Lammas or Lughnasadh

This festival celebrates ultimate sacrifice. The Goddess gives all of her energy, all of her life, so that the children are fed. The date is August 1, when the Sun is in Leo and the days have begun to shorten. Lammas is a major festival and is celebrated mid afternoon.

The Festival

The world has subtly changed since the verdant climax of Midsummer. At the roadside, the grass is going to seed and no longer looks green. This very thing is happening to many plants, and the colours are changing to beige and yellow and brown. The Goddess is giving us her first fruits, the first harvest of the Year. And at the same time she is still working, working hard and using her amazing energy to ripen the fruit. She surrenders herself to us at this time. And we honour her for it.

Witches and Pagans honour the self-sacrifice of the God, who is the corn. He sacrifices himself in the harvest for the good of the people. That is why very often a loaf of bread plays an important part in the Lammas ritual. The word Lammas also means 'loaf mass'. To me, the corn grows out of the body of the Goddess. She is the Earth and what grows on it.

A Lammas Ritual

Lammas corresponds to the South Western point of the Circle, and that is where I place my altar. On it are symbols for each of the Elements. The focus of the magic is the Lammas loaf this time, and I place it at the centre of the Circle. I cast the circle and invoke Brigit, the nurturing Grandmother for the first time.

My rituals have changed over the last few Moons, turned upside down. I don't raise power straight away, but do the divination for the coming season first. My question is: 'What does the Earth need from me this season?' I have often felt that my magic and my work is too self-centered, and that it is time for me to start working for the outside world. I am convinced that my healing will come if I work to heal the world - or at least my corner of it. I want to give my abundance to the world, like Brigit does.

The answer to my question consists of three qualities I have to work on this season. I go deep inside in meditation and find those virtues within myself (after all, we all already have all that we need present within ourselves). I call upon the spirits present to help me find these qualities.

When I have found them, I raise their energy with a dance and a chant. I direct it into the bread at the centre of the Circle. I then cut a slice of wonderfully crusty bread from the loaf and eat it, taking the qualities I have invoked inside me. I also crumble some bread to scatter in the four directions later, so that this energy is spread into the world.

Then it is time to celebrate, with some more bread and some beer. Beer seems like a more appropriate drink at this festival of the corn. Thanking Brigit, the generous one, I open the Circle. I take my positive energy out into the world with me.

*Note: I got this off a site, but I forget which one. If this is yours, I need the correct URL for proper credit to you.

John Barleycorn by Traffic

Lughnasadh/Lammas Is On the Way

Well, the time is just flying by this summer. Seems to me that we were just celebrating Beltaine, now Lughnasadh is upon us. Where'd the time go?? What are all your plans for the Sabbat?? I've been busy here at my house cleaning, trying to get my altar ready and today I made my 1st corn dolly out of the husks of the fresh corn I bought at the grocers.

I have never attempted to make a corn dolly before. After I husked a dozen corncobs, I gathered up the husks that I needed (12 corncobs does yield a lot of husks) and went ahead with it. I had no idea what I was doing, but I am rather pleased with the results. I made 2 dollies, a male representing John Barleycorn and a female to represent the Goddess. I didn't have any twine/string to bind them, so I used what I had: white ribbon. I also decorated them with symbols of the sun and crowned them with crowns. It's amazing what a Sharpie pen can do for decorating. ;-)

Musings of A Melted Witch

Well, summer is upon us all & the warmth of the sun shines brightly upon us. With summer comes the firsts harvests from our gardens, whether urban gardens on balconies or acres of gardens on your homesteads. In a few weeks we will be celebrating the first harvest of the season with Lughnasdh or Lammas. Now this year I did attempt to grow a little garden, but as in years past, my thumb grows more & more a non-green color. Even on my first visit to Twa Corbies, I planted thousands of parsnips in Cliff's garden. By my second visit, the parsnips didn't sprout...at all and Cliff had to transplant them to another location where they did eventually sprout.

Also this summer, in my personal life, I had to deal with a parent who was in hospital. My mother went in for a triple bypass & came out with a quadruple instead. While she was in hospital, my father stayed with me on wknds. This meant that this witch had to retreat back into the closet. Down came my altar, certain pictures off the walls, Pagan-themed decorations that I had made were hidden away and books were hidden in the closet bookcase or under the bed (as my bookcase is too full, now). I did have a scare, however, when my cat was sleeping under my bed & my dad went looking for her & found her. I was at work when this took place, I just happened to call home to see when Dad was going to the hospital to see Mom. I panicked!! He must've seen my copy of Doreen Valiente's book, Witchcraft for Tomorrow and Marian Green's, Natural Magic. They were right on front of the cat and there was no way he couldn't have seen them. After work I looked under the bed to see where exactly they were. He must've seen them, but he never mentioned anything to me. That was too close a call for me. I come from a very Anglican (Episcopalian) family, Paganism is not accepted at all. Even when I was younger & went to a Fundy Christian church (yes, I did) they weren't happy with me. This is why I am still in the "Broom Closet"

My mom's surgery went well, but a week & a half after getting released from hospital, she developed a nasty infection on her scar. It was so bad she was ambulanced down here to the city where she stayed for almost 2 weeks, hooked up to drainage tubes & IV's. My dad stayed with me on wknds, so blogging was almost impossible, so was going onto my "witchy" facebook account. So, now I'm back.

I've been doing some subtle changes to this here blog. I'm going to be experimenting with new layouts & backgrounds. I've added a calendar, so you all know what I'm up to, what meetings I'm going to, when I'm going to Twa Corbies, Sabbats, Esbats, etc.. So, please bear with me over the next while as I attempt to master Winzip for some new layouts.

Blessings to you all,
Rowan
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