Midsummer is considered the most potent time of year to work
magick of any kind. This is a good time for clearing away non-useful energies,
establishing a stable base. Use lots of beeswax candles for atmosphere (esp. on
your table). Torches also help light up the area, because you want to hold your
party from dusk until the wee hours.
Sympathetic magick abounds on the solstice. Cut an ash tree
on midsummer morning and place chips of it in your pocket to harmonize with
nature and protect yourself against disease. If your herd is diseased,
sacrifice a cow to the midsummer bonfire to protect the rest of the heard. Wear
coal dug up beneath mugwort on the eve to protect from fever and acne.
Gather herbs and look for feathers on the ground to weave
into magickal charms and talismans. Decorate your home (especially
over the front door) with roses and other summer flowers, including
with birch, fennel, St. John's wort, orpin, and white lilies.
It is said that larkspur sprinkled in a Midsummer fire will
protect against spirits, and give the magician a chance to increase his psychic
awareness. Try this as part of your Midsummer fire ritual: Light a tall gold
candle; from its flame light four smaller candles, one for each season. Place
the small candles around the gold candle. Visualize the Sun at the height of
its power, giving its energy to each of the seasons.
Fire ruled the solstice day in much of the world. People moved it around, jumped over it, and gazed through it. Midsummer night bonfires could be seen dotting the Irish countryside well into the nineteenth century, a remnant of the old Celtic fires that opened the summer season. Medieval pagans rolled a flaming wooden wheel, often rigged with straw and pitch, downhill into a river. In the Moselle Valley of sixteenth-century Germany, the men in charge of the fire would pass the morning collecting a bit of straw from each household. They would spend the afternoon using it to decorate a huge wooden wheel to mock the shape of the sun. It had a hip-high axis extending three feet out on each side, which served as a handle to move the symbolic sun on its course. At dusk the mayor of the town would give the signal to light the wheel. A shout would go up as two young men, accompanied by just about every other male in the burg, began to run the wheel down the hill to the river, each with a flaming torch in hand.
Magick followed in the wake of the fiery sun wheel’s course.
If, as it descended along the symbolic path toward autumn, it remained lighted
all the way down the slope, a bountiful fall harvest was portended; if it went
out: bad luck. In the aftermath young men removed the hot char and reassembled
the pieces in the village to prepare for diving omens from the sun now set. They
would strip to the waist and run forward and backward—the way the sun
oscillated across the seasons—through the glowing embers several times. Whoever
did it the greatest number of times without getting singed was declared the
victor over the powers of evil. As in all male-dominated sports, young women
would do the same, but only after the fire had died down a bit more. At stake
for them were prognostications about the number of children they would bear.
In some areas young couples leaped the fire hand in hand. As
high as thy leap, so will their crops grow. And, if they can accomplish the
feat scorch-free, they will not get a backache at reaping time. To culminate a successful courtship, nascent
couples look at each other across the fire through straw wreaths or bunch of
larkspur. Then, reminiscent of a ritual still practiced at most wedding
reception, the girl throws the wreath across the fire, hoping that the object
of her affection will catch it.
Other fire jumpers included married women and young cattle. Herdsmen
drove cows through the hot ashes with lighted hazel twigs, which were kept and
later used as instruments of power on cattle drives. When all the accompanying
songs, dance, and general merrymaking were done with, everyone would dip a pine
stick into the remains of the conflagration and carry a bit of the new solstice
fire that had helped to ignite with their contributions of straw back home to
reignite the hearth to certify continued good luck.
To nurture and protect their crops, farmers generally kindled
the solstice fire near their own fields, and then walked the periphery of the
flames holding lighted torches—or along the riverside. Ashes from midsummer’s
fires were then tossed on the crop to make produce abundant.
In Sweden, Midsummer is still celebrated but is coincides
with their Midnight Sun and their celebrations consist of feasting, dancing,
and talks of the supernatural. Their belief was that on this night, the Witches
flew to see the Great Witch of the Mountains.
Activities: Clan
Gatherings
Gathering Herbs
Jumping Balefire
Well Dressing
Special Activities: An ideal time to reaffirm your vows to
the Lord and Lady or your dedication to following the old traditions.
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