August 4th

Bake, Cut Firewood, Mow to Increase Growth, Dig Holes, Wax Floors, Get Married, Buy Clothes, Entertain Friends, Host a Party

August 3rd

Bake, Cut Firewood, Mow to Increase Growth, Dig Holes, Wax Floors, Get Married, Buy Clothes, Entertain Friends, Host a Party

August 2nd

Cut Firewood, Mow to Increase Growth, Dig Holes, Wax Floors

Lammas – Fulfillment of Promise

by Gemini Star Child

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Lammas is a rare celebration for Seattle pagans. It is sometimes the only outdoor ritual we can perform without sweaters! The circle to which I belong tries to celebrate the Sabbats outdoors as often as possible, but even our tough little group enjoys the warm bliss of summer’s high sun at Lammas. While Litha is the longest day and the pride of the Sun Goddess, here, in Seattle, real warmth and sunny skies are often only an August thing.

So how do we celebrate Lammas – this “ripening in the sun”? We gather in a pleasant place where air and light can play and we bless the first fruits of harvest. In wheels past, we looked forward to the coming dark and the shortening of days. However, we decided that this year, having finally arrived at our one sunny Sabbat, we shouldn’t rain on the parade! Let’s live in the present and enjoy it.

Lammas is the fulfillment of the promise of light and seed. At Yule, we emptied ourselves completely to the void, embracing the fullness of fallowness and surrendering all to the Dark Mother. Light came from darkness and we recognized it at Candlemas. We presented our seeds to the light at Oestara and the Two were blessed in Beltane’s love. Light Mother gloried at Litha in the growing life of earth and ocean. Now, at Lammas, She shares with us the first fruits of the seeds we entrusted to Her.

Lammas has, sometimes, been depicted as a time of hope, for the full harvest could still fail. I prefer the optimistic “cup half full” view, however, that sees Lammas as the promise of harvest fulfilled. The vegetables are on the table, the cornbread is in the oven, and the apples are turning red. As deeply as we surrendered to the Dark Mother in the fallow time, so now we take joyful satisfaction with the Light Mother in the fruitful time. Lammas is the season to bask in bounty and acknowledge that “Life Is Good”.

Mabon will come and the full harvest, but then we will not bask, for there is much work to do. Later will come Samhain when we will store the seeds and release our bonds to this life and this cycle. That is then, but this is now. Be happy and rejoice! Dance, sing, and eat your fill! Life indeed is good! Happy Lammas and Blessed Be!

HARVEST BLESSINGS: A LAMMAS RITUAL

by TaTa Chakra a.k.a. TerraFire

From Oct 98-Oct 99 I had the great blessing of living in a run down farmhouse at the foot of Mount Pisgah just southeast of Eugene, Oregon. I knew when I moved in that my stay there would be impermanent but I quickly grew deeply attached to the beauty of this five-acre property.

The man who had lived there before my housemates and I was an avid gardener whose devoted labor had turned an acre of the property from old river bed full of blackberries into a resplendent garden of visual delight. Because this man had been on good terms with many of the local green witches there were many people, mostly women who came to the garden to harvest the herbs and make herbal medicines. The man had also planted plum apple, peach, cherry and asian pear trees. There were logan berries, gooseberries red and gold raspberries, elderberries and of course many many blackberries. He had trained the blackberries over a bower and around the fence so that they created a privacy screen.

Behind the 16 more or less straight garden rows which had an irrigation system, was a ritual circle with three rings of wildflowers. My housemates and I dug a fire pit in the middle of this circle. We also began to keep bees, which was something that I had longed to do for many years. Bees are very sacred to me and the sound of their humming buzz is one I have always associated both with the cone of power and with my own inner guidance.

There were many lovely trees on this property as well, besides the fledgling fruit trees, there were two transplanted redwoods, not more than 30 years old, three old black walnuts to which we assigned the archetypes of maiden, mother and crone. The plant being that I grew most attached to was a Cottonwood tree, which was at least 75 years old. This tree was at the far northwest side of the property just 6ft from both edges of the property line.

