Litha: celebrating the sun

by AnjaDD

‘The Wheel of the Year’ is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by many modern Pagans, consisting of the year’s chief solar events (solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them.

After Mabon, Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, Ostara and Beltane is Litha – or Summer Solstice – is the next installment in my Wheel Of The Year series!

Litha is celebrated around June 21st and marks the longest day and shortest night of the year. From here on out, the Sun will set a little earlier each night until Yule. The most common other names for this holiday are the Summer Solstice or Midsummer. This is the peak of the solar year and the sun is at the height of its life-giving power.

The joyous rituals of Litha celebrate the verdant earth in high summer, abundance, fertility, and all the riches of nature in full bloom. It’s a time of strong magic and empowerment, traditionally the time for handfasting or weddings and for communication with the spirits of nature. At Litha, the veils between the worlds are thin; the portals between “the fields we know” and the worlds beyond stand open.

Do you want to know more about the Summer Solstice festival, the origins, meaning and symbolism, ways to celebrate? Here are a few interesting websites to visit, the link goes to the Litha topic:

The Goddess And The Green Man
Learn Religions
Wiccaliving
Wikipedia
Momma Bat
Sage Goddess

Do you want to save $$$? Do you want the Litha kit, and all the lovely addons that come with it? In that case the bundle is your best buy, and it’s permanently discounted!

Wheel Of The Year / Litha Bundle – Available here: Etsy | Oscraps

The Litha Bundle includes Litha Embellishments (100 individual PNG files), Litha Patterned And Artsy Papers (18 individual JPG files), Litha Solid Papers (12 individual JPG files), Litha Adornments (9 individual PNG files), Litha Quote Strips (12 individual PNG files), Litha Journal Cards (16 individual JPG files and 6 printable sheets) and Litha Vintage Botanicals (8 individual JPG files).

Perhaps you don’t want the entire bundle, but just the basic packs: papers and embellishments? Then go for the kit (which is still pretty extensive):

Wheel Of The Year / Litha Kit – Available here: Etsy | Oscraps

Included are 100 embellishments: 2 vintage birds, 1 bow, 2 brads, 2 vintage butterflies, 3 buttons, 2 vintage cards, 2 sun charms, 1 crochet, 2 danglies, 4 pieces of torn vintage ephemera, 2 watercolor feathers, 2 flairs with vintage imagery, 12 flowers (mixed), 4 pieces of foliage, 2 frames, 2 gems, 1 meditating girl, 3 vintage labels, 2 blank labels, 2 lace stamps, 2 messy threads, 3 pattern overlays, 8 paint splats, 1 fabric rosette, 2 spirals, 8 vintage stamps, 1 staple, 3 strings, 3 fairy transfers, 1 vintage dictionary transfer, 4 pieces of word art, 10 Litha themed word strips, 1 watercolor flower wreath.

All files are saved as individual PNG files. PLEASE NOTE This pack is not intended for cutting, glueing and crafting. You need graphic software to work with the PNG files, such as Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paintshop Pro, PhotoImpact, or Gimp, which is free software. All files are 300 DPI.

You will also receive 18 patterned and artsy papers, and 12 coordinating solid papers, all saved as individual JPG files.

All packs are separately available:

Wheel Of The Year / Litha Embellishments – available here: Etsy | Oscraps

Wheel Of The Year / Litha Solid Papers – available here: Etsy | Oscraps

Wheel Of The Year / Litha Patterned And Artsy Papers – available here: Etsy | Oscraps

I’ve also created 4 addon packs to complete this collection. All 4 packs are separately available, but if you buy the bundle, you’ll save 50%

Wheel Of The Year / Litha Adornments – available here: Etsy | Oscraps

Included are 9 artsy bits with a touch of glitter and painty accents, to enhance your layouts. Be sure to play with blend modes and opacity for surprising effects!

Wheel Of The Year / Litha Journaling Cards – available here: Etsy | Oscraps

These journaling cards are a great addition to your project life supplies. You will receive 5 journaling cards that are 4 x 6 in, and 3 journaling cards that are 4 x 6 in. And all cards come in both orientations, which means you’ll get 16 cards in total! To make it easier for you to print them, I’ve included printable sheets (6 in total) in letter size, available in JPG and PDF. These letter size sheets will also print fine on A4.

Wheel Of The Year / Litha Quote Strips – available here: Etsy | Oscraps

A pack with 12 quotes, poems and sayings about the sun, summer, summer solstice, the month of June… You can use these on your scrapbook pages, or in your art or junk journals. Easy to print, I’ve included two printable sheets for you.

Wheel Of The Year / Litha Vintage Botanicals – available here: Etsy | Oscraps

And finally, these vintage botanicals. These botanicals are all related to the Summer Solstice (find out more about them if you click on the link to the websites that I shared above). I have carefully selected these from vintage resources, and I spent hours extracting and enhancing them. They come with 4 printable sheets, so you can use these in your paper craft projects!

The creative team loved this new release and went overboard with layouts. But let me start with the layouts from the new girls! I’ll be introducing the new girls one of these days, once I have all the information.

From Alidalis Acevedo (aka Dalis):

From Gaelle Tomé (aka Ga-L):

From Merethe Liljedahl (aka Lime):

From Anita Funke Pottinger (aka apottinger):

From Marie-Christine Hoorne (aka nollipap):

Be sure to check back in a few days to read a little more about the new girls! I’m also preparing a page for the entire creative team, something that has been on my to do list for wat seems like ages…

The following pages were created by me, as a scrapbooker I don’t have time left these days to document my personal photos, but I still love to scrap with my own designs: