Covenant of WISE, Church of Wicca, A.T.C. , Inc.
Litha

Litha – 1º Cancer


On or about June 21

  • Peak of Light, Beginning of Summer

  • Concerned with creating an emotional and soul identity

  • Focused on protecting and preserving the family

  • Discovering how far we have come away from our connectedness

  • Reaching and overcoming your challenge with this cycle. 

Litha – Correspondences

  • Colors – Red, Yellow Gold

  • Gods – Oak King, & Holly King, Mother Aspect

  • Direction – South

  • Swords, Sun Symbols

  • Magic – Transformation

If your year was a movie, Litha would be the climax.  This is the time in your current year where the energy will be at it’s height and your lessons will be right in front of your face. 

The myth that is associated with this ritual is the struggle between the Oak King and Holly King.  It tells the story of the internal conflict of man giving up his individual freedom for the commitment to the love of his wife and children.

The Oak King is the young, fertile Warrior God.  His job is to re-fertilize the earth in spring.  You can get a good idea of the Oak King by comparing him to any standard 18 – 25 year old male, who is desperately looking for Miss Right, while checking out any and all willing participants along the way.  Re-fertilizing the whole planet is a big job, and the Oak King is hormonally geared specifically for the task. 

The Holly King is the Father God.  He offers safety, security, wisdom and commitment.  The Holly King can be found reflected in the face of every father, who devotes his energy to the benefit and welfare of his wife and children.  His job is to raise a family and make sure there are new Oak Kings and Maidens to fertilize the future.

At Litha, the sun is at it’s peak.  The fertilization is done.  The Oak King has married the Maiden, and they are giving birth to a child.  It is the pivotal moment of moving from a couple to a family that brings about the change from Oak King to Holly King, from son to father.  Oak Kings love their youthful immortality.  They fear and avoid the Holly King’s burden of eternal sacrifice of time, money, freedom, and individuality.  Holly Kings find blissful joy and a sense of purpose, and are proud of the sacrifices they make for the growth and prosperity of their family.

But, that moment of transformation from one to another is a very real internal struggle that man faces in each lifetime, and that we each face every year as we transform and mature in our yearly incarnation.

As a Yule Log is used in the depth of winter to bring balance to the season of air, the traditional sword fight between Oak and Holly represent bringing balance to the Summer, the season of fire.

An Oak King, making a real life Holly King transformation, wrote the following ritual.  He felt that Words and Swords should be interchangeable.  We liked the results.

This is a dramatic ritual, as befitting the climactic transformation of our inner selves.  A personal ritual could consist of reviewing your goals for the year, recognizing the obstacles in your way, and personal resistances that are keeping you from attaining your goals (ex. Some people have a hard time being successful, because they think successful people are evil, or that money is evil, now would be the time to search out those obstacles, and release them).  Then end the ritual with casting fresh lavendar into a small cauldron fire, while making wishes for how you would like your yearly story to end.
 



Litha Ritual

Preparation:

  • All altars are draped with red, orange and yellow.

  • Sunflowers and Daisies are on all altars.

  • Sun symbols are strewn about.

  • Two cauldrons are prepared with a token piece of oak surrounded by paper and twigs soaked in lamp oil (quick, high burning fire).  One cauldron is placed in front of both the East and West altars.  Next to each cauldron will be a fire-starter stick or torch.

  • Drum will be in circle for drummer.

  • Metal clangors, coconut halves and megaphone will be in circle for HOLLY PAGE.

  • Swords will be near Pages.

  • The south altar should have a LOT of fire on it.

  • The wine will be Mead, the cakes will be sun cookies.

  • Attendees should be encouraged to wear red, yellow, orange, etc.

  • Children should come dressed as fairy folk and will be asked to pass baskets of confetti and lavender.

  • The Oak King should be dressed in red and gold, the Holly King in black, green and red.

Characters

  •   Narrator

  • Oak King

  • Holly King

  • Priestess

  • Holly Page

  • Holly Page

  • Cauldron Movers

  • Chorus

Ritual

The tone of the ritual should be very celebratory.

Cast, Call, Invoke

NARRATOR  - "Today is Midsummer.  The longest day and the shortest night of the year.  It is a time of fullness, a time of plenty.  A time of lazy summer days and sultry summer nights.  It is the time when we tell a story - a story of two kings."