A thick growth of mugwort had been planted against the fence. The cottonwood tree welcomed me as her magical companion. I regularly meditated by the tree, created a directional invocation with her, held counseling sessions, taught classes and also did trance work laying in the grass beneath her branches with a mugwort breeze drifting over me. My housemate called the place fennel farm because no matter how much fennel we weeded out more sprang up in its place. Fennel Farm was the most idyllic place I have ever lived and the perfect setting for the 3rd annual Luscious Leo Lammas party.

The Luscious Leo Lammas party was a brainstorm of how to create a public ritual space with the organization Cauldron of Changes and simultaneously celebrate my birthday (Aug 1st) and the birthday of my dear friend Mike (Aug 7th). I also had several other close Leo friends whose birthdays could not be ignored, (take my advice: never ignore a Leo’s birthday if you hope to be close to them).

For several years we had held the party and ritual at Mike’s house in town but this year it would be at Fennel Farm and bigger and better than ever. In addition to the ritual we had a keg, a huge vegan birthday cake (it was Eugene, remember), party lights and tiki torches, a stage for performance of poetry and music and we also hired a local African Dance troupe “Foli Kan”. We made crowns for all of the Leo’s to wear and had a kids activity area.

Lots of people came prepared to sleep over night in tents and we prepared the neighbors and invited them to join in. I had written a special invocation chant for the Goddess and God and practiced this and a directional invocation song with a small group of other priests and priestesses. We spent a considerable time preparing the ritual space and gathering our ritual tools and props. As Night began to fall Mike and I (High Priest and Priestess), gathered the ritual attendees together at the gate that lead into the garden and the ritual space beyond. We explained the ritual to everyone, what would happen in what order and taught them the chants. Then the High Priest picked up a tiki torch and lead a procession into the ritual space singing “We are a circle within a circle” by the group Welcome to Annwyfn.

As the group of about 80 people created a circle entering the ritual gate in the east and traveling clockwise around to take their spaces, I walked the outer perimeter with my smoky quartz athamé casting the circle three times. The group continued to sing “we are a circle” as each directional priest/ess in turn raised their voice above the group to call in their direction. In the East the song goes “You hear us sing. You hear us cry, Now hear us call you, Spirits of Air and Sky” which the directional priest finished by marking an invoking pentacle in the Eastern Watchtower with his athamé. He completed the invocation by lighting the three Tiki Torches set in the East.

Three more rounds of the chant were sung before the Southern Priestess sang out loud and clear, “Inside our hearts, there grows a spark, love and desire, a burning fire.” She raised her wand and drew an invoking pentacle on the Southern Watchtower. The song continued again and the Western Priestess sang, “Within our blood, within our tears, there lies the altar, of living water.” Holding the chalice another invoking pentacle was described and hung in the air in the Western quarter.

The North Priestess took her turn singing strongly “Take our fear, take our pain, take the darkness into the earth again.” Holding her paten up as invoking the northern pentacle. Then all the directions sang together “The circles closes, between the worlds, to mark a sacred space, where we come face to face.” And the song ended. The High Priest and I thanked everyone for coming to participate in our Lammas ritual. We explained that we were going to chant to draw down the Goddess and God into each other. We called the God to us and into the High Priest. We Called the Goddess to us and into the High Priestess. Everyone repeated this three line sing song refrain I AM THE GOD, I AM THE DIVINE, I AM THE DIVINE And the priest responded with the following: IN THE DARK I’M THE NIGHT IN THE DAY I’M THE LIGHT. Then everyone sang the Goddess chorus which was simply: I AM THE GODDESS, I AM THE DIVINE, I AM THE DIVINE and the priestess responded ” I AM THREE I AM ONE AND I CAN’T BE UNDONE”. While this sounds complex on paper it was rather simply done and the text of this singing invocation are given here in completion:

Singing Invocation of God and Goddess

Chorus refrain A:
I am the God
I am the Divine,
I am the Divine

Chorus refrain B:
I am the Goddess
I am the Divine
I am the Divine

Chorus A
God response:
In the Dark I’m the Night
In the Day I’m the Light

Chorus B
Goddess Response:
I am Three I am One
And I can’t be Undone

Chorus A
God response:
I am Young I am Old
I am Green Black and Gold

Chorus B
Goddess Response:
Maiden Mother and Crone
In them Each I am Home

Chorus A
God response:
I’m the Flowering Rod
I’m the Bountiful God

Chorus B
Goddess Response:
I am tree I am snake
I will keep you awake

Chorus A
God response:
I am Hoof I am Horn
As I Leap through the Corn

Chorus B
Goddess Response:
I Spiral and Wind
As I Labrynth through Time

Chorus A
God response:
I’m the One Inbetween
I’m the Seen and Unseen

Chorus B
Goddess Response:
I’m both Woman and Man
Alchemist that I Am

Finish with both Priest & Priestess hands joined singing:

In My Heart and My Mind
I am the Divine

The Priestess says:
The God is Amongst us,
Blessed Be!

