Wheel of the Year Reading 2023 - Litha

For 2023 I decided to do a Wheel of the Year reading, this means pulling a card for each of the eight sabbats or festivals of the year. The deck I chose to use for this is the Literary Witches Oracle, a 70 card deck comprising of 30 cards of witches/authors and 40 cards of witches materials. Although this is my 2023 reading I am technically starting in 2022 on the Summer Solstice, which for me living in Australia is around December 21st.

Wheel of the Year (Southern Hemisphere)

The main cards for this reading were chosen from the 30 witches cards with a secondary card from the 40 materials cards also chosen for each position. So starting with the Summer Solstice, the cards I have pulled for this sabbat are the witch/author Audre Lorde and the materials card the Snail.

According to the guidebook for this deck the keyword for Audre Lorde is Justice, it is about fighting for yourself, your values, your community. The keywords for the Snail are taking your time, the sacred and fragility. But in order to dive deeper with this deck I am also using the book Literary Witches: A Celebration of Magical Women Writers. This is the book the Literary Witches Oracle is based upon and conjurers more literary insights into these magical women, including creative descriptions and recommended reading lists.

On first glance using the guidebook alone there may seem to be little in common with Audre Lorde and Snails but in reading the book Literary Witches and in exploring the recommended reading list I have quickly discovered that there are connections present with these two cards. Along with the Literary Witches book I have also acquired the book The Black Unicorn, which is a book of poems by Audre Lorde that I intent to explore during this sabbat.

Wheel of the Year - Litha

Australian Christmas' are unique, they are hot and usually outdoors, even when they are indoors we always manage to get outside and into the sunshine. For a lot of us they also involve the beach or a pool or some kind of water activity to bring a bit of relief from the soaring temperatures that usually accompany an Australian Christmas, being so close to the Summer Solstice.

Wheel of the Year (Southern Hemisphere)

So although I am happy to celebrate our unique Australian Christmas I understand that, for me living in the southern hemisphere, Christmas is not the same as Yule. Yule is the midwinter celebration and for me that means June, when the weather is cold and the nights are long.

So as part of my Summer Solstice decorations I include my Litha Beads and Litha oracle card from the Witches Wisdom Oracle deck. If your interest in how I went about making these Litha beads you can visit  HERE. Pictured above all all eight of my sabbat beads I made for each turn of the Wheel of the Year and below are my Litha beads and Litha oracle card together.

Witches' Wisdom oracle cards - Litha

Wheel of the Year - Litha

This is a tricky time of year for those of us in the southern hemisphere who are trying to follow the Wheel of the Year. While the weather is telling us it is most definitely midsummer, most of those around us are celebrating Christmas, a traditionally winter celebration. Although by now here in the southern hemisphere we are used to Christmas being associated with warmer weather and not the wintry Yule as it is based on.

Wheel of the Year (Southern Hemisphere)

Christmas is a big celebration in my family, but more so for the chance to get together rather then anything else. So with the combination of warm weather, feasting and outdoor fun it is not so hard to imagine celebrating the sun, in warmth and joy. So along with some of my other midsummer decorations I display are my Litha beads that sit with my Litha Oracle card. I actually made a set of 8 seasonal beads, one for each turn of the Wheel of the Year, if you want to see how I made these Litha beads you can visit HERE.

This Oracle card for Litha, seen below, is from the Witches' Wisdom Oracle deck. Although I do not tend to use this deck as an oracle, mostly just using the cards for display, I find it an enchanting deck to own. The deck includes 8 cards for the seasonal sabbaths in the Wheel of the Year, as well as directional cards, elemental cards, and many other people, place and object cards related to witches and magic.

Witches' Wisdom oracle cards - Litha