When you think of witchy holidays most people think of autumn and winter, when the days are dark and the weather chills you to the bone. However, Pagans, Wiccans and witches celebrate the Earth and all her seasons. Summer is an important time in the Wheel of the Year — and if you want to celebrate summer like a witch, this is a season of fire, joy, and abundance you won’t want to miss.
Summer Pagan Holidays to Celebrate Like a Witch
In the pagan tradition there are 8 holidays: the 4 greater sabbats and the 4 lesser sabbats. The greater sabbats are the summer and winter solstices and the autumnal and vernal equinoxes. These greater sabbats mark the ending of one season and the beginning of another. The lesser sabbats take place in the middle of the season. These 8 holidays are most commonly known as The Wheel of the Year.
The Wheel of the Year is the personification of the Sun and Moon as deities. This is a modern tradition based on an amalgamation of folk traditions from all over the world. The sun and moon were the god and goddess in every ancient human civilization, and rightly so. Earth currently exists in something called the “Goldilocks zone,” a phrase which means that Earth has just the right combination of elements, atmosphere, sunlight and our big beautiful moon. We need the sun and moon and, at the end of the day, that is at the heart of every Earth based religious practice.
What are the three witchy Summer holidays?
Litha or Midsummer – How Witches Celebrate the Summer Solstice : June 20th or 21st
This is the official start of summer and the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. This is when the sun is most powerful. This is when the sun is most prevalent, so this is when the Sun God is at his peak. He revitalizes life and body and blesses all with his warmth.
Lammas or Lughnasadh: August 1st
This is the celebration of the middle of summer; the lesser sabbat celebrating the equal point between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox. Traditionally, this is a time for harvesting, specifically grain harvest. Things like feasts and outdoor parties are common on this holiday.
Mabon or the Autumnal Equinox: September 21st or 22nd
This is the end of Summer and the beginning of Autumn, when day and night are perfectly equal. The Sun God is beginning his annual climb towards his winter death, and the veil between worlds grows closer. The days grow shorter. It is not Winter yet, so harvest is still plentiful, but the Moon Goddess becomes more powerful since she dominates and illuminates the nights for us.
Whether you follow a Pagan path or simply love seasonal spirituality, there are many ways to celebrate summer like a witch. These witchy ideas honor the natural world and the Sun’s golden energy…
Play outside
During the summer the Sun God calls for worship, and his church is nature! Go for hikes, play in the stream and enjoy his enveloping sunshine embrace. It can be all too easy to enjoy the comforts of AC and the indoors, but summertime comes but once a year. So tap into your inner child, and get outside like a witch this summer.
Wear Sun Colors
Give a nod to the Sun God this summer by wearing the colors orange, yellow and gold. Color magick has long been used to evoke certain feelings and outcomes in others, so don yourself in these sun colors to celebrate the season. If yellow really isn’t your color, try decorating your home with sunflowers. Bowls of oranges, gold nail polish and jewelry, yellow blankets and paper plates–there’s lots of ways to incorporate the colors of the sun into your day to day life!
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Make an Altar Outdoors
Other seasons are great for indoor altars, but for summer time you should make yours outside. If you have a yard, you can forage for the items for your altar right there. Daisies, yellow flowers, nuts and seeds and more! Look for the signs of summer right under your own feet, and arrange them in a devotional way to say thanks for another beautiful summer. This is a great activity to do with children, so put down the technology and make a mandala from foraged items on your back porch this summer.
If you need some help finding the right things for your summer altar, begin with a prayer or invocation. It’s best to use something that comes from the heart, so use your own intuition. Here is a suggestion to help get you started: Summer Summer come to me/show me things I’ve yet to see.
Bake Bread (and share it)
The worship of the sun is about the ways in which the sun gives us life here on earth. The sun helps our skin and brings us energy. It is food for our plants, and it helps feed us through bountiful harvests. Most people are no longer connected to the process of growing our own food, but this is perhaps the basis of all Earth based religions: food and survival.
To get back to your roots and remember why the sun is so important, bake some bread this summer. If baking bread from scratch isn’t quite in your wheelhouse, remember you can also bake something like banana bread! Look into what’s in season near you and make a yummy loaf with local fruit or veg!
Now that you’ve got your bread, it’s time to share it. Harvest is a time for gratitude, so invite all your favorite people over for a feast. In the spirit of giving and gratitude, make it a potluck. Tell your friends to bring their favorite summer foods to share (bonus points if they made it from scratch). If you’re able to, plan to eat outside where you can truly appreciate the robust joys of summer.
Jasmine Wolfe is a professional astrologer, tarot reader, numerologist, and witch. Being a Capricorn sun and Scorpio moon, her readings tend to focus on the more challenging aspects of life and what we can learn about ourselves when we lean into the challenge. Having entered the professional scene in 2018, she's grown a loyal following of students and mentees through social media. You can find her on Instagram and TikTok @satinsaturn or through her website https://www.jasminewolfe.xyz/
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