Sabbat Series Litha
The Sabbat series was originally commissioned by a pagan client and became a celebrated series after exhibiting on two occassions. The Series has proved Popular as individual or series poster reproductions
Litha Dec 21st/22nd Southern Hemisphere. Summer Solstice.
It is the longest day of the year, and the shortest night; when the sun reaches his apex in the sky, and the
days will now grow shorter as the light begins to wane.
The darker brother kills the lighter brother in these legends, and the brother who dies resides in the underworld until it is time for him to return and slay his brother again, to rule for the next 6 months. The stories of Lugh and Goronwy, and the Oak King and the Holly King are but two of these legends.
At mid-summer the Sun God has reached the moment of his greatest strength. Seated on his greenwood throne he is lord of the forests, he is the Green Man represented in sculptures, reliefs and many a public house name. The Oak King the waxing year is triumphed over by the Holly King the Waning Year. The Holly King is the blossoming youth while the Oak King is the mature man they are linked as one. He may also be seen as the Stag King, in his prime with full antlers, not yet ready for his symbolic sacrifice at Harvest Time.
This Sabbat celebrates the Goddess also. She can be seen now as heavy with child, as nature is heavy with the bounty of the coming harvest, though in some Traditions although she is already pregnant (with the God) her 'time' is not yet ready, as she will not give birth to the God until Yule.
The Christian religion converted this day of Jack-in-the-Green to the Feast of St. John the Baptist, often portraying him in rustic attire sometimes with horns and cloven feet (like the Greek God Pan and similar in aspect to the Celtic Cerunnos).
