Solstice is almost upon us and it’s time to look for ways to mark the occasion. But the thing is that not everyone is able to do a big ritual…or you just may not want to! And that’s OK!
When it comes to things like sabbat rituals I personally think, if you’re doing it alone, something simple is best. My first real sabbat ritual experiences came from attending by public rituals. For a long time, it made me feel like my own personal rituals should be big and elaborate because it was just what I was used to. But definitely no.
Marking any sabbat should be about connecting to the energy of this part of the cycle of the year and reflecting on those energies in your own life and personal cycles. Sure we honor the earth and divine as well, but let’s not forget what is at the heart of these rituals.
That’s why I think simple is best. It keeps the focus where it should be; on the energy of the day.
Here is a super quick intro to Summer Solstice
Summer Solstice marks the longest day and shortest night of the year. It is a day when the height of the power of the sun is honored and solar gods and goddesses are celebrated. We particularly focus on things like energy, power, love, health, success, and vitality when it comes to the kind of work, prayers, or intentions we do. But we also acknowledge that from the following day on the sun’s power begins to wane.
Summer Solstice is also known as Litha, Midsummer, and Midsumarblot. In the Wiccan myth cycle of the year the God is honored on this day for his strength, power, and virility. At Beltane, which is also known as May Day, the God impregnates the Maiden Goddess and now she is seen as transitioning into the beginning phase of being the Mother Goddess as she is at the height of her pregnancy. She will carry on his energy as he now begins to wane in strength and his death looms imminent as we head to Mabon, the Autumn Equinox.
For Us Today…
We take time at Litha to show gratitude for all we have gained thus far in the year and to connect to the growth phase of the birth and death cycle of the earth. This is a great time for rituals of gratitude and honoring the gods, the spirits, and the Universe for the blessings we have received. We can also do work to increase these blessings through the rest of the year.
It may seem like the sun just got here and the light and warmth just arrived but it will begin its decline once the solstice passes. It’s a reminder of the fleeting nature of all life.
While there are a number of wonderful rituals out there that you can find online and in books to help you mark the sabbat, I wanted to go a different route today. Instead of a ritual or a spell, I have a list of ideas for ways that you can celebrate and mark this point on the Wheel of the Year. Pick one or pick ten, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that whatever you do you do it with intention and with a sacred focus. Do it as an honorary act to the earth and the gods and no matter what you do for Litha it will be special, magickal, and divine.
40 Ways to Mark the Summer Solstice
☀ Wake up to watch the sunrise.
☀ Bless a glass of orange juice with the energy of the sun and drink in its power.
☀ Decorate your altar with sunflowers.
☀ Smudge your home with sage and lavender.
☀ Make an offering of cream to the faeries.
☀ Wear yellow and orange to invoke the power of the sun
☀ Do some healing on your Solar Plexus, your own personal sun.
☀ Make a sun catcher out of clear quartz and citrine.
☀ Put your tarot cards out in the sun to cleanse them.
☀ Watch the sunset from a place where you can see the sun sink into the horizon.
☀Rededicate yourself to your magickal path.
☀ Have honey and lemon tea with the goddess.
☀ Read the story of Balder’s death.
☀ Have a sunset bonfire with drinking to toast the gods and dancing to celebrate life.
☀ Create an herbal charm with calendula, rose, verbena, and thyme for blessings of luck and vitality.
☀ Slice lemons and oranges and hang them in a south-facing window to dry and take in the power of the sun.
☀ Make a dreamcatcher.
☀ Create a mandala outside with flower petals reflecting on your inner beauty, leaving the mandala as an offering.
☀ Take a bath with milk and roses as an act of self-love and to bless your body.
☀ Place water with clear quartz and citrine out in the sun from sunrise to noon and use for blessings and healing.
☀ Place a bowl of water with yellow flowers and floating candles on your altar as an offering to the sun.
☀ Make butter cookies inscribed with the Sowilo rune to take in the power of the sun.
☀ Donate money and goods to a shelter. (for people or animals…or both!)
☀ Create mini hangable salt dough sun talismans with pieces of citrine and sunstone pressed in them.
☀ Meditate on the cycles of life and death you have experienced in your life.
☀ Burn yellow beeswax candles to invite blessings of sweetness into your life.
☀ Lay outside on the ground and do divination with the clouds.
☀ Use sidewalk chalk to draw sigils, runes, and symbols around the outside of your home for protection.
☀ Take a sunrise or sunset divination walk in nature and collect things that speak messages to you.
☀ Make lemonade with lavender and honey.
☀ Make a new wand out of a fallen branch from a tree in one of your favorite places in nature.
☀ Wear amber to honor the goddess Freya.
☀ Go outside to a place where you can primal scream to connect with your inner warrior.
☀ Toast your love with mead by a fire.
☀ Create a flower crown from summer blooms.
☀ Start the process of making your own rose water (because it is a PROCESS).
☀ Drink dandelion tea to improve your psychic senses.
☀ Go and get…or give yourself…a facial or other beauty treatment.
☀ Create a spell bottle for attracting love with rose petals, lavender buds, rose oil, rose quartz, and sun-blessed water.
☀ Diffuse a summer blend of oils in your home like chamomile, lemon, rose, and carnation to bless your home for the summer.
