Posts tagged Litha
A Tarot Spell for the Sun
Jun 21st
The Summer Solstice, Litha, Midsummer. Whatever you call it, we have reached the height of the sun’s power and we have come to the midway point of the year. While we often see the year divided into four seasons, in many ancient cultures the year was divided in half, honoring the summer and winter seasons alone. Today being the day that the sun reaches it’s apex, we have a special opportunity to take some of the power of the sun and draw it into our lives to help burn away things that no longer serve us while adding fuel to the things we wish to see grow in our loves.
Tarot spells and working with tarot cards in magick is really quite simple. The cards serve as a focal point for meditation and for raising and directing energy. While this can be a really elaborate process, using multiple cards and many different magickal techniques, I’ll present to you a very simple way to use the Sun card specifically for honoring Midsummer and drawing in the power of the sun for growth in the coming months. All you need for this is:
- The Sun card from either your favorite deck or from a deck set aside just for magick
- An orange or yellow candle
- Incense of a solar or fiery nature (cinnamon, frankincense, orange, sandalwood, dragon’s blood…personally I like using a mix of amber, cinnamon and frankincense for this type of work)
- Essential oil or solar blend oil (similar to the herbs above) to anoint your candle if you wish
If you decide to anoint your candle with oil, take a few drops of oil in the palm of your hand and rub the oil into the candle from wick to center and then from base to center. This motion helps with drawing energy toward you, which is what you’ll be doing with this spell. Place the candle in an appropriate holder.
Take your Sun card and place it on your work space. Place the candle holder with your candle at the top of the card. Place your incense next to the card on the left (movement from left to right is the movement of bringing things towards us; the use of the incense to card our wishes and desires helps to draw those things into us and into our energy space).
Light your candle and incense.
Gaze at The Sun card with the candle light illuminating the image. Think about what the card means to you and some of the symbolism that is present in The Sun card. Draw up the energy of joy, happiness, youth, growth, and brightness. Feel this energy by recalling an event in your life that gave you the most clear and perfect feeling of joy and happiness you have ever experienced. This could be the birth of a child, your wedding day, the first time you went away on a special vacation; anything that makes you feel that sense of youthful joy and excitement. Hold that feeling while thinking of something in your life that you wish to give that energy to. Maybe you have a creative project that you’d like to see grow and bring you that kind of feeling at completion. Maybe you have a problem in your life that needs this sort of energy to drive you to find a solution. Imagine that feeling of pure joy surrounding you in that situation. See that project completed and feeling that feeling of celebration; see this troubling problem in your life resolved and feeling a sense of relief and happiness.
Now examine The Sun card deeply. Image that you are the child on the while horse, riding happily into the warm sun, surrounded by the scent of sunflowers and greenery. Whatever the image is on your card, place yourself as the character in that card or, if you card doesn’t have a character, place yourself within the card in a place that allows you to gain the full perspective of the Sun. How does the card feel to you? Can you feel the sun on your skin, the joy in the air? Draw that into yourself, taking whatever kind of time you need to fully connect with the card and the energy of the sun.
When you’re ready come out of the card meditation and imagine all that energy that you have gathered as a large, bright yellow ball of energy, your own personal “sun”, at the center of your body, at the solar plexus. See that ball of energy rise up through your body, out through the crown chakra (through the top of your head) and out into the Universe. Envision it flying off into the atmosphere, heading to your desire, and pouring out it’s energy into it, helping you reach your goal with grace, swiftness and ease.
Let the incense and candle burn out. When you’re finished you can leave the card out on your work space or place it in another special place in your home as a reminder until you see your goal come to fruition or you can take your card and place it back into your deck.
Remember that all magick requires work in the “real world”. Once you have cast this simple spell be sure that you take the practice steps needed to make your dreams come true. If you cast the spell for a job, make sure you get out and go to interviews. If you worked to help with a relationship, make sure you communicate with the people or persons involved. Make sure that you do what you need to on your own and the energy that you created and sent out through your spell will make the process easier and bring your goals to you faster.
Happy Solstice!
A little about Litha and a Reading
Jun 21st
Happy Summer Solstice and Merry Litha! Today we honor and celebrate the height of the sun’s power. Today we take time to celebrate the triumph of the sun, the time when the Oak King reaches his peak and is then struck down by the Holly King who will rule the waning half of the year through winter. While today we see the year divided into four seasons, in ancient times many cultures, like that of the Celts, divided the year into two halves, summer and winter. The winter solstice marked the beginning of the winter and the summer solstice the beginner of summer. Today we often start to feel the hints of summer during mid-spring and it’s not uncommon for some places to feel as though summer has set in during the spring equinox or Ostara. This is the time of year that we see the lush green that sprung up several months ago during the equinox give way to fruit and flowers. While today most of us celebrate the solstice on the date when the event actually takes place, usually somewhere around June 21st, in some traditions there is a fixed date of June 25th which is honored and often called “Old Litha”. Litha is a favorable time to rededicate yourself to your path and the God and Goddess.
Litha is often a time when the faeries are honored and are thought to be particularly active. Bonfires are common during Litha and it’s thought that lighting bonfires in forests or on hilltops attract certain faeries to the fires and festivals. Leaving offerings of honey and cream at the edge of the fire for the faeries can keep them from causing any trouble or mischief and is thought to help create a connection between ourselves and the fae.
For Litha I thought we could do a short reading, a small glimpse with the help of the faeries through Brian & Wendy Froud’s The Heart of Faerie Oracle to see what the fae have to tell us for the coming half of the year.
The Faerie of Growth
The Lord of the Forest
The Elven Knight
Seeing The Faerie of Growth here is no wonder and no mystery. Even though the summer solstice signals the coming of the waning half of the year, there is still a wonderful and powerful period of growth ahead. Here the faeries remind you that staying stagnate for any length of time means that life is not expanding. Growth is necessary otherwise we die; stagnation is like death. As the summer months move on and we see the world around us growing we need to grow with it. It’s a good time to stop and take a moment to see what areas of our lives need growth and allow the warmth of the sun to empower our paths to welcome and foster that growth.
The Lord of the Forest is part of the embodiment of masculine energy in the faerie realm. He is the driving force of all that we are and all that we do. We all have a masculine side just as we all have a feminine side, but sometimes we forget these things and we need to be reminded so that we can really sense that energy within us. As the feminine side nurtures the masculine side impregnates and moves. Here the Lord of the Forest comes to remind us that our thoughts and dreams are good to have, as this is the feminine side doing it’s job, but we need to also let the masculine side come in and act on those dreams. As the Faerie of Growth tells us it’s time to start growing, moving and changing, the Lord of the Forest comes to help us take action.
Seeing The Elven Knight come in as well shows that we have come into a period of great opportunity and growth, more than we may even really realize. Much like the Lord of the Forest, the Elven Knight is a driving force. The Elven Knight is a guide, a leader, a driving force even stronger than the Lord of the Forest. He leads us to our destiny when we are ready to move and seek it out. Here we have the Knight letting us know that the way is clear and the path is open for us. It’s time to set our sights on accomplishing things that, in the past, we may have seen as impossible. Nothing is impossible when you have these faeries to guide you.
These are three very powerful faeries to have come together in a reading, and here in this reading, we see ourselves driven into a very powerful direction for growth and change as the summer season moves forward. This is going to be a great chance for change and for accomplishing things that we have held off on either out of fear or not being confident that we can reach our goals. Set your goals, ask the Faerie of Growth to guide you in where to go and the Lord of the Forest and the Elven Knight will be sure to keep you going and to drive you toward your goal and your destiny.
Have a wonderful and empowered summer season!