NARRATOR "One of these kings is the Oak King (pause).  And the other is his brother, the Holly King (pause).  As our story begins, the Oak King is in power.  He began his rule long ago, when the world was cold and dark, and he has brought light, warmth and abundance to the world and to his people.  Life is good."

OAK KING  "Yeah, it's good to be king.  (struts around acting kingly  talks to people.)  Yep - life is good.  There's plenty of food, there's plenty of warmth, everyone's happy.  We should celebrate!  Drummers!  Get jiggy with it!"

DRUMMER                (begins drumming)

CHORUS       (runs out, grabs people and everyone starts to dance and celebrate.)

After a while, drumming stops.

HOLLY KING             "THAT'S ENOUGH!" ("rides" into the circle

HOLLY PAGE          (claps coconuts together.)

HOLLY KING             ("dismounts")  " I...."

HOLLY PAGE            (megaphone)  "Dun dun dun dunnnnnn!!!"

HOLLY KING             "Am the Holly King!"

HOLLY PAGE             (megaphone) "DUN DUNNNNN!!!!!!"

OAK KING  "Oh crap."

HOLLY KING             "Looks like you're having another party."

OAK KING  "And why shouldn't we?  Everything was going great until you got here.

HOLLY KING             "Yeah, well, you've played around long enough.  You know what day it is today?"

OAK KING             "Memorial Day?

HOLLY KING             "No."

OAK KING "Flag Day?

HOLLY KING             "No."

OAK KING "I know - the day you crashed my party?"

HOLLY KING             "It's Midsummer you ninny!  It's time for you to go, the wheel must continue turning."

OAK KING "But look around you!  We've all done such good work!  There's long days, plenty to eat.  These people are happy!  They've worked hard, they deserve to celebrate!"

HOLLY KING             "Yes, they do.  And they will continue to do so.  The crops that you have raised must be protected as they bear fruit.  If you continue to grow you will scorch the earth and destroy all the great work you have done.  It's time for me to rule now."

OAK KING "I won't let you bring cold and darkness back upon my people.  I'll defend them to the death."

HOLLY KING             (sighs, turns away, pulls hair and says) "Great Mother give me strength!! (to Oak King) "You know you do this every year.  All right then, so be it!  Page!  My sword!"

HOLLY PAGE (brings Holly King his sword.)

OAK PAGE  (brings Oak King his sword.)

OAK KING              "You should not have come back, Obi-Wan!"

HOLLY KING             (begins attack!  They fight while HOLLY PAGE makes clanging sounds.  CHORUS roots for each King.)

FIGHT SEQUENCE 1 

HOLLY KING             "Ok, ok - two vultures board an airplane, each carrying two dead raccoons.  The stewardess looks at them and says, 'I'm sorry, gentlemen, only one carrion allowed per person.' "

OAK KING  (reels as if hit a stunning blow as the CHORUS makes painful sounds.  This continues for each subsequent joke.)

OAK KING "Oh yeah?  Well did you hear that NASA just sent up a bunch of cows into orbit?  They call it the herd shot 'round the world!"

FIGHT SEQUENCE 2

OAK KING "Hey. Two boll weevils grow up in South Carolina.  One grows up and becomes a famous actor, the other stays home and never amounts to anything.  He, naturally, became known as the lesser of two weevils."

HOLLY KING (reels, then) "Oh Yeah?  Well two Eskimos were sitting in a kayak.  They were cold, but when they built a fire the boat sank. This proves once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too!"

FIGHT SEQUENCE 1

OAK KING "Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal?  He wanted to transcend dental medication!"

HOLLY KING             (reels, then) "Oh yeah?  Well, a three     legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West…"

HOLLY PAGE            (mis-clangs by accident.  Everything stops.)

HOLLY KING  (to HOLLY PAGE) "What are you doing?"

OAK KING   "Is he with you?"

HOLLY KING  “Darn kids today."

OAK KING   "Taught him everything you know, did ya?"

HOLLY KING   "I can't have a damn thing nice…"

OAK KING  (mock upset) “Ooooh, I'm all ferclempt!  Now we have to start all over again!"

HOLLY KING (thinks) "Damnit!  LINE!"

