New Worlds Isse: NW022
By: Anna Franklin
On Midsummer Eve, my coven and I stay awake all night, huddled around the festive bonfire, keeping the traditional vigil until dawn. We perform acts of divination, cast spells, and wait with bated breath to experience the enchantments that are abroad this night. The Celts, the Norse, and the Slavs all believed that there were three ?spirit nights? in the year when magic abounded and the Otherworld was close: the first was Halloween, the second was May Eve and the third was Midsummer Eve. On this night, fairies are most active. On this night, the future can be uncovered. It is possible to slip into the Otherworld by stepping through the entrance to an old stone circle, or losing yourself in the mist that rises from the warm earth.
Midsummer Magic
Though I am an English witch, living and working in Britain, I know that the magic that surrounds Midsummer is felt all over the world. In Midsummer: Magical Celebrations of the Summer Solstice, I explain that every ancient religion had its own customs and traditions associated with the time. It is important in the lore of Greece and Rome, the myths of the Norse, the Maya, the Aztecs, the Slavs, and the writings of the ancient Egyptians, and the Old Testament of the Jews. Though the Pagan festivities were appropriated to the Christian feast of John the Baptist, vestiges of more ancient traditions can still be witnessed in places today, with baal fires, torchlit processions, the rolling of a sun wheel downhill, the casting of spells, divination, love magic, and the blessing of crops and animals with fire.
In Midsummer: Magical Celebrations of the Summer Solstice, I share some of my herbal secrets with you and reveal how to make herbal talismans, love charms, divination rods and protective amulets. Try making your own infused St. John?s wort oil as follows:
Loosely fill a glass jar with the leaves and flowers and then fill to the top with a good vegetable oil, e.g. sunflower or almond. Cover the jar with a small piece of muslin and leave on a sunny windowsill for 3-4 weeks until the oil becomes a deep red color. Strain the liquid through the muslin into a clean jar and seal. Externally the oil can be applied to bruises, wounds, varicose veins, ulcers and sunburn.
Magical Oils and Wands
I also show you how to make a variety of magical oils and incense for the time, and share my coven?s recipes for seasonal goodies such as elderflower fritters and elder champagne.
Midsummer is also the most propitious time of the year to make a magic wand. This is the tool that joins the physical and the spiritual realms and transmits energy from one to the other. It focuses and directs the magical will to make it manifest in the world. You should cut your own wand from living wood. This is the subject of much misunderstanding. Some say that the wood must be taken in such a way as to capture the dryad of the tree, but this is a kind of shorthand for something much more profound. Every plant has its own spirit, which embodies its character, its magical vibration, its lessons, and its complex connection within the Web of Being. Plants and trees must be approached as individuals, and respected as living, spiritual entities. I will show you how to accomplish this and also tell you which woods are best for which kind of wand.
I cast any herb stocks left over from the previous year onto the bonfire on Midsummer Eve, along with any outgrown or broken magical tools. This is a time of purification too, for casting aside negativity. You might throw into the fire all things that represent things that have bad associations for you. Take the opportunity to give up smoking, for example, by throwing a pack of cigarettes into the flames. This spell is an old Irish custom:
Walking round the Midsummer bonfire, state your requests (e.g., cure my asthma, help me learn the ways of the Craft, let me discover my familiar etc.) and cast in a pebble at the end of each prayer/request.
Ancestral Practices
In Midsummer, I show you ancestral charms and divination practices associated with Midsummer. I also reveal the Midsummer rites of Traditional British Witchcraft, Traditional Wicca, plus Saxon Litha rites, Druidic Midsummer celebrations and Celtic rites for drawing down the sun and greeting the flower bride, the gods of the season and how to contact fairies at Midsummer.
It is the time of brightness, long days and warmth. There is the promise of the harvest growing in fields and gardens. The earth is pregnant with goodness, made fertile by the light of the sun. The sun god is in his glory, strong, and virile. The power of the sun on this day is protective, healing, empowering, revitalizing, and inspiring. It imbues a powerful magical charge into spells, crystals, and herbs. It is a time for fun and joy, for enjoying the light and warmth. Like many other modern Pagans, I celebrate Midsummer out of doors and follow the festival with a picnic or barbecue for all my friends.
FROM: http://www.llewellyn.com/bookstore/article.php?id=331
