Today’s Runes for Wednesday, June 20 is Ken

Stone Runes are most commonly used for questions about the natural world and things beyond human control. Ken is the rune of light and knowledge, driving away darkness and ignorance and revealing hidden truth. This rune also brings forth images of friendship and comfort. Ken is the light of inspiration, the light of imagination, and a beacon in the darkest hours.

Today’s Tarot Card for June 20 is Justice

//s7.addthis.com/static/r07/sh089.html#iit=1340217929820&tmr=load%3D1340217929672%26core%3D1340217929718%26main%3D1340217929811%26ifr%3D1340217929820&cb=0&cdn=0&chr=unicode&kw=&ab=-&dh=witchesofthecraft.wordpress.com&dr=&du=http%3A%2F%2Fwitchesofthecraft.wordpress.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost-new.php&dt=&md=0&cap=tc%3D0%26ab%3D0&inst=1&irt=1&jsl=32&lng=en-US&ogt=&pc=wmb&pub=&ssl=0&sid=4fe21a492cb65bd2&srd=0&srf=0.02&srp=0.2&srl=1&srx=1&ver=200&xck=0&xtr=0&og=&rev=114377&xld=1&xd=1

Justice

This Tarot Deck: Morgan-Greer

General Meaning:

Traditionally, what has been known as the Justice card has to do with moral sensitivity and that which gives rise to empathy, compassion and a sense of fairness. Since the time of Solomon, this image has represented a standard for the humane and fair-minded treatment of other beings.

Often including the image of a fulcrum which helps to balance competing needs against the greater good, and a two-edged sword to symbolize the precision needed to make clear judgments, this card reminds us to be careful to attend to important details. It’s a mistake to overlook or minimize anything where this card is concerned. The law of Karma is represented here — what goes around comes around.

New Moon Report for June 20 – Sun in Cancer

Wednesday, June 20, 4:09 pm PDT, 7:09 pm EDT

The Sun sidles into sensitive Cancer where it spurs a strong desire for security. This solar event is the Summer Solstice (Winter Solstice below the equator), marking a change of seasons as well as signs. There is a sentimental side to Cancer with a hunger for safety and an inclination to seek familiar people, places and experiences. This deep yearning to reconnect with roots is meant to provide emotional fuel to nourish us now and supply sustenance for the future. However, stressful solar aspects to disruptive Pluto and Uranus on June 29 require us to tear down old structures. Eliminating unsupportive habits is required before we can think about settling into a comfort zone.

//s7.addthis.com/static/r07/sh089.html#iit=1340216835645&tmr=load%3D1340216835511%26core%3D1340216835575%26main%3D1340216835625%26ifr%3D1340216835646&cb=0&cdn=0&chr=unicode&kw=&ab=-&dh=witchesofthecraft.wordpress.com&dr=&du=http%3A%2F%2Fwitchesofthecraft.wordpress.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost-new.php&dt=&md=0&cap=tc%3D0%26ab%3D0&inst=1&irt=1&jsl=32&lng=en-US&ogt=&pc=wmb&pub=&ssl=0&sid=4fe216031da869c9&srd=0&srf=0.02&srp=0.2&srl=1&srx=1&ver=200&xck=0&xtr=0&og=&rev=114377&xld=1&xd=1

Daily Cosmic Calendar for June 20

Yesterday’s second Gemini New Moon of 2012 should have provided you with a strong forward momentum. However, Venus now makes an off-kilter, 150-degree link to distant Pluto (4:19AM PDT) while Mercury squares Saturn (9:06AM PDT). With friends like these, who needs enemies? The Venus-Pluto and Mercury-Saturn clashes are warning signals to be extra careful if you are a wheeler-dealer in stocks, bonds and delicate business matters. Romantic ties and relationships in general may also be rattled by these two planetary conflicts. Mercury forming a flowing trine with Juno in water signs (3:35PM PDT) represents one saving grace and extra support system across the board. Another major event is the Sun switching its zodiacal allegiance from airy Gemini to watery Cancer (4:10PM PDT) at the sacred turning point known as the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. With the Sun and Moon now in Cancer, find more time to rejoice in nature’s gardens, forests, parks, seaside resorts, and hiking trails. Romantic longings make a comeback since Venus makes a supportive, 60-degree liaison with revelatory Uranus (5:56PM PDT) while the Moon parallels Venus (9:11PM PDT). Even a seemingly frictional 45-degree link from Mercury to Venus (6:20PM PDT) might be tweaked to help give comfort and nurturance to your love life and family ties. Get set for another rollicking 24-hour, carnival-like psychic atmosphere tomorrow when several challenging and favorable aspects vie for supremacy.