The Priest Says:
The Goddess is Amongst Us,
Blessed Be!

After the invocation, the ritual continued with an explanation of Lammas, The High Priest and Priestess asked participants to look around them at the bounties of the earth and to think upon all of the goodness and wealth that the planet offers us daily. Their words spoken here were in the form of spontaneous offerings from the deities invoked. They explained that Lammas was the first harvest of three harvests, that this was the time of harvesting fruits and flowers, the time to celebrate community and friendships, the time to begin storing things for the coming time of darkness.

As the Description of Lammas ended the Priest and Priestess started Charlie Murphy’s chant “It’s the blood of the Ancients that runs through our veins, And the forms pass, but the circle of life remains” And as the drummers chimed in and the group picked up the chant the Priest and priestess took up a basket and bowl respectively and revealed a Mystery to all the participants in groups of two or three around the entire circle. The Priest showed his basket full of harvested fruits, vegetables and grains saying solemnly “This is the God” and the priestess showed her bowl of rich garden soil saying solemly “This is the Goddess”.

When the Showing of the Mystery was complete a brief grounding meditation was led and each person was asked to answer the Question “What Magickal gift is present in your life right now?” Participants were asked to think of the blessings of this gift to experience it’s presence in their life and to make their awareness of it as big as possible.

They were instructed to focus on the sense of gratitude and blessing and send it off to the earth and sky to anyone in need of it during the cone of power. The cone of power was facilitated by high priest and priestess with the help of the directional priest/esses and began with our imitation of bees buzzing. After several minutes of our toning getting progressively higher the cone was sent off and then held in resonance as we fell to the ground, earthing the energy. Several minutes of silence followed before the priest and priestess arose and moved again to the central altar. They brought out local Blackberry wine and freshly made blackberry juice and a rack of fresh honey comb. The Priest said the Feasting Blessing (from Starhawk’s The Spiral Dance, p.169)

All Life is Your own,
All fruits of the earth
Are fruits of your womb
Your union, your dance.
Goddess and God
We thank you for blessings and abundance
Join with us, feast with us, Enjoy with us!
Blessed Be.

And we took the honey and wine and juice to each person as they laughed and made jokes and began to dance and sing again. When all had eaten and some had seconds, it was time to “devoke” the deities and directions, earthing again the powers we had raised and acknowledged. God and Goddess, each direction in turn were invited to leave and thanked for their presence. We sang “The Circle is Open” of course ending with Merry Meet and Merry part and merry meet again.

It has been a moving process for me to share this ritual with you, to consciously re-enter my experience of that sacred day in that beautiful and sacred place where I had the good fortune to live for a while. I hope that our ritual may inspire further rituals, that we humans may become more and more compelled to experience and express our closeness to the earth and our gratitude for her bounty. Blessed Be.

To Burn in Sacrifice: A Lammas Ritual

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by Melanie Fire Salamander

The sun rises hot in the sky, dries the long grass yellow. Summer has settled in, and from crops in the fields and wild things in the forest the sun presses the first fruits of the coming harvest. It’s a classic time for ritual. Around the world, farming cultures have traditionally offered up the first harvest gleanings to their deities to ask that the remaining harvest be full and sweet. So too, symbolically, do we, many of whom have come away from our agrarian roots but still feel the pull of the seasons and the older gods.

My coven and I presented the following ritual for Lammas, or Lughnasadh, in 1997, following one traditional theme of the Sabbat, sacrifice. In many pre-Christian European cultures, Lammas was the time when farmers, probably first using a human representative, later an effigy, sacrificed the Corn King, symbolizing ever-reborn vegetable life. Traces of this tradition can be found throughout the British Isles and the Continent. In the ritual I describe following, participants identify themselves with the dying and rising God by first sacrificing to the fire straw dolls, symbolizing the selves to be left behind so that new selves can be reborn. The ritualists then consider the harvest they have gleaned and continue to glean from the past spring and summer and give thanks. Raising energy to symbolize that harvest and the giving Goddess and God, ritualists put the energy into ritual bread and eat it, taking in the harvest more fully.

