Read solitary or group rites for Lughnasadh available in books and webpages. Create your own ritual for Lughnasadh. Practice the ritual. Conduct the ritual at a convenient time for you, or your family and/or friends, as close to the day of the autumnal equinox as possible. Attend a public Lammas ritual of a local NeoPagan group.
Icelandic Festival
VOLUSPA
Themes: Foresight; History; Perspective; Divination; Time
Symbols: Stories or Storybooks
About Voluspa: This Nordic goddess was born before all things, with the knowledge of all time within her. When asked to tell a tale to the gods, she recounted history, including the gods’ downfall. To commemorate this, wise women and seers in northern climes are still sometimes called Voluspa.
Voluspa teaches us the value of farsightedness and of remembering our history. We cannot know where we’re going if we don’t remember where we came from.
To Do Today: An old festival in Iceland known as the Islendin-gadagurinn preserves Voluspa’s energy by recounting local heritage and custom in a public forum including theater, singing, writing, and costumes. For our adaptation, I suggest taking out or working on a family tree, or perhaps a personal journal. Read over the chronicles of people from your ethnic background, and honor their lives in some appropriate manner (perhaps by lighting a candle). Voluspa lives in these moments, and at any time that we give ourselves to commemorating the past.
Alternatively, get out some good storybooks and read! Turn off the TV for a while, and enrich your imagination with the words of bards who keep Voluspa’s power alive in the world. Especially read to children, so they can learn of this goddess’s wonders.
365 Goddess: A Daily Guide To the Magic and Inspiration of the goddess
Patricia Telesco
Stay at home. Improve your home, backyard, or garden. Eliminate long driving trips. Do you really need to “Go” anywhere? Do you really need to fly by airplane to another country? Explore your backyard, neighborhood, local community, nearby city, county wide area, regional area within 100 miles. Visit a local “sacred site.”
Ruler: Freya, Venus
Colors: Emerald green or pink
Power Hours: Sunrise and the 8th, 16th, and 24th hours following.
Key Words: Love, money, health
It is easy to spot the ruler of this day by its name. In the word Friday, we see the roots of the name of the Norse goddess Freya, a goddess of love and fertility, and the most beautiful and propitious of the goddesses thus the verse “Friday’s child is loving and giving.”
In Spanish this day of the week is called Viernes and is derived from the goddess Venus. Matters of love, human interaction, the fluidity of communication, sewing and the creation of artistic garments, household improvement, shopping, and party planning all fall under the aspects of Friday and its ruling planet, Venus.
Friday’s angels are Ariel/Uriel, Rachiel, and Sachiel. Rachiel also concerns himself with human sexuality and is a presiding spirit of the planet Venus.
On Fridays, the hour of sunrise and every eight hours after that are also ruled by Venus, and that makes these times of the day doubly blessed. These four hours are the strongest four hours for conducting ritual.
Check the local newspaper, astrological calendar, or almanac to determine your local sunrise.
Add some appropriate Lammas, Lughnasadh, or Mid-Summer songs, chants, prayers, reflections, invocations, or poems to your Neo-Pagan Craft Journal, Book of Shadows, blog, website, or Ritual Handbook. Write in your personal journal. Most spiritual seekers keep a notebook, journal or log as part of their experimental, creative, magical and experiential work.
Leo
July 24 – August 23
Designated Goddess: Arinna(Anatolia)
Other Goddesses: Cybele, Neshto, Juno, Sun Woman
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
Working and meditating in the garden is an important facet of any spiritual path. We need to regularly reconnect with the earth and the autumn season outdoors. Tend your garden daily. Water your garden each day. Weed your vegetable garden. Harvest squash, tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables from your garden each day. Review your own lists of chores for July and August, and act accordingly.
Friday For Freya: Astarte, Aphrodite, Erzulie, Aida Wooo, Eve, Venus, Diana, Isis, the Witch of Gaeta, Chalchiuhtlique
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
The Celtic God, Luga (Lugh, Long Hand), is noted for his high level skills in many arts and crafts: smith, carpenter, bard, healer, herbalist, magician, gamesman, spear throwing, military leadership, etc. Get out your paintbrush. Fix something in the yard or garden or home. Tidy up the garden. Create something, make something. Start learning a new practical skill or craft.
