How do you celebrate the longest day of the year? Do you light a fire? Do you grieve for the beginning of the end of the days where the world is light and warm? Do you go out and collect flower petals and herbs on the day where they get more sun than on any other?

In this blog I'll be sharing some interesting information from the north along with how we at Magic is the Key celebrate the Summer Solstice in 2023.

Isn't it exciting that the longest day is heading our way? In the days before June was called June after the Roman goddess Juno, the month was called Sólmánuður (Islandic for Sunmonth) or Skærsommer (Danish), the first month of summer where the days are the longest. The month lasted from June 13th - July 12th.

In the weeks building up to this day we have felt the heat increase, the rains cease, and the bees become quiet in the lilac bush as the blossoms begin to dry up and fall to the ground. The winds have become still rising up only after the sun has set so when the lightning brings flashes to the night it is accompanied by the rustle of leaves in the trees.

We've been discussing how we want to honor this day. Growing up we remember one of our Danish uncles lighting a large fire in his backyard. It was a party where the grownups most certainly enjoyed their drinks. I remember laughter and running around, and I imagine there might also have been dancing and singing.

This year I have focused my research on Danish traditions since that is where my memories are the strongest. Perhaps next year I will add on German traditions. To keep things simple, I have decided to focus the day around three activities: Collecting plants, the traditional solstice fire, and a personal ceremony.

I'm sharing them in more detail here so hopefully they will inspire you. If you have traditions and practices you follow, we would love to hear about them. You can always reach us by sending us an e-mail to [email protected]

The Plants:

I found a wonderful Danish book written by the now deceased witch who went by the name Danny Druehyld. The book is called "Heksens Håndbog" (The Witch's Handbook) and in her treatment of this time she writes that you will be busy from morning until way past your bedtime on the Summer Solstice! Most of her recommended practices have to do with going out and collecting plants.

I really love this idea but also want to make sure I do not collect more than what I can use. Since life is quite busy with a baby, two dogs, work, and travel I have decided to focus on just three in small quantities:

The ancestral rose at our home
The juniper bush from what we call the fairy island in the garden
Stinging nettle found in the forest nearby

From the rose I will collect one full flower with the five pointed star in the back still attached and dry it. I will carry it with me wherever I go as a way of connecting with the place I feel home.

I will also take just a few petals, maybe 11, to place in just a little organic argan oil in a jar in the sun for several weeks. Later I will mix it with other ingredients to try making my first homemade cream. If it is successful I will share the steps to doing this in a later blog post.

From the juniper bush I will dry some branches to use as incense. If it feels right, I might do the same with the cedar that also grows in the garden.

The stinging nettle I plan to collect a little more generously, though no more than a bundle I can hold in one hand. This I plan to dry and use throughout the year as tea or in salads.

The Fire:

In a beautiful cast iron cauldron with a super nice ventilation system in its base we will light a fire in the evening as it gets dark. This way we keep the light going a bit while at the same time creating a magical atmosphere. We have found that whenever we are together and light a fire, the flames exude such fascination that everyone stays present together and nobody thinks to look on the phone. This way of spending time feels like such a luxurious rarity sometimes!

There is more to the fire than this! It is also there as a form of protection, to keep all the bad things away as we enter into the dark days. I am planning to ask our little round questions as well since there is an element of grief to this eve. We know, though summer will continue a bit longer, the days will get noticeably shorter and soon it will be dark again. It is the beginning of the end! I am curious to hear what others have to share about what they are grieving and what they look forward to harvesting before it gets seriously dark.

We will surely also play music and roast marshmallows!

The Personal Ceremony:

It is wonderful to leave this open ended and commit, above all, to showing up for it. Showing up, to me, means finding a quiet space outside, sitting tall, placing an offering to the land I am on, and then opening up all my senses to listen. Breathing deeply I pay attention to the sensations within me and how they reflect what is going on outside of me. Opening up I pay attention to what is going on outside of me to find out more about what is going on inside of me. This I do until I have arrived in the moment that is this longest day and shortest night. From here the rest of the magic will ensue.

Wishes For You:

The Summer Solstice has a palpable magic to it. It feels like one of the main pillars that anchors the cycle we move through each year in the northern hemisphere. If you find yourself in the southern hemisphere, you will be with the magic of the Winter Solstice, the shortest day and the longest night.

Wherever in the world you are, I wish that you may feel the magic of this day and night all the way down to your bones and all the way out to your finger tips. May you find yourself laying back in the soft cushion of a mind at ease as you focus, even if just for a moment, on the big cycle that this home planet of ours moves through. It is hard to keep a mind bouncing around the humdrum of daily life when it is focusing on something outside of itself!

And for those of you who are in the midst of challenge and hardship, I wish you ease and the strength you need to move through.