The Ultimate Guide to the Witch's Wheel of the Year by Anjou Kiernan

Author:Anjou Kiernan
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Fair Winds Press
Published: 2021-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

ASTRONOMICAL BASIS

At midday on the Summer Solstice, the earth shines brightly as the North Pole reaches its maximum tilt towards the sun at 0 degrees in the zodiac sign of Cancer. In the Northern Hemisphere, these Midsummer rays hit the Tropic of Cancer directly, resulting in the longest day of the year for all those above this line of latitude. Moving away from this line of latitude towards the North pole results in an increased amount of daylight as the angle of the sun’s rays becomes more and more direct. A profound example of this lies north of the Arctic Circle. When the Summer Solstice casts its glow across the northernmost parts of Alaska in the United States, Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia, the land remains illuminated for a full 24 hours. Even in the dead of night, the midnight sun stays perched above the horizon before rising into its high position in the noon sky.

Although the Summer Solstice brings brightness to the land, it also heralds the arrival of what many Pagans refer to as the darker half of the year. Similar to the Winter Solstice, you may be wondering why the lightest day of the year is mourned as the death of the light. Just as before, there is only one direction to go from the peak. From this moment until the Winter Solstice, the pole will tilt farther and farther away from the sun. As the rays become angled from a southerly position, the days will shorten. And so, we celebrate the Midsummer holiday not only as a fond farewell to the sun but as a harbinger of the impending darkness.

In the night sky, the Summer Triangle, an asterism of three bright stars (Vega, Deneb, and Altair) from three different constellations (Lyra the harp, Cygnus the swan, and Aquila the eagle) rises in the east. The seasonal full moons of Midsummer are the Rose Moon of June and the Buck Moon (also known as the Thunder Moon) of July. The fruit and flowers are ripe for the picking, and woodland creatures traverse the tasty forests in search of luscious berries and greens. Thunder and lightning enliven the sky as the sun prepares the land for harvest. This is the time to revel in the pure magick that abounds.

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