How to Spend the Day Connecting with the Elements this Litha
Nature has truly woken up from its long season of rest. Flowers are in full bloom, tilting their open faces towards the sun. Fresh water droplets are gleaming on lush green leaves. Blue skies stretch overhead. It’s definitely cause for celebration. June 21st marks the beginning of Litha, the Pagan summer solstice holiday, and the official start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
If you’re looking for a new way to celebrate Litha, soak up the sun, and immerse yourself in nature this year, here’s our guide on how to spend the day honoring the natural elements.
Morning - Earth
This element holds an abundance of magic in summer with so much life sprouting from its surface. Earth is the element of stability, fertility, and grounding with a strong and nurturing influence present all year round.
To honor the earth this Litha, start the day outside with your bare feet on dewy grass. You could do a grounding meditation with your feet planted firmly on the ground, visualizing its life-giving energy building under the surface and transferring into your body. Or you could go for a morning walk or hike in nature, taking each step with intention and feeling the stability of the earth beneath your feet. You could buy or pick fresh vegetables (in preparation for your Litha feast later in the day). Or you could collect flowers, stones, and other natural objectives to decorate your Litha altar.
However you spend your Litha morning, honor the earth and plant your feet on the ground.
Afternoon - Air
All the elements work together in a perfected synced harmony. And summer, with its fruits and flowers, wouldn’t exist without air: the breath of life. Air is the element of communication, wisdom, and creativity. It fills our lungs, grazes our skin, breathes fresh life into all living things, and blows away that which no longer serves us.
To honor the air, spend the afternoon singing or playing music outside with your loved ones. Let the sound be carried away by the wind for others to hear and find joy in. Or try doing mindfulness yoga outside and feel how the air flows around you as you move. You could also honour air this Litha by making a windchime, incorporating some of the natural elements that you collected in the morning.
Whatever you do to honor air, make sure you purposefully take slow, deep breaths, and let this element’s magic flow through your body and clear your mind.
Early Evening - Water
What’s summer without swimming in lakes, rivers, and the sea? Water is the element of cleansing, healing, intuition and connecting with your emotions. With a strong feminine energy, water has the power to wash away negative emotions and refresh you with vitality, fun, and joy.
In the early evening, honor the element of water by winding down in a Litha bath with rose metals, lavender, chamomile, and your favorite crystals around the tub. Light candles and cleanse your mind and body before the nighttime celebrations. Or, even better, take a swim in a natural body of water. Take some family or friends and allow the water’s energy to cleanse and recharge you.
Night - Fire
Last but not least, it wouldn’t be Litha without fire. This element represents passion, inspiration, and change. Opposing water, fire’s natural masculine energy has the power to create and to destroy. But more than that, it’s an element of unexplainable magic that draws people to its light and inspires them to sing, dance, cook, tell stories, and banish negativity.
Spend your night honoring fire by having a celebration with friends and family around a bonfire. Prepare a Litha feast together with the fresh, seasonal produce you acquired earlier in the day. Write a list of the things you want to release and burn the paper in the flames. Or light candles at your Litha altar, and journal on your first half of the year and your intentions for the second half.
Use the suggestions in this guide or create your own ways of reconnecting with the elements this Litha. Let’s pack the holiday with practices that honor nature and ourselves.
Sophie Campbell is a freelance creative copywriter and content writer based on the West Coast of Scotland. She spends her free time learning about witchcraft and writing fiction that typically focuses on folklore and magic. You can find her on Instagram @sphcampbellwriter and learn more on her website.
