I‘m preparing infused hibiscus and rose hip honey for the spirits.  Turned out a beautiful cherry amber tone!

Midsummer is on the way and I can feel it in the air.  The sun bakes the earth and sends the smells of woodsmoke, river water, the marshes and fresh grass wafting through the air.  The winds are gentle and breath against my skin.  The ground is growing harder, thicker and dryer and the herbs wilt around the edges in the oncoming heat.  Ocean air is carried far inland, and I watch children kayak down the river that carves my backyard while I weave wreaths, burn herbs in the clay bowl and toss carrots to my rabbit and raccoon friends in the garden.

Gotta prepare little cakes for the green ones: rum in bindweed and a little oat & honey with a tiny herbal bread loaf!

I’m a green path witch made for the sunlight, the warm long days and the cool ocean air from the Sound.  Midsummer this year will be dedicated to the Shining Pair, Belenus and Belisama.  I’ll wake early to Walk the Land this auspicious day- moving in-between the worlds with my stang and my keys, to deliver personal invitations to the spirits and the otherfolk to attend my rite in the evening.  Walking the Land can be dangerous; you can be lost in it for hours if you let yourself walk too long and too lightly.  It can be like the Wild Hunt, though it is YOU who walks the land, the land and spirits do not come racing for you.  But you can get lost none the less in the land, and the water and the wind.  I


Midsummer is the harbinger of the great summer festivals; the feast of Corn Mother, the feast of the Bee Queen when we infuse the honey, honor the newly corked mead and spice the honey cakes to honor the Bee Spirit.  The Bright Lady and the Wild Hunter and all their kin; Áine, light dancers who only appear in the dapples of sunlight between the canopy of trees, the seelie and green-people- are the rulers of this time in the old tales.  In the winter, the Hunt will ride with the sluagh and cold-eyed ones and Beloved Dead, so we must rejoice in the warm summer joy while we can.


Being the delightfully Gaelic-oriented pagan I am, most of my rituals for the day before, day of and day after Midsummer will follow some very old customs of Scotland and Ireland- lighting Aine’s fires, the telling of old tragic epics, collecting my roses and st.johnswort before the sun hits them and baking lots of pastries which I’ll take to the ritual I’m co-hosting at Nessa’s place later in the evening. Mead makers throw the best parties ^_^.  Sharing this day with other European-style pagans is a blast, we’re all such nerds about reconstructing.

Sacred honey for the altar of the Bee Queen later on in the summer!

• Two cups of 100% pure Canadian clover honey
• a tablespoon of water
• half cup hibiscus
• half cup rosehips
• heat on medium, stir consistently and often (use a double boiler if you’re prone to forget to stir, to avoid burning), keep on low-medium for twenty minutes (adjust the heat as needed) until the honey is a rich cherry amber color.  Taste the honey often as it steeps to avoid making the taste too strong and cloying.  Enjoy!

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