Many years a go my friend Kirk shared this idea with me and I have been practicing it ever since. I recently shared this with some friends and wanted to write it out here for you all to enjoy.

During the Winter Solstice it is a common practice to light a candle or fire and keep it burning throughout the longest night of the year. That way we honor the light and its life-giving powers and protect it and guard it from the forces that may wish to extinguish it.

And yet during the Summer Solstice, we do not typically honor the darkness and protect it from being destroyed. As a practice, Kirks says that he gathers and guards the darkness throughout the longest day of the year. It is about balance.

Please feel free to use this ritual in your own practice, changing it to fit your tradition and worldview!

Protecting the Darkness Ritual

Items:

  • A completely opaque container with a lid
  • A scarf, veil, or cloth
  • Any other correspondences that honor the darkness in your practice

Ritual:

Two nights before the Summer Solstice you’ll want to clear, charge, and consecrate your ritual items. In as close to dark as you can manage but still see, set up the ritual items on your altar and cleanse them with the four elements and energy. Invite the powers of darkness (remember darkness is not evil, it is a part of the natural world and deserving of honor and respect) to bless and consecrate your ritual items. Feel free to call in any Gods, spirits, or beings that you work with who feel appropriate to call for this clearing, charging, and consecrating. You may write your own ritual, or you may use the following:

“To the darkness I call,

And ask that you clear these items of any energies that do not align with the purpose of guarding and honoring the darkness,

I ask that you charge these items with the powers and sacredness of the darkness,

I ask that you accept these items as tools of the darkness and aid me in consecrating them to this work.

So mote it be”

Leave the items on your altar all night in the darkness.

During the night before the Summer Solstice find the darkest place you can safely perform this, either out in nature or in your home. I will often find a closet or other windowless room that I can be in where I can have it as close to pitch black as possible. Take the container and scarf into the darkness. Open the container and say your invitation and intention. You will need to memorize this, as you will be in near complete darkness. You can create your own, or you may use the following:

“To the darkness I call,

I invite you into this consecrated vessel,

to be watched over during the longest day of the year,

to be kept safe and held sacred,

until you are released again into the night.

So mote it be.”

Gather the darkness, close the container and carefully and thoughtfully wrap the container in the cloth. Exit the darkness and place the sealed and wrapped container on your altar with the other ritual items. During the day of the Summer Solstice keep an eye on this container. Guard it from pets, children, and natural elements (like wind from a window or door) disturbing or opening this container. We are guardians and protectors of the dark.

The night of the Summer Solstice, take the vessel and again find the most dark area you can where you can safely return the darkness. Enter the dark area and slowly and mindfully unwrap the vessel and open it. Again you’ll want to memorize your words and either create your own, or you may use the following:

“Sacred darkness, protected from the light,

I return you now to the world,

Thank you for trusting me with this sacred role,

May you be united with the darkness which is,

So mote it be.”

Leave the dark area and return to your altar. Cleanse and bless the ritual items. Thank all of the Gods, spirits, or beings that you called upon for this task and thank the correspondences that you used in this ritual. Close the ritual with your own words, or you may use the following:

“The darkness has been protected, honored, and returned to the world,

Hail to the Darkness!

Teach us of your gifts and allow us learn to hear and understand your voice,

May you flourish and may your return bless us all!

Thanks be to all who aided in this rite,

The ritual is ended and so too has your work here, until we meet again!

So mote it be.”

Clean up your ritual items and feel free to set them aside in a safe place for next year.

Now would be a great time to journal your experiences and observations. Drink water, eat some food, cleanse and ground yourself, and perform any ritual aftercare that is needed.