
Litha, the Summer Solstice
Litha is the Summer Solstice, (Midsummer / Meán Samhraidh in Irish), we celebrate the brightest light of the year, the peak of strength for the golden light of the divine masculine.
The Sun God is at the height of His power and fertility. At this pinnacle of the solar year we have access to an abundance of energy from the divine masculine.
We honor the glowing tree of light that nourishes Song of Sophia’s lineage, and we gather to merge our light pillars in ecstatic reverence to our fae ancestry. The abundance of light at the summer solstice makes the rainbow light of Noya Rao all the more accessible to us. The days around Litha are a great time for day ceremonies and vision quests. This is a time to celebrate the constancy of this light in our lineage, to feel this support and nourishment with all of our senses.
Litha is a natural time to exalt and celebrate all trees. In the old ways, trees near wells and fountains were decorated much like maypoles on summer solstice with coloured cloths, flowers and vines, feathers, hair and blood.
In Celtic tradition, the Oak tree is central to the Summer Solstice. This is the height of strength for The Oak King, whose influence has grown as the light has grown. The Celtic name for Oak is ‘Duir’ meaning ‘doorway.’ Litha marks the last day before we turn the other way and walk towards more darkness. The Duir trees are portals or doorways that are open to other realms at this time.
This time of great power eases our transition across the veil, and we ask our ancestors and guides to instruct us for the next spin of the wheel. There is so much energy accessible to us right now! We can move through realms so easily, work all day and party all night, cycling through death and rebirth quickly. We have so much support to communicate freely with our ancestors, the fairies, our guides, our higher selves. There is no doubting the light. It is here, front and center, warm and shiny. In some parts of the world, it is barely dark at midnight.
We feel the light of conception energies of the spinning Goddess, and we ourselves are conceiving effortlessly. At the crowning of the light, the dark one is born, and from here we move into the journey back south towards the Winter Solstice.
Midsummer Meán Samhraidh
The summer solstice was celebrated by the Druids as the marriage of heaven to earth. This is the exact energy we embody during our Noya Rao and Ayahuasca day ceremonies on the summer solstice. The heavenly light of Noya Rao meets the fertile darkness of Ayahuasca in our bodies, setting us aglow in our heaven on earth bodies. We are the middle ground, we hold the waters of Her infinite possibility, variety, simplicity and complexity inside our wombs. As we consciously spin with the physiological process of our egg of conception, we magnetize the golden light of heaven, of Noya Rao, and we conceive through divine will. We celebrate this marriage, this sacred union of heaven and earth in our bodies.
Honey Moon June
Connected to the Druidic understanding of the month, June is known as the “honey moon” and has long been an auspicious time to be married. The Roman Goddess Juno, for whom the month June is named, is the Goddess of Marriage. Both of these are based on the conception energies of this time. The primordial mother is conceiving so of course, we are too! Honey Moon June is also a great time to give and receive and enjoy mead, the elixir of the Gods made from honey.
Communion with the Fairies
Litha is a good time to communicate with the summer fae or the sidhe as they are abundantly attracted to the flowers blooming in our gardens. We leave out honey, cakes, and other treats to entice them closer and to honor and acknowledge our reciprocity with them in this life.
The Sidhe are our ancestors, living deeper in the earth or through portals to the otherworld; but omnipresent in this realm through our communication, devotion, and reciprocity. The fearful stories of changeling babies, where the fairies came and took a human baby to their realm leaving behind a dark and sickly fairy baby in exchange, illustrate the time where our trust in the mother, our trust in the wildness of nature, in our own wildness, was demonized, made separate or other from us.
To honor and remember and invite in the Sidhe is to reclaim our wildness and our oneness with nature. It is to acknowledge that we are 100% divine and 100% human. It is to reclaim that we are the stewards of nature, protectors of the forests and holy waters. We are the ones working beneath the surface along with the Sidhe to bring magic into this realm for remembrance and for healing.
Why do the fairies cause mischief in our lives? To help us reconnect to our laughter, our wildness, and remember what is important. They also just as easily create miracles.