Hello everyone!
As we come to the end of 2023 and the festivities start here in Aotearoa, the trees are bursting with life and fruits. The Summer Solstice is the first day of Summer and it is also the longest day of daylight. From here we experience hotter days while the days start growing shorter in light.
Making the Summer Solstice or Litha as the Celts call it, a time of celebration, gratitude and appreciation.
This marks a very special time for me at Charis & Co, the bees are feasting on my homegrown white sage and it is a magical sight. I wait until all blossoms have been spent before harvesting, making sure the bees pollinated and could harvest food they needed too. You can find the sage bundles here knowing they are spray free and ethically harvested
I plan to celebrate by arising early before Sunrise and greeting the day while it is quiet and sitting with a cuppa and giving thanks to the fullness in my life and feeling my 'cup' refill as the Sun comes over the horizon. Feeling that first light shine and bask in its beauty.
I often light some incense or sage and light a candle-this year I have been making beeswax candles from a local source in the Manawatu and they just smell beautiful and are a rich coloured golden like the Sun. You will love using these beeswax candles with Sunstone to celebrate. You can find them here
Litha/Summer Solstice/Midsummer is about celebrating Summer, the longest day of daylight and gratitude for the harvests of fruits and grains under the summer Sun.
We feeling energised under the Sun and feel at our 'peak' using this time for reflecting on our years accomplishments. So use this time to incorporate more fresh herbs and in season fruits and vegetables into your daily eating.
It is also a beautiful time to start harvesting flowers and herbs for tinctures and balms that I make throughout the coming year. Which I absolutely enjoy, the planning, growing and harvesting-knowing that I have brought as much as possible together for you to nourish yourselves.
