   Most cultures of the northern hemisphere acknowledge Midsummer in some ritualized manner. In pagan India, Midsummer was the principal festival of the entire year. The holiday has been called by many names, including Litha or Vestalia in ancient Rome, Gathering Day in Wales, Feill-Sheathain in Scotland, Alban Heflin in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, All Couple's Day in Greece, and the Feast ofEpona in ancient Gaul. In Scandinavia it is celebrated at a later date and is called Thing-Tide, a day when communities gather in a sort of town meeting, as they have since ancient times, to conduct business before celebration and feasting. Midsummer marks the time of the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, the height of the sun's power. And though the hottest days of summer still lie ahead, from this point onward we enter the waning year, andeach day the sun will recede from the skies a little earlier. At Midsummer the Goddess is heavy with pregnancy, just as the earth is pregnant with the coming harvest's bounty and the cattle in the field await calving but the fertility rites continue. Just as a human baby can be mis-carried or born blighted, our pagan ancestors knew that the same was true for their crops and animals, and Midsummer rituals focused on nurturing new life both in the ground and in human and animal wombs. But motherhood is not the sole focus of this Sabbat. For every mother there is a father, and so it is in paganism. The sun is at his peak in the sky, the Sun God at the peak of his life, and we celebrate his approaching fatherhood. Because this is a Sabbat which glorifies the sun, and the sun is a symbol of protection, many pagans choose to make protective amulets in the week before the Sabbat that are later empowered over the Mid- summer balefire. Some witches choose to bury their protective amulets each Midsummer Eve and construct new ones. Rue, rowan, and basil, tied up in a gold or white cloth, is a good protective trio that can be carried in your pocket year round. A few cinnamon sticks tied over the door of your home is another good protective charm. Or you might search for a special stone that represents protection to you. It might be golden white like the sun, or in the shape of a phallus, or may look like an eye watching over you. Another sun amulet made for protection that uses the eye symbolism is the South American God's Eye, which has its origins with the native people of that continent. These amulets are made from two sticks placed across each other to form an equilateral cross. Colored yarn is then wound around them to form the body of the Eye. By alternating the colors of yarn the finished product does look like a stylized eye, and its four points symbolize the two solstices and two equinoxes. The Native South Americans used them both for decoration and as protective talismans. To make your own God's Eyes, you will need quarter-inch dowels avail- able at craft and hardware stores (popsicle sticks work well, too!), a pair of scissors, and a collection of colored yarns. Cut the dowels into lengths approximately ten inches long. Holding them together at their centers so that they form a cross, begin wrapping your first yarn color around the center to stabilize the dowels. Now begin slowly working your design outward. Wrap the yarn completely around one point of the dowel, then trail it over to the next point. Wrap the yarn around that dowel and, again, move on to the next point. Periodically stop and push the yarn down against the center so that you have a tight weave. When you have wrapped the yarn within a half inch of the end of the dowels, stop and wrap the yarn several times tightly around one point. You can then tie it off, leaving a loop from which it can hang. God's Eyes can be made in any size, depending on how you want to use them. Larger ones can be used as blanket protection like a Native American Medicine Shield, and smaller ones in Yule colors make excellent Yule tree decorations and can symbolize the return of the sun. If they are decorative items to honor the sun, then your work is done. If they are to function as protective talismans, then you should be visualizing their purpose as you weave them and consecrate them to their purpose later on. Another eye associated with Midsummer is the buckeye. Buckeyes, sometimes called horse chestnuts, are hard, leathery seed coverings that grow on soapberry trees in the upper Midwest and are ripe at Midsummer. Resembling eyes, these dark brown orbs, about three inches in diameter, have a single tan patch on one side. The Miami Native Americans held them sacred and used them as protective amulets. To them, these trees held the most sacred of tree spirits whose power could be harnessed to protect the trees
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