Calendar of the Moon for June 20

Oak Tree Month

Color: Black
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a black cloth place the vase of oak branches, a hammer, a metal lightning bolt, a sun symbol with the rune Sigil upon it, and a Green Man with an oak-leaf face.
Offerings: Give thanks for personal victories.
Daily Meal: Serve salad with each meal, arranged in the circular pattern of the Green Man.

Duir Invocation

Call: Now is the time of the Sun’s height.
Response: Now is the time when the leaves reach to the heavens.
Call: Now is the time when the Oak King spread his arms.
Response: Now is the time when we reach with him for the Sun.
Call: Now is the time when we return to the ancient grove of the Druids.
Response: Now is the time when we witness the Sun’s sacrifice.
Call: Now is the time when we go forth in glory.
Response: Now is the time of the turning of the year.
Call: Hail to the wren, soul of the Oak King!
Response: Hail to the sky, crown of the Oak King!
Call: Hail to the Earth, bed of the Oak King!
Response: Hail to the Sun, lover of the Oak King!
Call: Hail to the guardians of the door!
Response: May they guard us well, O oaken beams!
Call: We have no need to guard ourselves….
Response: For the Gods will guard us.
Call: We have no need to hide behind bolted doors….
Response: For now is the time to be open to the Sun!
Call: Like the Green Man, we speak through the oak!
Response: Like the Green Man, our voice is the strength of the earth!
Call: Like the Oak King, we do not fear the lightning!
Response: Like the Oak King, we will accept all repercussions!
Call: We have no shame for our actions….
Response: For all that we do, we do from a place of worthiness.
Call: For all that we do, we do from a place of honor.
Response: For all that we do, we do from a place of love.

Chant:
By my body I be earth
By my spirit I be fire
Call the lightning to my heart
Bring my soul what I desire

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for June 20

Carista – Day of Peace in the Family

Color: Lavender
Element: Water
Altar: Upon a lavender cloth set a tray of cakes shaped like clasping hands, and many cups full of hot tea.
Offerings: Promise to attempt to be more considerate of those you live with.
Daily Meal: Any food, but it must be served from one great plate for every table, and it should not be in separate portions.

Carista Invocation

May there be Peace in this house.
(Response: “May there be peace in this house!”)
Peace can be a hard mistress.
The daily round of the ordinary,
The simple turn of day and night and day
The presence of the same souls
Can come to be like a shadow on the sun,
And yet Peace still demands
That we find a way to move past
That ordinariness
And all the thousand thorns and briars
And bring Peace into the house.
(Response: “May there be peace in this house!”)
Take the hand of your sister, your brother,
The one who shares your roof, your table,
The ground you walk on,
Whose feet know the boards as well as your own,
And swear to find a way
To bring peace into the space between you.
(Response: “May there be peace in this house!”)

Chant:
My brother, my heart, my sister, my soul;
My family, my life, come in from the cold;
My sister, my heart, my brother, my soul;
My family, my life, that makes this life whole.

(Instead of a ritual, this period of time should be used to mediate and address problems between members of the community, with emphasis on peacemaking and compromise and useful solutions. At the end of the meeting, all share cakes and tea.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

A Prayer for This Blessed Day!

A Prayer for the Garden at Litha!

Prayer for the Garden

Small plants, leaves and buds,
growing in the soil.
O fiery sun, may your rays of
light and warmth
bless us with abundance,
and allow these plants to blossom
with life.

History of Litha

The History Of Litha

The celebration of Midsummer’s Eve (St. John’s Eve among Christians) was from ancient times a festival of the summer solstice. Some people believed that golden-flowered mid-summer plants, especially Calendula, and St. John’s Wort, had miraculous healing powers and they therefore picked them on this night. Bonfires were lit to protect against evil spirits which were believed to roam freely when the sun was turning southwards again. In later years, witches were also thought to be on their way to meetings with other powerful beings.

In Sweden, Mid-summer celebration originates from the time before Christianity; it was celebrated as a sacrifice time in the sign of the fertility.

