What is Litha? It’s more than sunlight and sunflowers.
Let's talk about it
We are at the height of light!
A fire burns and says, “Here you are. This is your life.”
Hi, we’re Covvn!
If you’re reading this, wow, thank you. This is only our third issue, and we’d love to know what’s landing. What’s working? What do you look forward to? Do you like us? (Is that… pick me energy? Maybe. We’re working on it.)
Hit the comment button anytime to share feedback, spells, truth, or just say hi.
What we’re stirring up this week:
🔥 Litha Explained: Fire, Ritual, and the Power of the Longest Day
🧙 A Witchy Review: MIDSOMMAR
🟣 A Story from the Circle: A Return to the Fire
🕯️ A Spell for Litha: To Call In Warmth, Clarity, and Growth
🔥 Litha Explained: Fire, Ritual, and the Power of the Longest Day
On June 21, the sun reaches its highest point in the sky. It’s the summer solstice, Litha, Midsummer, and the longest day of the year. A turning point that’s been honored across cultures for thousands of years.
The Celts lit bonfires on hilltops to protect crops. Norse traditions saw Midsummer as a liminal moment when the veil between worlds thinned. Ancient Romans honored Vesta, goddess of the hearth. Early Chinese traditions aligned the solstice with yin energy: grounded, deep, and feminine.
Modern witches and pagans echo those rituals with fire, herbs, dancing, and celebration. Litha altars bloom with citrine, carnelian, moonstone, honeybees, roses, sea salt, and sunflowers.
You don’t have to be pagan to appreciate Litha. The solstice is a natural pause, a radiant breath in the middle of the year. A moment to ask: What is thriving? What is burning bright?
Scroll down for this week’s spell. ⬇️✨💫
🧙 A Witchy Review: MIDSOMMAR
Okay so, what better time to talk about Midsommar? This film feels like a fever dream baked in sunlight and softened by flower crowns. But also make it horror.
Let’s be clear: Midsommar is not a feel-good movie. It’s intense, it’s visually stunning, and yes, it’s deeply unsettling. But under all the folklore, ritual, and surrealism, it’s also one of the most quietly triumphant feminist films of the last decade.
Directed by Ari Aster, Midsommar doesn’t handhold or explain itself. At its core is a woman navigating profound grief, gaslighting, and the unraveling of a relationship that has long outlived its usefulness. Sound familiar? Yeah. Us too.
But what makes Midsommar particularly powerful, especially when viewed through a feminist lens, is that it doesn’t position this woman as broken or hysterical. Instead, it allows her to transform. In a world that often tells women to suppress their intuition and swallow their rage, Midsommar whispers, what if you didn’t?
It’s no accident that this story is set during a solstice festival, drenched in daylight and surrounded by a matriarchal community rooted in ritual. The summer solstice, also known as Litha, is traditionally a time of fire and fertility, of illumination and letting go. It’s when things come to light. When you take the crown, or you burn it all down.
This film holds both truths.
Midsommar doesn’t glorify trauma. It doesn’t tidy things up. But it does suggest that even in our most disoriented states, grief-stricken, unsure, and alone, we still get to choose. We still get to scream. We still get to rise. And sometimes, we find our power not in the dark, but in the blinding, inescapable light.
So if you’re celebrating Litha this week, or just feeling the heat of the sun and the weight of your own becoming, Midsommar is worth revisiting or viewing for the first time. Throw it on your outdoor movie screen and light a fire (Or like, take your laptop outside and hang some fairy lights). Invite your Covvn. Tell us what you think of it.
🟣 A Story from the Circle: A Return to the Fire
A few summers ago I was sitting under a big tree outside a firehouse in Kettle Falls, Washington. It was a warm August night, and I had just logged into a group therapy session with a burning question:
“How do you know if what you're feeling is anxiety or intuition?”
I had spent two weeks apart from the person I was in a long-term relationship with. And those two weeks? They were incredible. I had space. Silence. My own rhythm. I felt like myself again.
But as soon as he came back, I could feel it, the shrinking. The second-guessing. That old ache to be smaller just to keep the peace. I kept trying to talk myself out of the truth that my body already knew.
That fire, the one that says this isn’t it, was still burning.
It wasn’t anxiety. It was intuition. It was my life trying to speak.
We talk a lot about trusting ourselves, but no one tells you how quiet that voice can get when it’s been ignored too long. And no one tells you that you can still listen, even if you’re late.
That night, I stopped asking if it was okay to want more.
I started choosing what made me feel alive.
*Story shared by Morgan, an educator in film production, tiny mug collector, and fellow witchy woman learning to trust the fire again
🕯️ A Spell for Litha: To Call In Warmth, Clarity, and Growth
*Best done outdoors or near a window
You’ll need:
• A small candle (yellow, orange, or white)
• A bowl of water
• Fresh herbs or flowers (rosemary, mint, sunflower, rose—choose what calls to you)
• A piece of paper or journal + something to write with
• A crystal (citrine, carnelian, or moonstone—optional)
Begin:
1. Ground
Sit comfortably. Breathe deeply. Place your hands over your heart or belly. Feel the warmth of the day—the energy of the sun, even if it’s cloudy or cool. The light is still with you.2. Create your circle
Arrange your items:Candle in the South (fire)
Bowl of water in the west
Herbs in the north (earth)
Paper and pen in the east (air)
Place your crystal at the center if using it.
3. Light the candle
Say aloud or silently:
“I light this flame in honor of the sun, source of life, warmth, and fire. May its light reflect what is growing in me.”4. Name your growth
Write one thing you are cultivating (courage, clarity, a project, a boundary).
Fold the paper. Place it under your crystal or beside the candle.5. Bless with water
Dip your fingers in the bowl. Touch your forehead, then your heart. Say:
“May I see clearly. May I feel deeply. May I grow wisely.”6. Offer your herbs
Hold the flowers or herbs. Thank them for their medicine. Name each one if you like. Place them gently around the candle or into the water.7. Close with breath
Take three deep breaths. With each one, imagine warmth filling your body.When you’re ready, say:
“The light returns to the earth, and to me. This spell is set with gratitude and trust. So it is.”
Let the candle burn as long as you safely can.
Bury the herbs in soil or release them to water.
Keep your written intention in a place where it can continue to grow. Return to it over the coming weeks and notice what unfolds.
Happy Litha Witches,
Covvn