Hello everyone, welcome to the podcast. And I cannot wait to get to all the juicy solstice goodness today, but first I have an email I wanted to read.
Hi Eli, Thank you for your podcast. I’m very new to the craft and find your perspective perfect for ME! Here’s my situation. I have about an hour commute to work. I have been at my job for nearly 20 years, and I love it! The commute wasn’t much of an issue while my husband was alive. Now that I live alone, I want to move closer to work. The commute is dreadful. Also, I would just like to move into my own space. I feel almost stuck. The problem is I’ve been looking for nearly 2 years. I can’t find what I want. I am being picky because I can be ( I don’t need to move). But I’m getting very discouraged. What type of spell work would you suggest to help?
Okay, so I responded to this witch as follows:
“You may want to start with a road opening spell to clear a path toward a new living situation that you’ll be happy with. You’ll need road opening oil (which is relatively simple to make and I’ll link to a recipe in the episode description) or road opener incense (which is easy to find online or in occult/spiritual shops), a candle (white is fine or else orange for opportunity or green for success).
Carve your intentions into it. You can use runes, or a sigil of your own design, or you can just carve words into it. Something simple and straightforward, like ‘I find the perfect home for me’ and then anoint the candle with the road opener oil or just plain olive oil. Dress your candle in herbs next. You may want some herbs for luck, like allspice, star anise or some dried orange peel. Herbs for success like cinnamon, ginger or lemon balm, and I would suggest herbs to help in overcoming obstacles, such as mistletoe or wormwood.
Focus on your outcome, not all of the obstacles in your way, or the bumps in the road so far. If visualization is your thing, use that to imagine yourself already in your new home. If you’re better with words, repeat your intention while you prepare your candle and light it. Let it burn down, and just go on about your business with complete confidence that all will be well. And of course, don’t leave your burning candle unattended.”
And then wouldn’t you know it, this witch emailed me with an update:
I emailed you about a new home manifestation spell. Long story short, I was able to do a little spellwork with the February full moon. By the April full moon, I found my house!! It was actually quite the whirlwind. I saw the house online 4/5. Went with my realtor and placed an offer 4/6. The buyer accepted my offer 4/8, and we closed 4/28! It is the perfect house…for me!! That was exactly what I said as I burned my candle with the snow moon. I have attached a picture of my view from my kitchen/dining room. I cannot tell you the peace I feel here. I even have a room that I am going to dedicate to the growth of my craft. Thank you so much for your guidance.
I was so thrilled to hear back from this witch, and I am really proud of her for just putting her faith in herself and her potential and just going for it. It would be really easy, after two years of striking out, to get discouraged or to hold onto the disappointment and the doubt or to just throw in the towel altogether and say to hell with it. So expressing this kind of confidence in her work is an enormous affirmation and she killed it. Incidentally, this kind of a road-opener spell can work with just about any intention when there’s an element of removing obstacles in order to receive your desired outcome. All you really need to do is adjust the wording to suit your specific situation, and you’re ready to go.
So keep that spell in your back pocket for all your road-opening needs, and of course you can find a written transcript of this episode along with all of the episodes we do here on the website middleagedwitch.com. And if you have questions about spellwork, or a comment, criticism, or if you just want to talk, you can email me at eli@middleagedwitch.com.
Now we did talk about solar magick last week, and you can listen to that episode if you like, or you can check out the transcript on the website, middleagedwitch.com. And to quickly recap, one of the things we spoke about in that episode was the way we can use the phase of the sun in the same way we’d use the phase of the moon in our spell work.
So, if you wanted to do spell work that would traditionally coincide with the full moon but don’t want to wait until the next full moon, you could perform this work during high noon instead. Or if it was waxing moon magick, you could do it at sunrise, if it was waning moon magick, you could do it at sunset, and so forth.
We also spoke in that episode about the different intentions that are especially conducive to solar magick, such as success magick, healing magick, abundance magick,and magick for receiving truth and enlightenment. With that in mind, we can create and execute a really powerful ritual for this Litha sabbat.
As this is the solstice, on this longest day of the year, we can put something into motion using the sun at its most powerful, to propel our magick forward through the next year, and to offer us its vitality and its magnification and expansion. This is the sun in its strongest phase, this is the full moon of the sun to coin a very clunky phrase, and it is immensely powerful. It happens once a year. Once a year we get a sunrise, a high noon, and a sunset on the summer solstice and we should not waste it.
