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Reply Holidays and Holy Days
Midsummer...

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havenne17
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 6:42 pm


The Summer Solstice is my favorite stop on the Wheel of the Year: the longest day of the year, full of light, full of life, the planting is done and the harvest is not yet in full swing. We're eating strawberries, picking peas, making salads full of fresh lettuce and radishes. The branches from Spring pruning have dried enough to make a good fire....

So, what is everyone doing for this holiday? What do you call it, what do you celebrate? Anyone doing a ritual?
PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:58 pm


this will be my first time to celebrate it, but i dont know how >.<

Lysabear

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havenne17
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:44 pm


Well....
You don't want to celebrate something if you have no feeling for why you are doing it. I am agriculturally and physical-world oriented so I am focused on two things: the longest day of the year and the celebration of light, the respite between planting and harvest. I'll have a fire, do a working for my plants, infuse a song with magic, dance for joy.
The Wiccan group I studied with would have a bonfire on the beach and empower protective amulets in the shape of fire wheels for the year during the Midsummer ritual - they would celebrate Litha at the Solstice.
Midsummer is the time for weddings. Whereas people would indulge in casual passions at Beltaine they might acknowledge deep, abiding love at Midsummer and enter commitments.

I found a solitary ritual, Wiccan in flavor, I think, over at the Wiccan-Pagan Times website:
http://www.twpt.com/ritualboudica1.htm
PostPosted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:52 pm


Now, how could I leave this out: Midsummer's Eve is also the time when the Fairy Folk are about - Shakespeare, after all, based his play on something far older.

Here's another essay on various Midsummer customs:
http://www.twpt.com/midsummer.htm

havenne17
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havenne17
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 4:57 pm


Perhaps the simplest of rituals would involve a focal point - a candle will do - and visualization. Intent is always important; don't enter into ritual without a clear idea of purpose, especially if you are a guest of people you do not know well.
Rituals raise energy and you will want to know ahead of time how you will be damping this back down. Sending it back into the Earth is usually fine. You don't need to 'use' the energy - you can just revel in its tingle - but we often have a purpose, whether energizing an amulet, working magic, healing or celebrating.
I suspect we need basic technique discussed?
PostPosted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 5:14 pm


I was reading in Ted Andrew's "Nature-Speak", thinking about my next post for the Spirits thread, when I took a look at his section on Sacred Rites of the Seasons. There is a chapter for each of the Equinoxes and Solstices, occasions which were not conceived by people but are based on the Astronomical movements of the Earth.

"The summer Solstice is a time when the forces of Nature reach the peak of their annual cycle, and the spiritual forces of Nature stirs their magnificent play within our life. The keynote is transformation and transmutation that instills greater spirituality. The energies available to us at this time of the year facilitate communion with our devic and angelic brethren more easily and more intimately.
......
"This is the time of the year to establish a relationship between ourselves and divine forces found upon the Earth, and all of those who have aligned with it. It is the time to awaken spiritual ecstasy. It is the time in which contact with the angelic hierarchies - including those of the Faerie Realm - can occur most easily and most intimately. Greater concentration is required, as there is often more outer world activities which can distract us. But it is a time in which the alignment of the more subtle planes of life with the physical provides greater access."

As I have already alluded to in this thread, Midsummer is a time for commitment, a time when Nature is at its peak, a time when energy is quite freely available. Andrews works with angels. By all means think of your own spirits as being closer at this time.

havenne17
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Holidays and Holy Days

 
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