AWAKE

A Modern Scripture

Litha

Saturday 21st December 2019 

Litha and Summer Solstice Greetings to the folk of the South and Yuletide Winter Solstice Greetings to the folk of the North. May peace and love be with one and all and I mean this with sincerity.

It is the time of year when peace is meant to come to us all and I hope one day on this planet of ours, this genuinely does happen. We seem such a troubled planet, or rather such a troubled race. There seems to be so much anger, confusion and general unease world wide, a fear for our future and just a general day to day struggle to get through life. This year has been a strange year for many people, myself included, people have struggled with life, paying bills, looking after family, juggling priorities and many people have struggled under the pressure of things. All over the world people are struggling, ploughing on through life in a constant state of suffering, not knowing what to do, or exhausted from trying all the can do but feeling they can do no more. There are wars and famine, illnesses, toxins, and a stated of not knowing who to trust, people pit against one another. People, people just like you and I, arguing over ridiculous things. We argue over colour, we argue over what we own, who owns the most, who thinks they can take it, we argue over age, over religion, over food, over illness. We cannot celebrate one another’s differences and embrace them, we ridicule and mock all around us. Because you know what, I am miserable, so I may as well poke fun at them over there and then they’ll feel sad and know what I feel like, without a care that they may have their own traumas. Ok not all of us but a good many folk. Please tell me I am wrong and that you have never met people like this. I am not trying to have a go, I just think the season of good will and peace could maybe extend a little beyond Christmas day and maybe we can all help each other get through another day.

So Litha is the pagan name for the Mid-Summer Solstice, the time when the Sun takes the longest to traverse the sky, arising earliest in the morning and setting latest in the evening. Litha is a celebration of the Sun and the life the Sun brings to the Earth, who owes its life to the Sun, as it provides warmth, light and energy to the planet. For those of us here in the Southern Hemisphere, it is Summer, it is appreciating the glory of Summers days, an abundance of life and vitality, providing an abundance of food for which we are grateful. My nostalgic memories of Litha were hot summers in England and being with friends, gathering and celebrating at stone circles then a summer of music festivals. But hey time moves on.

In the spirit of Litha I went to my Apiary course, (Beekeeping), collected and gathered capped honey comb, uncapped and extracted honey and bought a nice wee pot home with gratitude. To have a growing relationship with bees and to understand their work it is blessing in itself and I thank them for their gift of honey. The symbolism of bees is they are divine spirit workers, messengers of the gods, providing the divine gift of honey. Litha is also the festival of the bee, so the gift of honey today was perfect.

When I got home, my family and I had planned on planting some trees for Litha. When we moved to our property a small flock of old chickens came with the property, we only have one left now, so are in the process of doing up the chicken coup so we can get some more chickens. These will not only provide eggs but will provide a valuable service removing pests such as snails as well as fertilizing the garden. It is important for us to be planting trees. I have a love for trees, I see them as such an amasing species. Earth was once a more arboreal planet, however trees are some of the most violated beings on Earth. They do such a multitude of roles I cannot understand why they are treated in such a poor manner. The provide oxygen to the Earth, sequester and bank carbon, provide multiple layers of an ecosystem, are part of climate regulation, a homes to an abundance of species, provide stability to soil, partake in all aspects of the ecosystem, provide food and medicines. I am sure there are many more that can be added. Trees are so important at present. The climate is changing at present, whether you agree with man made climate change or not there is a change in climate and weather patterns. Now I am not going to go into climate change yet. I am going to suggest though that trees could be a really good way of helping to cool the planet by replanting the forests, the reasons indicated previously are some of the reasons why we need to be doing this. So we planted a whole heap of trees and shrubs, to provide shade for the chickens, structure to the ground, shade to the land and flowers for the bees. Coupled with this that the trees and shrubs planted were part of the food forest we are developing here. It is always so exciting to put the trees into the ground and watch them grow. Some of the young trees we have grown from seed, I have a young apple tree seedling / sapling, I grew this from an apple pip. There is an old heritage apple tree on the land, its trunk is hollow but it produces the most delicious apples. It is our Magick Apple tree, for it has a branch that does not connect to the trunk that bears fruit. By the looks of it, the branch broke and self grafted but it did a fine job.

So in the spirit Litha, we thank the Bee for the gift of honey and thank the Earth for the gifts she provides us with and that we can live and grow. We gift her back to her soils the trees and plants to support her in the her health and growth too. With wish you peace and love in life and for time to come.

Blessed Be xXx