Summer Solstice On June 21st

From what I know so far the summer solstice is the longest day of the year. It is the time to celebrate the summer months.

"Litha as they name it, which is celebrated around the longest day of the year, is a time for celebrating the power of light and the fruition of fertility. It can be described as Mother Nature being heavy with pregnancy. In other words, crops are growing towards readiness for harvesting.

Source
Summer Solstice Rituals

The Summer Solstice marks the longest day of summer, the point at which the life-giving sun is at its strongest over the powers of darkness."

Interestingly enough I couldn't find a lot of detailed information about the summer solstice online and would love to hear comments from you on what you are going to do to celebrate.

I know that I want to do something to celebrate it - I just don't know what I'm going to do yet.

Mabon Is Here!

My favorite time of the year has arrived!


"Mabon is a time of balance, when there are equal hours of darkness and light, and that can affect people in different ways. For some, it's a season to honor the darker aspects of the goddess, calling upon that which is devoid of light. For others, it's a time of thankfulness, of gratitude for the abundance we have at the season of harvest."

In order to start celebrating the start of Mabon, here is a list of what I am grateful for:

• I am grateful for my home which I think is the perfect witch house! It has a front yard and a back yard where my garden is. There is also a front and back porch and an attic and a cellar! I just LOVE my house!
  
  
• I am grateful for the food that I DO have right now! I had a very unusual dinner tonight - pancakes! - LOL! Also I do remember a time when I didn't have any food at all so I am grateful that both my refridgerator and my kitchen shelves are stocked with food - and yes I even have some of those Ramen Noodles too - LOL!
  
  
• I am grateful for the fact that I have been able to work from home! My income is such that I am able to pay some of my bills quite comfortably! My Adsense money should be coming in the next few days.
  
  Not a lot of people can say that they work from home and I know that it is not an easy thing to do but its something that I set my mind on and the fact that I am earning an income proves to me that it can be done!
  

Here are 10 ways that you can celebrate the Mabon season!

I Started My Garden!

I don't have any pictures to show yet but I have started my garden!

Outside I have replanted some turnips (at least I think they are turnips - LOL!) that a neighbor gave me. Today's rain should help them along quite nicely!

Inside I have started planting some seeds to start growing inside before I transplant them outside.

As I was looking at my outside garden today I noticed that I have a lot of tree branches that fell from one of the past storms and I have been saving them all! Ultimately I want to be able to use some of them in my fireplace - when I have my fireplace(s) - LOL!

There are lots of things that I have been finding outside! I found some pine cones that I used in my Christmas decorations last year and I decided to save them.

I mention this because part of my chosen path has to do with being a green witch and to me that means using and utilizing all that nature has to offer - surely an abundance of tools and materials are at my fingertips and I am going to use them all!

Imbolc

This is the time of season that is celebrated around February 1st or 2nd of each year and is associated with "beginning growth".

Here we plant the "seeds" of our hopes and dreams for the coming summer months.

I believe that this is the current season that we are in now. There is still the hint of winter in the air but there have been moments of warmer weather where we can feel a change of seasons coming on.

I am most interested in the food correspondences that are linked with this holiday which include: Foods: Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Muffins, Dairy Products, Peppers, Onions, Raisons, Garlic, Poppy Seed Bread and Cakes, Herbal Teas, Spiced Wines, Potatoes, and Turnips. I'm particularly interested in the muffins, breads and cakes because I'm very interesting in cooking and baking and would like to try and bake some of these to celebrate this sabbath. I also love different herbal teas and I believe them to be quite soothing and theraputic as well!

Candles: Brown, Pink, and Red

Deities: Bridget, Aradia, Gaia, Dagda, Pan, and Herne

Angelwitch1012003?

I was looking at my screenname and it reminded me that I have been on my path since 2003, now almost 6 years! Wow! That is a lot of time!

Of course my first year involved learning as much as I could about "The Craft" and I am still finding out that I am still learning and will continue to learn all my life!

So much of it is so fascinating!

I have still continued to enjoy the path of hedgewitch (with a little "green" and "kitchen" witch thrown in).

Right now we are definitely in the midst of the winter season and I know that this is a good time for reflection and to prepare myself for the spring season coming.

Here you see a picture that I took just outside my door.

I have been laying low for the past few weeks because of the cold winter weather. Right now in the Philadelphia area the temperatures are quite cold and we are still recovering from all the ice that has built up everywhere! Even my neighbors are lying low and if they don't have to go out they don't! But we're expecting some warmer weather Sunday - temps in the 40's - so hopefully that will melt the ice outside that has grown so thick!

Mind you in some ways I am quite enjoying this weather. Since I work from home I haven't had to go out if I didn't want to unless it was for something like grocery shopping. And of course this will be a good time to start getting my income tax forms ready and ready to mail out.

I have my hot chocolate and tea to drink as I look out my window and view the gorgeous scenery around me that I am blessed to have and delight in the fact that I live in an area that does have a change of seasons - I don't think that I would have it any other way - in fact, I know that I wouldn't - LOL!

So I'm laying low and also giving thoughts to my garden and how I'm going to vow to start it as soon as possible!

Onions And Garlic

As I was preparing my turkey earlier this morning I got to thinking about the onions and garlic that I was going to add to the turkey and came to realize just how many things that onions and garlic can be used for!

I mean it can be used for a lot of things when I'm cooking and I use them in my stews and soups and salads!

I also want to be able to grow them in my garden but so far I have only successfully managed to grow garlic chives (but don't worry, I'm going to try again next year!)

It also reminded me that I am also a kitchen (as well as green) witch and I felt exactly like this when I was preparing my turkey! All the spices and other ingredients that I was adding to the turkey, chopping and cutting and peeling in my nice warm kitchen on a gorgeous (though chilly) sunny day!

All I need now is a warm, open hearth!

Mabon

I can't help but notice the chill in the air (or rather I should say the chill in the house!) We're coming close (Monday) to the first day of Autumn which is also when Mabon starts - which is my favorite time of year! I just didn't think that it would come so fast!

Mabon is that time of year when we harvest what we have sown and it is also the time to prepare one's self for the winter and winter months to come! I like this time of year because it is a lot cooler than it is during the summertime and the holidays are quickly approaching.

I haven't been able to harvest anything from my garden yet but there is something growing there!

Here is a link to the blog posts that I have made about Mabon so far.

Spring Is In The Air..............................

Even though my favorite time of the year is autumn I can't help but notice that spring is in the air! You can tell by the warmer weather and the grass and the buds on the trees!

I was reminded of this while I was out earlier today gathering the trash for the trash pick-up. Besides noticing the warmer temperatures it gave me a chance to look at the remnants of my garden. There are of course lots of weeds and some debri that has to be cleaned up but that is getting to be part of the fun of having a garden!

While I will be planting and growing vegetables I'm also thinking about the herbs that I want to plant this year as well! And I'm thinking about the herbs that I plant going into the food that I will be making too!

I just want to try everything!