Preparation the week before

A week to ten days beforehand, the high priestess or priest begins ritual preparation by making Lammas incense. The recipe for the incense I used is as follows:

2 parts frankincense

2 parts sandalwood

1 part pine resin

1/2 part bay

1/2 part cinnamon

1/2 part coriander

1/2 part meadowsweet

1/2 part oregano

1/2 part rosemary

A few drops rose oil

Slightly less oak moss oil

Very little patchouli oil (start with one drop)

For more on how to make incense, see my article “Start Making Scents” in the Litha 1999 Widdershins, which you can find at http://www.widdershins.org.

On the day before or the day of the ritual, the high priestess or priest bakes Lammas bread. To do so, you can follow any simple bread recipe to produce a loaf to your liking. We shaped ours into the form of a small man for the sake of the sacrifice symbolism, but that’s a personal call. While baking the bread, the ritualist should concentrate on the harvest, the Good Goddess and God and thankfulness. When the bread is finished and cooled, consecrate the bread. I raised energy and consecrated the bread with a pentacle of blessed olive oil, but you can use whatever form of consecration you prefer.

During the week before the ritual, participants should collect or make flammable decorations to symbolize attributes or events they’d like to either leave behind or offer as sacrifice. The ritual as structured leaves it up to individual participants to decide whether they want to let go of negative things or truly make sacrifice, giving up something so as to receive blessings from the deities. You can amend the ritual to focus on either approach.

During the week before the ritual, the high priest and priestess and any helpers should also collect the following:

· Wood, matches and fire starter materials to build a fire

· Straw, enough for all participants to make dolls from

· Multiple colors of yarn and embroidery thread

· Scissors

· Flammable ornament makings, such as colored sisal, dried flowers, flammable cloth, colored paper and markers

Bring enough materials that any ritualist who hasn’t been inspired previously can whip up a few symbolic decorations on the spot.

Preparation on the day of the ritual

On the ritual day, an hour or two before the rite itself, the high priest, priestess and helpers build a fire, and the high priest and priestess consecrate the built pile of wood and tinder to the ritual purpose, without actually lighting it. Likewise, ritualists set up their usual altar near the firepit (not too close!). On the altar or a side table nearby, helpers place the ritual wine and juice and the various ritual materials.

In my coven, we celebrate every Sabbat with a potluck feast. A feast is particularly appropriate after this ritual, which ends with the intake of our year’s harvest. I’d suggest traditional harvest foods (think Thanksgiving), but really hot weather might call for salads and ice cream. Before the ritual, everyone should make or set up their potluck dishes so that the ritual can segue smoothly into feasting and merriment.

Just before the ritual begins, the high priest and priestess should explain the ritual to everyone, start the Lammas incense on the altar burning and light the fire.

The ritual itself

The high priestess or priest begins the rite by leading everyone in a grounding exercise. Several past Widdershins have included Erika Ginnis’s excellent groundings, in particular “Body-Wisdom: Grounding,” Yule 1997, available at http://www.widdershins.org.

After grounding, the high priest, priestess and coven members cast the circle and invoke elements or directions in their usual way. The Goddess and God should be invoked with their harvest attributes; you can choose a particular pair of harvest deities or just call general female and male deity energy in harvest form.

Creating and burning dolls for sacrifice

The high priestess or priest then explains the technique for making straw dolls. To make such a doll, you take a hank of straw, bend it in half and tie a loop of string around the bent end. That creates the head. You then tie off some straw on one side for one arm and some on the other side for the other arm. Leaving some straw for the torso, tie a belt around the waist. Next, tie off one leg and then the other, and you’re done with your basic straw person. You can tie on or otherwise create genitals if gender is important in your sacrifice.

When the doll bodies are done, ritualists decorate them, incorporating the materials they brought and also things provided. Everything that goes on the dolls must be flammable and ideally should burn with a sweet scent. As the ritualists create their dolls, they concentrate on imbuing the dolls with the qualities of self that they bring to sacrifice, that their new selves be reborn. The high priest and priestess should keep an eye out and when doll-making is nearly complete ask the slower workers to finish.