If there is a spell that would be well-supported by the waxing moon or the sunrise, something such as a new endeavor, a business opportunity, attraction magick, or money magick, then it will be well worth the time and effort to Google what time the sun will rise in your local area, and be outside well in advance so that you can set up your spell or build your altar or cast your circle, before enacting your spell just as the sun rises on you.
And the same goes for full moon or high noon magick, which might be something like abundance and general manifestation work, and certainly personal empowerment. It would be beneficial to time this to align with the sun being directly overhead. And of course it’s the same with what we would consider to be waning moon magick, which we would coordinate with sunset. And good examples of waning moon or sundown magick include banishings, bindings, shadow work and transformational or personal evolution magick.
I really don’t want to rehash everything we said last week in the solar magick episode, except I will reiterate that the solstice presents an opportunity to perform quintessential solar magick. So just do a bit of brainstorming and dig out those really big intentions you’ve been holding and see if they might be well-supported by some sun magick.
I also wanted to talk a little about some of the traditional Solstice-slash-Litha celebrations that we find across the globe, and I have said all of this before, but it bears repeating: There’s a lot of cultural crossover in the different beliefs and traditions surrounding the solstice, so it’s really easy to find a few aspects to fold into our own celebrations. In Spain, the Midsummer tradition is strong, and we can easily identify the rituals that reveal the pagan beliefs widespread throughout Europe in Neolithic times. These beliefs pivot on three basic ideas: the importance of medicinal plants, especially in relation to health, youth and beauty; the protective character of fire to ward against evil spirits and witches (oh, if they only knew how much we love the fire, am I right) and, finally, the purifying, miraculous effects of water.
So with regard to solstice plant magic, there are a lot of ways to celebrate. Traditionally, women collect several species of plants on midsummer’s eve. These vary from area to area, but mostly include fennel, different species of fern, rue, rosemary, dog rose , lemon verbena, St John’s wort, mallows, laburnum, foxglove, and elder flowers. In some areas, these are arranged in a bunch and hung in doorways. In most others, they are dipped in a vessel of water and left outside exposed to the dew of night until the following morning, when people use the resulting flower water to wash their faces.
Making a flower crown is a wonderful activity to include in your celebrations and it’s going to be gorgeous on your instagram page, as is participating in any festivals, carnivals, or outdoor events. It’s a wonderful way to connect with the community and a great way to spend a day outdoors in the sunshine, listening to live music and enjoying the sights and smells and tastes of your own local area.
Visiting a farmer’s market is also a very solstice-y activity. Picking out some local produce to incorporate into a fun summery recipe and inviting family and friends over to enjoy good food, cold drinks and great company, this is all very on-brand for the solstice. The purpose is to enjoy the weather and really bask in the season. If we think back to the winter solstice, a large part of that celebration is showing gratitude and respect for the bounty of the previous growing season, and the summer solstice is about not only enjoying the warmth and the bounty of summer, but of looking forward to another successful growing season.
As for ways to incorporate fire magic into this sabbat, of course bonfires come to mind first thing. We all have to be very mindful of wildfires and so if needs must, then we can just scale that bonfire back to maybe a backyard fire pit. Bonfires are lit, traditionally around midnight. Young and old gather around them and when it is relatively safe to jump over the bonfire, it is done three times for good luck.
Luck in our lives and in the goals we are currently working toward manifesting, but also a lucky harvest. We can toss herbs and flowers into the flames to call in abundance to us, such as calendula, nettle, lemongrass, dandelion and spearmint. The summer solstice marks a great time to release old patterns and stagnant energy, and writing those things down that we wish to release and throwing them in the solstice flames is a powerful demonstration to that commitment.
As far as water rituals go, there is nothing that feels as energizing and revitalizing in these hot summer months as swimming. Especially in a natural body of water, such as a lake, a river, or if you’re fortunate enough to live near the sea, spending a day on the beach is incredibly cleansing. Bringing a little bottle or jar to collect a small amount of those healing waters for use in future spellwork is a good idea too. Bask in the warmth of the sun, luxuriate in the natural waters, offer something to the water spirits in the area, like a bit of charged quartz.
And finally I cannot close today without acknowledging that we will also be entering Cancer season on the Solstice, and this is a season that I really love to celebrate because some of the best people you’ll ever know are Cancers. This is a loyal sign, an absolute ride-or-die. If you can only have one person in your corner, and that person happens to be a Cancer, then count yourself one lucky son of a bitch, because they got you. So happy birthday to all the beautiful, soulful Cancers.
Thank you so much for joining me today, have a blessed solstice, and we’ll talk again next week. My name is Eli Ro, and this has been the Middle-Aged Witch podcast.
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