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The Summer Solstice - La notte delle Streghe - June 19th-22nd
Litha, St. John’s Day, La Notte Di San Giovanni, La note Delle Streghe, Lora di Estate, Midsummer
In the Northern Hemisphere the Summer Solstice occurs between June 19 to June 21 and is the longest day of the year and the shortest night. During this time, we as Witches honor and celebrate the Sun at the peak of His power. We draw in the energy of the Mother Earth and her magick of fertility and growth and prepare ourselves and our homes for the waning period of the Sun, which lies shortly ahead.
In our Witches tradition, during the Summer Solstice we invoke and call upon the God of the Sun, the Great Lord of the Heavens and King of Light. We call forth the power of the Sun God to defeat and diminish the forces of darkness and to invoke future fertility and earthly growth. During the Summer Solstice, the Mother Goddess of the Witches dances her dance of ecstasy - her dance of life, renewal and infinite love. She is invoked as the Queen of the Fae, the Queen of Elphame, and Our Lady of Blossoming Flowers. The Summer Solstice is a festivity ruled by the elements of Fire and Water, making this day a spiritual culmination of Light and Darkness. We cast spells for love, passion, protection, and psychic power.
The Fairy World is also drawn to the energy of this time. Many of us attempt to contact these magickal creatures and harness their forces to empower our lives, homes, and spells. Offerings to the world of the Fae are given at sunrise and sunset; in a secret place outdoors or in your magickal garden. On the morning of the Summer Solstice, spiritual tools are often left in nature to collect the light of the rising Sun, this believed to charge the tools with magick and power. Herbs gathered on the Eve and Day of the Summer Solstice hold great power, as their energies strengthened by the kiss of the sun, their leaves and stems later may be used to fashion valuable amulets.
The Fire Element is invoked during the Summer Solstice in rites of purification and warding away evil and illness. Bonfires are traditionally ignited on the Eve of the Summer Solstice, composed of nine or thirteen sacred woods or herbs. These fires are believed to hold great power and the ashes are collected for magickal use.
Saint John's Eve - La notte delle Sreghe
In an attempt to convert early traditions or in some sense to accommodate them, many ancient pagan customs and deities were ‘syncretized’ with that of the early Church. This act of assimilation of Pre-Christian traditions led to the ‘intertwining’ of Old Traditions with that of the New. Among the ancient pagans, it was believed that during eve of the Summer Solstice the forces of good and evil, of light versus dark, are both most potent and powerful. St. John’s Eve is also known as La note delle streghe or Night of the Witches.
In Italy it is said that Witches were summoned by the damned souls of Salome and Herodias. This an early corruption of the veneration of Feminine Deities. The Church celebrated the nativity of John the Baptist on June 24 to coincide with the early Summer Solstice traditions - linking or ‘masking’ John the Baptist to the Waning Sun God of the pagans. John the Baptist was invoked to: dispel illness and disease, to heal the sick, bring protection against the evil eye and demonic forces, and to aid matters of the heart and marriage.
Throughout Europe the night between June 23rd and June 24rd (the Feast Day of St John the Baptist) is celebrated by blazing bonfires, ritualistic purification, protection rites, and musical festivities. St. John’s Eve and St. John Day are believed to be a powerful time for Love Magick. Including rituals involving Marriage and Commitment, Creating and Cementing Bonds and Pacts both Physical and Spiritual. An ancient summer tradition involved a couple sealing their loving bond, by leaping over a blazing bonfire on the eve of St. John’s Day.
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