Summer Solstice: Litha

Summer Solstice:

In the pagan wheel of the year, summer solstice, or Litha is a very festive holy day. It is the time when the sun is out for longer than any other day of the year. Pagan lore talks about the fight between the Oak God and the Holly God ending with the Holly God winning at Yule.

Symbolism for this holy day revolves around what is happening naturally outside in our own backyard. Roses, bright oranges and reds, sunflowers and if it were possible to capture bird song, I am sure that would be there as well. For our alter I managed to put down a orange, red and yellow cloth. I made a 1970’s inspired sun and attached it to a large vase. I filled it with daisies, roses, lemon balm and lavender from our garden. It is simple this year but mostly because my brain was wrapped around thoughts of father’s day. Something that most holy days involve is a letting go ceremony. As I watch the symptoms of my father’s illness increase I try to remember who he was before. I try to let go of some of the implications the changes he has gone through has put our family in over the past five years. I try to let go. Letting go isn’t as easy as it once was. I am looking for security and looking for a simple black and white of what I should care about. Of course life doesn’t work this way and as I watch the constant struggle of my mother I try to remember she had thirty loving and productive years with my father before all this happened. I try to remember that during this time of my own personal transition. Where people from my past are to be passing away and all I really have is now.

So I turn to the sun on this solstice in a somber mood. I say goodbye to the young boy who called me cushion, to the crazy lady who published my first column in her magazine and I feel my baby kicking away. The circle of life in the sun’s rays.