experiences of birth, growth, decay and death, as well as our hope of rebirth, our struggles against negativity and the triumph of spirit. Thus, for our ancestors the eternal cycle of the sun was the central paradigm of their spiritual beliefs continues...

ISBN 978-1907614002

Paperback   20.6 x 14.8 x 1.4 cm , 196 pages

Rrp £12.95

Published by Lear Books 2010

In this, the most comprehensive book ever written on the Pagan festival of Midsummer, you can explore the origins and lore of the Sabbat, as well learn how to celebrate with rituals, magic, feasts and more. Previously issued as Midsummer (Llewellyn) and winner of the CVA 2003 Visionary Award, this Lear edition has been completely revised and expanded.

THEMES OF MIDSUMMER

• Outdoor celebrations with group/family/friends
• Circle dancing
• Merrymaking
• Feasting
• Bonfires and sacred fires
• Rolling wheel and discs
• Torchlight processions
• The Lord and Lady of Summer
• The Sun God/Goddess
• Life, light and fertility descending to the earth.
• The zenith of the sun
• The start of the sun’s decline to its winter death and rebirth
• Witnessing the rising and zenith of the of sun
• Bathing in healing waters
• Ritual enactment of the fertilization of the Flower Bride
• The summer ‘may’ pole
• Acknowledgment of the seasonal triumph of vegetation
• The battle of light and dark-Oak King and Holly King
• Flowers and herbs, garlands and flower decorations
• The closeness of the Otherworld, the fairies and the ancestors
• It is the traditional time for handfastings
• Love magic
• Divination
• Herb magic
• Sun wheels, sun, fire, bonfires, roses, rosettes, daisies, all rayed flowers, herbs, equal-armed crosses, torches.

Previous Llewellyn edition

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