When everyone’s done decorating dolls, it’s time to call the energies to sacrifice into the dolls. Before doing so, the high priestess or priest can describe how through this ritual we identify ourselves with the dying and rising God of Grain and Vegetation: Lugh, Tammuz, Dumuzi, Adonis, et al. To raise energy, the group performs a circle dance widdershins around the altar and chants the well-known couplet:

Horned one, lover’s son, leaper in the corn

Deep in the Mother, die and be reborn

This verse is not entirely vegetation-god oriented, but it’s a sweet chant most pagans know and definitely brings up dying and rising god energy. You can of course create your own chant instead.

Using this chant, raise energy and project it into the dolls.

When the dolls are imbued with energy, it’s time for sacrifice. Each participant, going widdershins around the circle, walks to the fire and feeds his or her doll to the flames. Ritualists can say a few words or work in silence as their dolls flare up.

While the dolls burn, people can also sacrifice to the fire by jumping it, as at other fire festivals. If you choose to do so, you can call out your sacrifice as you leap, or leap in silence. It’s probably best to limit ritualists to one jump each, lest the momentum of the ritual be dissipated. Once all are done jumping, the group grounds any remaining sacrifice energy and moves to the second part of the ritual.

Taking in the harvest as bread

At this point, the high priestess or priest asks ritualists to recall their spring and summer, particularly any ritual requests made six months ago at Imbolc, and to consider the things they are beginning to harvest.

Having considered their harvest, each group member going deosil around the circle gives thanks, spoken or wordless, for that incipient harvest. After thanks are given, the group raises energy of thanks and hopes for harvest by performing a circle dance deosil around the altar. For this second dance, the group can either create a thanksgiving chant, continue to call out their personal thanks or simply intone:

Thank you for the coming harvest, blesséd Lady and Lord.

Sometimes simple chants are best.

With the chant or calls of thanks, the group sends the raised energy into the ritual bread. The bread consecrated, the high priest and priestess break the loaf, take a piece each and pass the remainder deosil around the circle. Each ritual participant breaks off a chunk and eats it, taking the harvest within. The group follows the bread with ritual wine and juice.

When bread, wine and juice are finished, the group releases the elements or directions and deities in their usual way and takes down the circle.

This Lammas ritual is simple but contains, I think, some techniques to get energy moving. For me, sacrifice by fire and the intaking of bread — grain transformed by fire — create a satisfying cycle that resonates with the harvest beginning in this season.

CONSIDER SACRIFICE: THE TRULY SPIRITUAL BECOME OFFERINGS THEMSELVES

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by Blacksun

If there is one subject that will nearly always get a knee-jerk reaction from Pagans everywhere, it’s the topic of sacrifice. The very word will send eyebrows up and tongues wagging. And put the word “ritual” in front of it and you better hope you’ve got a good health plan! To say this is a touchy subject would be the understatement of the year. But I believe that we not only don’t really understand the positive value of ritual sacrifice, but that we should be utilizing it much more than we presently do.

At this time of the year, we acknowledge the harvest time as a significant reference point in not only the seasons but our own lives. The spiritual lesson of reaping what you sow is obvious, but how many of us make the connection between the cutting of the grain and the sacrifice of the Corn King? Most Pagans sort of gloss over this part and figure, “Well, that was in a time when things were a lot more brutal and less ‘civilized’ then they are today,” right? Did they really sacrifice somebody, or was it only symbolic? Why did they believe that a bloody death would somehow make any kind of difference if they really did snuff some luckless guy? Surely they didn’t think that human blood was the best fertilizer. (Besides, one guy’s supply of blood wouldn’t go very far even in a backyard city garden of today!) So, what is it with this notion of sacrifice and why should we, as modern, civilized Pagans, buy into it?

In the first place, sacrifice may come in many forms. I certainly don’t advocate slitting somebody’s throat and catching their blood in a bucket for later distribution (well, I’ll admit to thinking of this with some people at times, but I’ve kept myself from actually doing it). Whether or not the sacrifice of the Corn King was actual or symbolic, the idea is relative and vital.

