Summer Solstice: Work With Plants & Bring Your Herbs Home

It's that time of the year. Time that many pagans and paganism inspired and nature based religions and spiritual paths consider the most magickal time of the year. And, so do I. It' s Summer Solstice time.

I grew up with Summer Solstice being the most magickal time of the year. The night of the solstice was time when the neighbors came together to spend the shortest night of the year all together at a bonfire, all women were wearing flower crowns, and everyone merrily eating and drinking, laughing, occasionally playing games or going into wet meadows to search fireflies. all being together to meet the sunrise. It become the night of the year I was waiting for the most. Staying up all night, dwelling through darkness, playing with other kids at night with a flower crown on my head - what's not to love about it?

But the greatest magick of the solstice time for me has always been plants - harvesting herbs, decorating with flowers, some of them used for decorating specifically for the summer solstice - for blessings and protection. When I was little, my mom was great at keeping the traditions alive and teaching us kids. Gathering and putting herbs to dry still are my main Summer Solstice ritual  I give my time to every day up to 24th of June, with the peak on 20-21st of June which is the time of the longest days and shortest nights here in Northern hemisphere. It's time when nature is in full bloom, vibrantly charged, full of energy and magick. Perfect, to gather herbs from garden and meadows for using them later in the kitchen and steam-bath, for culinary, medicinal and cosmetic purposes. Folklore tells that herbs gathered during the Summer Solstice are the most powerful and hold more power than harvested in any other time. 

Harvesting herbs during this energetically charged time of the year for me is magickal. It's time to be in nature. Not just be, but tune in it. Meditate in and with nature. Thanking. Appreciating. Feeling it. Talking to it. Listening to it. Searching. Finding. Bringing home abundance and setting it to dry for using later. It's ritualistic. This year also falling in Full Moon - perfect for gathering blooming herbs!

When harvesting herbs from gardens or meadows during this time of the year, make it magickal for yourself. Feel it to the bone. It's time of celebrating the Earth, giving nature and Sun that affects everything on this planet. 

A few suggestions to do it right: 

• Spend time in nature before you start gathering herbs. Meditate or just sit in a blooming spot to tune in nature. It helps to notice, see, hear and get connected. 
• Kick off those shoes. Go barefoot, or if it inspires you more - go earthing! It's the same thing. Walking barefoot is known to improve balance and body awareness, foot mechanics, strength and stability in body muscles. And feeling those different surfaces under your bare feet is pure pleasure, massage, joy and reminder of staying connected. Connected with the Earth. You might not want to walk into overgrown areas or crawl into bushes barefoot, but wherever you can - take the shoes off. 
• Before you take from a plant - talk to it. Thank plants for what they give you! Even if you haven' t received their healing benefits yet, thank them already as they have given them to you!
• And keep in mind - no matter where and how you harvest, the rules of ethical harvesting apply to you always and everywhere. Read my short guide to harvesting herbs here: GUIDE TO HARVESTING WILD HERBS: HOW, WHERE AND WHEN (opens in new window). 

And a few of other thing to do with plants during this time for more magick in your life: 

• Decorate your home with plants that are considered to bring blessings and protection. A branch of a rowan tree or stinging nettle are a few of those that in folklore are considered protective, but I won' t give you a list. If you don' t know what plants you need, go out and spend time in nature: you will feel, your mind will create associations and you will find the right plants. Trust yourself. Observe. The properties of plants you can see and feel by touching, their scents, colors and patterns  of them are those things that speak. Your personal associations with their esoteric powers is what matters for decorating your personal  space. You can't go wrong. It's you, your life, your intention and your associations. 
• Brew sun tea: Choose a glass container to prepare your Sun Tea. Pour clean, fresh, cold water over fresh herbs, let it sit in the sunniest spot for a few hours and enjoy the subtle flavors of the season. Drink sunshine & stay hydrated!
• Use sun tea of cosmetic herbs to wash your face and hands. Rose petals, calendula flowers, peony petals are perfect, but you choose  - what speaks to you? What flowers do you associate with beauty and cleansing? Those are the ones you need, of course, if they are not poisonous. 
• Take a bath with plants that have skin healing, softening and soothing properties. It can be also a feet bath or hand bath. Pour warm water over the herbs, let them steep for a while so the healing plant properties, colors and aromas get extracted in water, and enjoy! 

It's a wonderful time for ritualistic self-care with the powers Mother Nature generously gives. Take it, soak up the love of Mother Nature and give back! Give thanks and appreciate!