Tomorrow, at 1:16 pm, EDT, the sun will stand still.
Not literally. But tomorrow is the Summer Solstice, and when it reaches its zenith – when earth’s tilt toward the sun is at its greatest, it will seem to. Hence the name: "solstice", from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).
Tomorrow is the longest day of the year. For Pagans, it is Midsummer or Litha, one of our sabbats - and, for peoples around the world, from our earliest history, it has been a day of significance.
Read on . . .
The observation of the Summer Solstice extends into prehistory. Stonehenge is aligned so that the sun rises above the Heel Stone on Midsummer. Site B at Newgrange in Ireland is also aligned with the solstice, and the older Carrowkeel Cairn site is aligned so that the sun lights up the back wall on that day.
The so-called "medicine wheels" of the American and Canadian West - including the most famous, the Bighorn Medicine Wheel near Sheriden, Wyoming - align with the solstice, among other celestial events. The Anasazi ruin called the House of the Great Kiva, near Aztec, New Mexico, is arranged so that the sun illuminates the altar on that day. At Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon, the ancient Pueblo Peoples created the Sun Dagger, whose light marks the solstice on spiral petroglyphs on the canyon wall.
At the Essene community of Qumran in Palestine, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, an apparent "sun temple" is lit by the solstice like the rooms at Carrowkeel Cairn and the Great Kiva.
But more common than these ancient calendars, cool as they are, were the celebrations.
All across Europe and Western Asia, the solstice was regarded as a time of fertility, love and power. Bonfires were lit as a form of “sympathetic magic”, to empower the sun and keep it strong through the remaining year – as well as to drive away the spirits thought to be out and about at this time.
Celebrants jumped and danced around these bonfires for luck and happiness, similar to the Beltane custom (the Swedes even set up a pole similar to the Maypole of Beltane). In some festivals, it was believed your crops would grow as high as you could jump.
Magickal herbs were thought to be especially potent during Midsummer, and many people used this time to build up their stores for the winter. It was also a time at which magick was thought to be at its strongest, particularly that involving healing or divination. Divining rods and wands were traditionally cut at Midsummer. And, as was noted above, it was a night on which the faeries and other magickal beings were presumed to be lurking around. It was also thought young women would dream of the man they would marry on the night of the solstice – sometimes after rituals involving flowers or ceremonial cleansing.
Purification with water (sometimes with flowers added) was a common feature of many Midsummer traditions – many with specific instructions such as gathering water from seven springs, or letting yourself be washed by nine waves in the ocean. The solstice marks the entry of the sun into Cancer, a water sign, and many Pagans still consider Midsummer the best time for gathering water for rituals, just as it is for herbs.
Keeping with that water connection, the Christian Church adopted Midsummer as the feast of John the Baptist (whom, it was said, was born six months before Jesus), and “John”, “Juan” or “Ivan” (in Western Asia) became the central figure, supplanting older gods like the Finnish Ukko or the Gaul’s Epona.
In North America, the Natchez held a first fruits celebration after Midsummer. The Pueblo Niman ceremony was timed to begin four days after it, as well. And while the timing of the Green Corn Festival could vary from one tribe to the next, some used the solstice in calculating its beginning. The Hopi believed that the spirits they called Kachinas left their villages at Midsummer to go up into the mountains and speak to the dead on their behalf.
In Pagan terms, the God – who will die in the Fall to be reborn – is at the height of his power. The Goddess is heavy in her pregnancy now, with the God who will be reborn at Yule (the Winter Solstice) or Imbolc (Feb 2), depending on the specific mythology.
In Pagan mythologies that include the Oak King/Holly King dichotomy, this is the day on which the Oak King is defeated by the Holly King, who will rule until Yule.
I wrote a diary about the Honey Moon last week, the nearest full moon to the summer solstice, and the ideas of Litha/Midsummer are much the same. It is a time of bees and honey, flowers and fruits. We celebrate the abundance of Summer and the blessings of life – and, while we know the days must inevitably grow shorter and take us into another Winter, we remind ourselves to hold onto light and warmth and joy, if only in our hearts.
An altar for Litha/Midsummer should include flowers or summer fruits. Good colors for clothing and decorations are yellow, orange, gold and fiery reds. Floral wreaths are, of course, completely appropriate. Altar decorations can include symbols of the sun, from simple disks to sun crosses.
Of course, the simplest and most universal way of marking this sabbat is to just be outside at 1:16 pm EDT tomorrow. Enjoy the sun. Laugh. Play. Bathe in a lake, or a river, or the ocean. Think about and savor the blessings of summer - because when the sun begins moving again, it will begin moving away.
Blessed Be.
Tue Jun 21, 2011 at 4:25 AM PT: Of course, while this diary says "tomorrow", it is now today - Tuesday, June 21st, 1:16 pm EDT.