There is nothing in human nature more reliable than the idea of ownership. If we make something, do something, think of or feel something, we have a sense of ownership about it. And when we “own” something, we will struggle to preserve it and to maintain control over it. It will hold our interest and be a part of our decision making processes. In a sense, it will own us. Even if we give it away, it will still have a hold on us in some way. If it is destroyed, we still feel a connection, sometimes even more intensely.

To sacrifice something – anything – is to give it away and (usually) to see or know it will be destroyed for some purpose. At the very least, our control over it will be destroyed. Most of the time, such an act will push thoughts of whatever we have sacrificed and the reason for it higher into our consciousness and keep them there for a considerably longer time than normal. Done under ritual conditions, it will also push the act into our unconscious minds, where the meaning of everything in our universe is first formed. This results in a significant change in everything we experience from that point on. Obviously, a sacrifice under ritual circumstances is a powerful thing and its use should be well thought out before implementation.

I’m a staunch advocate of planned and well considered rituals. Our religion emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility (how else can we do magick?). For any in the position of deciding what the meaning of the universe will be for others (and that’s exactly what is done by those who create and present powerful rituals), the short and long term effects of every part of a ritual should be mulled, fretted and worried over with the most loving and caring of hearts. So, what should be considered when using sacrifice in a ritual?

Ownership is a big consideration. Making sure that everyone involved in the ritual feels they own (and are owned by) something of the thing to be sacrificed is absolutely necessary. Without such a connection, there is no sacrifice. I’ve seen instances of sacrifice where one or two people, such as the HP and HPS, feel a great deal of ownership of the thing to be sacrificed, but little is done to inspire the rest of the people in the rite to feel a similar ownership. So, while one or two might get a lot out of the ritual, the rest sort of stand around wondering what’s going on and why. Often this could have been made much more meaningful for everyone if some time had been spent preparing the ritual goers so they felt a real connection with what was being sacrificed. Of course, each situation will be different, but if you are in the position of creating/presenting such a rite, think about ways of getting everyone to feel ownership. You might explain how the object of sacrifice connects to their lives. You might have them make a part or all of it. You may have them infuse it with their blessings, thoughts, wishes, etc. Whatever you do, make sure they feel they have created something of their own, that the object to be sacrificed is now theirs to give over for whatever purpose designed for it.

The purpose and the object of sacrifice should have an easily understood connection. Remember that the act and the object will be foremost in the conscious thoughts for a long time. These will also be pushed deep inside the psyche of each person in the rite and will be a powerful influence on the meaning of their lives from that point on. Every possible way the sacrifice can influence these people should be considered. Of course, nobody can think of every way, but plenty of time should be spent beforehand on what can be figured out.

The manner of sacrifice should also be taken into account. Respect for the object as well as the purpose of the sacrifice needs to be given. Respect for those who make the sacrifice should also be shown. A sense of loss will inevitably result from the sacrifice and a reverence for that loss is important. Indeed, it is a vital part of the sacrifice itself.

One final word about sacrifice. Our lives are finite; we only have so many days, hours and minutes to give. Those who give their energies, time and heart to the quest for spiritual meaning give sacrifice to the gods. They willingly give of themselves; not only for their own benefit, but for the good of the universe they know. To give even one second of your life to this end is to be a willing sacrifice to the gods. Is it possible that the Corn King was dealt a mortal blow in accord with his own recognition of this truth? Perhaps. But, whether this is true or not, the concept of the “willing sacrifice” is an important one. Any who walk the Spirit Path, no matter what they name their gods or their brand of spirituality, become the willing sacrifice. Our rites should act as a reminder of this for us so that we do not take our role lightly. Think on this and you will have a better understanding of how to use ritual sacrifice in the future. Ultimately, everything we have, even our lives, will be given over to someone or some energy. This gift should be meaningful and given with love. Love not only for the giving and the gift, but for the receiver of that gift. With such a powerful energy behind your sacrifice, GOODNESS will be your result.

The time of the First Harvest is upon us. The life-giving food that we symbolically give back to the land represents our understanding and reverence for the Life that has been bestowed upon us. By ritually marking this time, we renew the link between us and the spirits/energies that have given us that wondrous gift. May your life be a miracle.

Blacksun is a ritual leader in the Aquarian Tabernacle Church and author of The Spell of Making.