Solar Witchcraft: Make Your Own Sun Water
This is an excerpt from the SPELLbook Summer Edition.
Unlike most witches, I began working with solar energy long before lunar energy ever called to me. Perhaps it's my Leo Ascendant, or maybe growing up on the coast meant the summer sun always held the most cherished magic for me. There's something about that warm, vibrant, life-giving presence that has always felt like coming home—an embrace of golden light that welcomes and nurtures.
I find that so often, the generous, creative nature of the sun gets overlooked in favor of its more active, decisive qualities and connection to ego. But the sun is also our seat of power—it's how we move through and make sense of ourselves and the world around us.
The sun shines light into darkness. It helps things grow and flourish. It brings abundance and gifts. It drives our seasonal cycles. And tapping into this radiant energy can be a transformative addition to your magical practice.
Between Moon and Sun—Finding Balance in Your Practice
While most witches primarily work with lunar energy, I've discovered how significantly the sun can enhance our magical work. Many of our most intuitive practices already honor this radiant force—from stirring our pots sunwise (clockwise, or deosil) in kitchen witchery to marking our year by the sun's journey through the seasonal spiral.
This balance of solar and lunar energies reflects the very essence of what our spiritual community explores together—embracing seeming contradictions to find wholeness. Much like we honor both hearth and hedge, we can work with both solar and lunar forces to create magic that's fully integrated and deeply potent.
In astrology, the Sun represents our authentic expression, personal power, and vital life force. And while contemporary practice often labels solar energy as masculine, many ancient cultures celebrated the Sun as divine feminine—just look to goddesses like Sekhmet of Egypt and Áine of Ireland for beautiful reminders that magical categorizations are cultural, not absolute truths.
Ancient Roots, Modern Practice
The ritual of capturing the Sun's essence in water spans across time and tradition—a thread connecting us to practitioners who came before. When I place a jar of water on my deck to absorb the Sun's light, I'm participating in a lineage stretching back to ancient Egypt, where water vessels sat in temple courtyards absorbing Ra's divine energy for purification and healing.
I think of Greek oracles who used water blessed by Apollo for prophecy, Celtic ancestors who collected "midsummer water" at sunrise on the solstice, and Vedic healers who prepared Surya Jal (literally "sun water") in copper vessels as part of Ayurvedic medicine. These ancestors, though separated by geography and time, all recognized what modern science now confirms—water holds memory and responds to energy in remarkable ways.
This ancient wisdom weaves perfectly into our modern kitchens and altars, creating those sacred bridges between past and present that make our magical practice so rich and grounded.
Creating Your Own Sun Water—A Simple Ritual
Creating Sun Water can become a beautiful part of your personal practice—one of those small touchstones that can anchor your spiritual work throughout the seasons. Plus, it makes a great tool to weave into your magical workings or everyday magical practices.
As we find ourselves in Taurus season (April 19-May 20), any Sun Water you create now will carry the Earth-rich energies of this Venus-ruled sign.
Taurus Sun Water offers:
Financial stability and material abundance
Deep grounding and centered presence
Sensual pleasure and embodied wisdom
Unwavering determination and lasting commitment
Profound connection to nature and her cycles
Support for all forms of fertility—creative, physical, and spiritual
(Though like any powerful energy, be mindful that you might also receive a touch of Taurus's famously stubborn and fixed nature!)
The beauty of creating Sun Water lies in its accessibility—this is magic that asks for nothing exotic, nothing you don't already have in your kitchen. Like all the most potent domestic magic, it transforms ordinary tools into vehicles for extraordinary connection.
Your Sun Water Ritual
What You'll Need
Water (tap, filtered, spring, or rainwater—whatever feels right and is available to you)
A clear glass jar or bottle (I prefer one with a lid)
Sunshine (even on cloudy days, the Sun's energy penetrates)
Optional: pen and paper
The Sacred Process
Begin by centering yourself with three deep breaths, feeling the connection between your body and the elements around you.
As you fill your jar with water, whisper your gratitude to this element that sustains all life. Feel its cool flow between your fingers, its ancient wisdom.
Find a spot where sunlight will touch your water—a windowsill, porch, or garden space. South-facing windows offer the brightest all-around light, east-facing windows capture sunrise energy (beginnings), and west-facing windows hold sunset magic (completion).
If working with specific intention, write your desire on a small piece of paper and fold it with purpose. Place this beneath your jar to direct the sun's transformative power, or simply hold your hands around the vessel and speak your intention aloud.
Allow your water to bathe in sunlight for at least an hour. I often place mine out at sunrise and collect it at sunset, though even a brief exposure carries potent energy. The timing shifts the magical properties:
Sunrise Sun Water: new beginnings, manifestation, abundance, clarity, fresh perspective
Noon Sun Water: full power, achievement, vitality, recognition, courage
Sunset Sun Water: completion, release, transformation, integration, boundary-setting
When collecting your water, offer a simple thanks to the Sun for sharing its essence. If you lit a candle to begin, extinguish it now with gratitude.
This process, though simple, creates a powerful magical tool and an opportunity for daily devotion—those small, consistent practices that build spiritual resilience over time.
Working With Your Sun Water
Sun Water carries remarkable potency—a single drop adds significant power to any working. Like any concentrated magical tool, a little goes a remarkably long way. Here are some ways I incorporate it into my own practice.
Add a few drops to your morning tea or coffee on days requiring courage, clarity, or creative inspiration.
Anoint your temples or third eye before meditation to enhance spiritual insight.
Place a small dish beneath yellow or orange candles during spellwork, especially for confidence, creative, success, or abundance magic.
Add a few drops to bathwater for vitality and to strengthen your energetic boundaries.
Use it to cleanse and charge crystals, amulets, or talismans.
Mix a few drops into floor wash or room spray to bring warmth, joy, and clarity into your living spaces.
Place a small dish on your altar during Sunday rituals (the day governed by the Sun).
Solar festivals like Summer Solstice and Lughnasadh offer particularly powerful times for creating Sun Water, but truly, any day the Sun shines offers its blessing.
The Deeper Waters
This introduction just skims the surface of Sun Water's rich tradition. Ancient practitioners created specialized formulations like Triple Sun Water (charged on three consecutive days) and Solar Eclipse Water (a particularly potent blend of solar and lunar forces). The properties of Sun Water also shift dramatically as the Sun journeys through the zodiac, creating twelve distinct variations throughout the year.
Just as my own morning Tarot practice has become a spiritual anchor through years of consistent devotion, working with Sun Water can become one of those small, powerful touchstones in your magical life—a simple act that, practiced regularly, creates potent spiritual connection.
SPELLbook Summer—Diving Deeper
If this glimpse into solar magic resonates with your spirit, I have wonderful news. Our upcoming SPELLbook Summer publication dives deeply into this practice and many others. You'll discover comprehensive guides to all twelve zodiacal Sun Water variations, specialized formulations, historical practices, and expanded applications.
The summer issue explores both solar and lunar magic in depth, featuring other seasonal explorations like "Alchemy Al Fresco," which brings magical awareness to outdoor gatherings with rituals and recipes perfect for summer picnics and celebrations.
To receive your copy and save $5, be sure to pre-order SPELLbook Summer before May 9th!
