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Simple Lammas (Lughnassadh)
Ritual
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Set up your
Altar in the North East of the Circle (This is the direction of Lammas
in the Wheel of the Year). The Altar can be a coffee table, dressing
table, wooden box, large rock or even a piece of material on the floor
- anything, but it should be sturdy enough that nothing will fall over
if bumped. This should be decorated to represent the season and the
Sabbat. Typical "Harvest" symbols are appropriate. Appropriate
colours for Lammas are Golden yellow, Green and Red.
Place Salt
in a small bowl upon the Altar. Have all the other items close to
the Altar, so that you will have them on hand. Place the Elemental
candles and mark out the circle. Take the bowl of salt, and walking
deosil around the circle, sprinkle a little as you walk, saying:
“ With Salt I purify this circle,
may no harm enter within.”
When you
have finished, replace the salt on the Altar. Take your Athame or
Wand (if you do not own one of these ritual tools, you may use your index
finger), and walk around the circle, in a deosil direction, imagining white
light streaming out from the Athame/Wand/Finger to create a circle of fire.
As you walk around a second time, imagine the fire growing higher and higher,
spreading out under the ground as well. As you walk around for the
third and final time, imagine the fire closing up over the top of you,
and joining up under the ground to create a sphere. When you have
finished, stand in the centre of the circle with arms up and say:
“I cast this magick circle,
that it be a boundary between this world,
and that of the Spirit realm.
As above [point to the sky],
So below [point to the ground],
the circle is cast!”
Walk over
to the Northern candle, light it. Stand with arms outstretched, feet
slightly apart, saying:
“Hail Guardian of the Watchtower of
the North,
Element of Fire.
I call upon thee to guard and protect,
to lend your power to mine.
So mote it be!”
Repeat
for the other Elements. Return to the Altar. Stand before the
Goddess candle (a Silver/white candle), and light it. Stand with
arms outstretched, feet slightly apart, saying:
“Holy Mother of the Earth,
Shining lady of the moon,
I call upon thee to assist and protect,
to lend your power to mine.
Welcome, loving Goddess,
into my circle.”
Stand before
the God candle (a Gold/yellow/red candle), and light it. Stand with
arms crossed over your chest, feet together, saying:
“Holy Father of the Sky,
Blazing Lord of the Sun,
I call upon thee to assist and protect,
to lend your power to mine.
Welcome, loving God,
into my circle.”
Close your
eyes and mediate on the past few months, and think of all the good things
that have happened in that time. Lammas is a time for transformation,
and any negative feelings you have been holding onto can be discarded now.
Take a pen and paper, and write all the negative things you wish to banish.
If possible, burn this paper, either in a cauldron, or in a large heatproof
bowl, if this is not possible, then simply throw the paper into a stream
or river to be carried away. As you discard of the paper name the
thing you are banishing and declare it to be banished. You can meditate
on the positive things you wish to have in the coming months. You
may like to make some bread. If you can find a recipe for making
your own, this is best, if not you may buy a bread making mix from the
supermarket (look for one not for a bread machine - even if you have one
you should make this by hand). As you are making the bread you may
like to ask for blessings and focus love, good luck and prosperity into
the bread. If you are celebrating with others, share this bread making
and let each person take some of the dough home to bake. If not,
make the bread into small loaves and share this with friends.
You may now
do any works of Magick (Spells etc.) you wish.
When you have
finished, hold the simple feast. Don’t forget to leave some as an
offering to the Goddess and God which you should pour/crumble into the
ground, to give back to Mother Earth. When you are ready to end the
circle, stand before the God candle and say:
“Farewell O’ loving Goddess,
I thank you for your assistance and protection,
Both within this circle, and in my life.
I now bid you farewell,
may you go in peace and love.
Blessed be.”
Blow or
pinch out her candle. Repeat for the God candle. Return to the Western
candle, say:
“Farewell Guardian of the Watchtower
of the West,
I thank you for your assistance within this
circle.
I bid you now farewell,
may you go in peace and love.
Blessed be.”
Blow/pinch
out the West candle. Repeat the above for each of the remaining Elements.
When you have said farewell to the Northern Guardian, walk around the circle
widdershins, imagining the white fire that created the circle retracting
back into your Athame/Wand/finger. Walk around doing this 3 times,
and when you have returned to the northern point again, put down the Athame/Wand
and say:
“May the circle be open,
but unbroken”
It
is done!!
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Group Lammas
Ritual Outline
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Cast
The Circle in the usual way
Invoke Elements
Invoke the
Deity
The High Priest
says:
“We
Gather here at Lughnassadh.
To Celebrate
the First Harvest of our ancestors.
The Wheel
is turning and Summer shall become Autumn”
The High
Priestess says:
“Now
is the time of the first harvest,
when the
bounties of nature give themselves
so that
we may survive.”
The High
Priests says:
“Although
most of us no longer grow our own crops, and for us food is plentiful all
year round,
our ancestors
relied on the harvest to ensure their survival in the coming months of
darkness.
We gather
here tonight, to celebrate the bounty of the first harvests.”
The high
Priestess says:
"We
shall now make some bread together,
so that
we may each take with us a reminder of the harvest".
Make bread
Note:
as bread
needs to rise twice, you can do this part of the ritual in several different
ways.
1). You can
have everyone take turns to mix the bread ingredients and knead it, and
then leave it to rise somewhere warm (like in a covered bowl inside a box/basket
with a hot water bottle) for an hour during the ritual, then at the end
of the ritual everyone kneads it again, then it is broken into portions,
taken home (kept warm as it goes home so it can rise again) and baked.
2). If holding
the ritual at home or where there is an oven, you could have the mixing,
kneading and first rise done before the ritual, then have everyone knead
the bread dough at the begining of the ritual and have it do it's second
rise during the ritual (in the warm covered box), then bake it at the end
of the ritual, eating it as part of a Simple feast after the ritual.
3).
Another option is to make "Artisan
bread", which requires no kneading or rising, and the mixture can be
made during ritual and portions given to each person for them to cook at
home when they wish (Artisan bread dough can keep for up to 2 weeks, so
it does not need to be cooked straight away)
The High
Priestess says:
"Lammas
is also a time for transformation,
any negative
feelings you have been holding onto can be discarded now.
Take a
pen and paper, and write down all the negative things you wish to banish."
The High
Priest should hand out pens and paper. If possible, burn this paper,
either in a cauldron, or in a large heatproof bowl, if this is not possible,
then simply throw the paper into a stream, ocean or river (Or a bowl of
water which is later emptied into a stream or river) to be carried away.
One by one, everyone discards of the paper saying:
“I
banish …<whatever it is>…
I have
no need for this any more,
I banish
it away.
So mote
it be!”
The
High Priest asks everyone to close their eyes and mediate on the past few
months, and think of all the good things that have happened in to them
in this time. If appropriate, a guided meditation can be performed.
The High Priestess
stands before the altar and says:
“As
the wheel turns from Summer into Autumn,
we give
thanks for all the blessings we have received,
and look
forward to those blessings that lay before us.
We also
give thanks for giving us the strength
to endure
the hardships that we must also endure,
and we
for our part must strive to always learn from these hardships.”
Simple feast
Farewell Deity
Farewell Elements
Close Circle
in the usual way.
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