The solstice itself has remained a special moment of the annual cycle of the year since Neolithic times. The concentration of the observance is not on the day as we reckon it, commencing at midnight or at dawn, as it is customary for cultures following lunar calendars to place the beginning of the day on the previous eve at dusk at the moment when the Sun has set. In Sweden, Finland and Estonia, Midsummer’s Eve is the greatest festival of the year, comparable only with Walpurgis Night, Christmas Eve, and New Year’s Eve.

In the 7th century, Saint Eligius (died 659/60) warned the recently converted inhabitants of Flanders against the age-old pagan solstice celebrations. According to the Vita by his companion Ouen, he’d say: “No Christian on the feast of Saint John or the solemnity of any other saint performs solestitia [summer solstice rites] or dancing or leaping or diabolical chants.”

As Christianity entered pagan areas, MidSummer celebrations came to be often borrowed and transferred into new Christian holidays, often resulting in celebrations that mixed Christian traditions with traditions derived from pagan Midsummer festivities. The 13th-century monk of Winchcomb, Gloucestershire, who compiled a book of sermons for the feast days, recorded how St. John’s Eve was celebrated in his time:

Let us speak of the revels which are accustomed to be made on St. John’s Eve, of which there are three kinds. On St. John’s Eve in certain regions the boys collect bones and certain other rubbish, and burn them, and therefrom a smoke is produced on the air. They also make brands and go about the fields with the brands. Thirdly, the wheel which they roll.

The fires, explained the monk of Winchcombe, were to drive away dragons, which were abroad on St. John’s Eve, poisoning springs and wells. The wheel that was rolled downhill he gave its explicitly solstitial explanation:

The wheel is rolled to signify that the sun then rises to the highest point of its circle and at once turns back; thence it comes that the wheel is rolled.

On St John’s Day 1333 Petrarch watched women at Cologne rinsing their hands and arms in the Rhine “so that the threatening calamities of the coming year might be washed away by bathing in the river.”

The Witch’s Psalm

Goddess Comments & Graphics

The Witch’s Psalm

The Goddess is my Mother, I shall not have need. She asks that I lie down in moon light pastures, She leads me to the twilight’s gleam. She restores my soul. The God guides my path of self knowledge in the All’s ever glowing knowledge.

Yea though I will walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I Fear not the crone for she comforts and guides me to my new home. I fear no evil, for evil is only misunderstood energy.

The Goddess’s Wand and broom guide me every step I take. She prepares a table for me, next to her. My enemies are only misunderstood friends, I should not fear. I will anoint my forehead with blessed oil, for I am kissed there by the Goddess.

My life truly overflows with love, because I understand religion is in your heart, not in a temple.

Surely Goodness will follow me all the days of my life, and I dwell in the forest of the Lord and Lady.

References:

The Witches Circle@Mystickal Realms
~Magickal Graphics~

The WOTC Wishes You & Yours A Very Happy & Blessed Litha!

Litha Comments & Graphics Good morning to all my dear friends! I must start out by apologizing to you for yesterday. I did not do a “good morning, how ya’ll doing?” or any kind of post at all to start things off. I had posting on the brain, I realized that I was running late. And that was it, got to post, got to post! Worse than a damn robot, lol! But I didn’t realize it till I was all the way into the Moon Phase and I felt so bad. Then I decided I would do a “Good afternoon” post. Well, I don’t remember what came up but that didn’t happen either. Again, I am so sorry.

Well the wheel has turned to one of our Sabbats and I am at a dilemma. My dilemma is when to celebrate it. I know I have read some articles that proclaim today as Litha/MidSummer. Well you see, the Tradition I grew up in was one that practice the Ways of the Old. They celebrated Litha/MidSummer on June 21. So what’s a witch to do? I am going to be very diplomatic about this. I am going to wish you a very happy & blessed Litha/MidSummer on both days! How does that sound? I should make everyone happy, shouldn’t I? Then I remember also reading there are some that celebrate Litha/MidSummer from June 20 to June 23. Oh, my! It’s enough to make a poor witch’s head spin, lol!

For those of you celebrating Litha/MidSummer today,from the bottom of my heart,I wish you and yours a
Very Happy & Blessed Litha!

Lady A

Magickal Graphics

	Deborah on Protecting Yourself and Your H…
	ladyoftheabyss on Protecting Yourself and Your H…
	Deborah on Protecting Yourself and Your H…
	Lady Beltane on The Rise of Wicca and Neo–Paga…
	ladyoftheabyss on The Path Of The Water Wit…