NARRATOR  "A three legged dog walks into a saloon…"

HOLLY KING  "Yeah, yeah yeah.  A three legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West.  He slides up to the bar and announces 'I'm lookin' for the man that shot my paw!' "

FIGHT SEQUENCE 2

OAK KING  "Ok, wait, wait wait."  (indicates HOLLY PAGE)  "And what's with the coconuts?"

HOLLY KING             "Ppfffft!"

FINAL FIGHT SEQUENCE

HOLLY KING            "Have you seen the two twins Juan and Amal?"

OAK KING "No, I've only seen Juan."

HOLLY KING             "Well they're twins - if you've seen Juan you've seen Amal!"

OAK KING                reels…  

HOLLY KING           presses on…

HOLLY KING             "A bunch of monks were selling flowers on the street.  This big guy named Hugh McTaggart came by and beat them all up.  You know why?  'Cause only Hugh can stop florist friars!"

OAK KING  reels again - he's in trouble!

HOLLY KING            (with increased intensity) "Why does Mike Tyson cry during sex?"

OAK KING            (weakly) "Why?"

HOLLY KING             "Because MACE will do that to you!"

OAK KING dies.

CHORUS MEMBER #1        (rushes to Oak King's side) "NO!!" (in THE fake French accent) "You've killed him, you pig-Bastard!"

CHORUS MEMBER #2        "Now what will we do? We're doomed!"

CHORUS MEMBER #3        "Yeah, now it's gonna get cold again and all the crops will die.  We'll have nothing to eat and it's all your fault!"

HOLLY KING             "Hold on!  Simmer down!  Everything's going to be alright.  This is how it works.  You've planted your crops and you've seeded your dreams.  You've worked hard to nurture them and make them flourish.  Soon you will harvest them, and reap the rewards of all your labor."

THE COVEN MEMBER FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE OAK KING*            (awakens and HOLLY KING helps him to his feet.)

HOLLY KING            (to TCMFKATOK*)

"The Oak King is dead.  But his mortal representative will continue to live.  Until he can return, He will dwell in Caer Arianrhod - the Silver Wheel of the heavens."

NARRATOR            (immitating a cheesy newscaster) "Caer Arianrhod is the Welsh name for the Corona Borealis, or 'Royal Crown'.  It's a ring of stars in the northern heavens that's visible almost all year round.  Back to you, Bob."

HOLLY KING "Now we enjoy the rewards of our labor.  Let us honor the sacrifice of the Oak King with feasting and merrymaking."

PRIESTESS (Crowns Holly King)  "Long Live the Holly King!"

Crowd Cheers             "Long Live the Holly King" and throws confetti passed around by fairy children.

CHORUS MEMBER #1        (brings TCMFKATOK* his black cloak, which he puts on.)

Everyone forms a circle except for the HOLLY KING and TCMFKATOK*, who stand in the center.  Four people bring in the two cauldrons.  The cauldrons are placed east/west of each other with just enough space between them to walk through safely.  Baskets of Lavendar are brought in to throw into fire.

HOLLY KING "Let us nourish our dreams.  Raise energy, and place it in these cauldrons."

Everyone holds hands and raises energy deosil, then places it in cauldrons.  As they do this, HOLLY KING and TCMFKATOK* light their brands and stand back to back - HOLLY KING facing west and TCMFKATOK* facing east.  Once the energy is placed in the cauldrons, they light the fire with their brands.

HOLLY KING "Now I will lead you through the flames.  Think of what you wish to receive from your labor.  Make a wish upon the Lavendar and cast it into the cauldron as you pass through the midsummer fires.  If you work for that which you desire, it will be delivered to you."

HOLLY KING            (walks deosil to the south and then leads someone between the fires moving from south to north.  Others follow when ready.)

All circle as people continue to cast wishes.  Encourage people to go time and again until wishes become silly and atmosphere has become giggly.

Finally, all circle.

NARRATOR Just as our fathers have done before…

TCMFKATOK*             So we do today…

HOLLY KING             Prepare to receive the blessings of Harvest.

NARRATOR Believe in your dreams.  Plant the seeds.  Nourish them to grow…

TCMFKATOK*             Bless and love all those dearest to you…

HOLLY KING             And they will sustain you always.

CAKES AND WINE  

Feast

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