Voodoun ceremonies in Haiti for Maitresse Silvertine and Maitresse Lorvana. In Japan, Gion Matsuri, dedicated to the brother of Sun Goddess Amaterasu. Sun Gods are: Izanagi, Apollo, Quetzalcoatl, Christ, Ra, Mercury, Hermes, Pan, Bacchus, Dionysus, Heme, Tammuz, Attis, Adonis, Damuzi, Baal, Helios, Mithra, Melek, Osiris, and Horus.
The Goddess Book of Days
Diane Stein
Check out astronomical details about the rising of the Dog Star, Sirius, in late July, and the beginning of the “Dog Days of Summer.”
Northern Tradition honors the god known to the Anglo-Saxons as Thunor and to the Norse as Thor. The time of Thorn is one of ascendant powers and orderliness. This day also honors the sainted Norwegian king, Olaf, slain around Lammas Day. Its traditional calendar symbol is an axe.
The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick
Do some thinking, reflection, or discursive meditation on various themes. Here are some themes to reflect upon: What are the relations between Chaos, Gaia, and Eros? What role does more sunlight play in bringing forth the bountiful harvest? What does summertime mean to you?
Friday is the day of Venus. It takes it name from Frigg, the Goddess of love and transformation. She rules the spiritual side of a person that manifests in the physical. Because of this, Friday is often thought of as dangerously unpredictable. This is expressed in an old East Anglian adage:
Friday’s day will have its trick
The fairest or foulest day of the week.
Deity: Frigg
Zodiac Sign: Taurus/Libra
Planet: Venus
Tree: Apple
Herb: Vervain
Stone: Sapphire/Chrsolite
Animal: Bull/Serpent
Element: Earth
Color: Yellow/Violet
Number: 7
Rune: Peorth(P)
Celtic Tree Month of Tinne(Holly) – July 8 – August 4. Holly, an evergreen plant reminds us all year long about the immortality of nature. The Holly moon was called Tinne, pronounced chihnn-uh, by the Celts, who knew the potent Holly was a symbol of masculine energy and firmness. The ancients used the wood of the Holly in the construction of weapons, but also in protective magic.
Runic Half-Month of Thorn (defense) – July 29 – August 12
Goddess of the Month of Kerea – July 11 – August 8
The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick
Renew supplies of your favorite ritual-recreational drug: coffee, tobacco, alcohol (whiskey, beer, wine), fuzzy herbs, etc.. Beer and whiskey, made from barley, are often part of joyful summer harvest feast celebrations. Read about the song John Barleycorn.
Love
Peace
Family
Marriage
Beauty
Growth
Art
Social status
Passion
Music
Sexuality
A Spell Crafter’s Compendium
Terri Paajanen
Prepare for the “Games” of the First Harvest Feast. The Greek Olympics and Roman Heracleia games were held at this time. What games might you play? Horseshoes, boche ball, races, swimmng races, croquet, volleyball, badminton, frisbee, baseball, wrestling, spear throwing, arrow shooting, weight tossing …. Get your equipment and playing court ready, and practice.
This week is all about the planets, the Moon, and the Delta Aquarid meteor shower.
By Richard Talcott
Friday, July 29
The Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower isn’t the only event you’ll want to keep an eye on this morning. As the waning crescent Moon marches eastward relative to the background stars of Taurus, it passes directly in front of the Bull’s luminary. Our satellite occults 1st-magnitude Aldebaran for observers south of a line that runs from southern New Mexico to northern Maine. While viewers north of this line will see the Moon and star just miss each other, those along the line will witness the star skimming Luna’s northern limb. Be sure to set up ahead of time, center the star in your telescope’s field of view, and watch the magnificent show.
Uranus’ eastward motion against the background stars comes to a halt at 10 p.m. EDT. This so-called stationary point marks the beginning of the best period to observe the outer planet. Uranus rises before midnight local daylight time and appears more than halfway to the zenith in the southeastern sky as morning twilight commences. The magnitude 5.8 planet lies in Pisces, 2.7° due north of magnitude 4.8 Mu (m) Piscium. A telescope reveals Uranus’ blue-green disk, which spans 3.6″.
Saturday, July 30
Although Saturn reached its peak nearly two months ago, it remains a lovely sight. You can find the planet nearly due south around 9 p.m. local daylight time. Saturn shines at magnitude 0.3 and appears far brighter than any of the surrounding stars of southwestern Ophiuchus. When viewed through a telescope, the planet measures 18″ across while its dramatic ring system spans 40″ and tilts 26° to our line of sight.
Sunday, July 31
The two inner planets lurk low in the western sky shortly after sunset all week. Your best chance to spot them comes when they lie highest in the twilight this evening. If you scan the western horizon through binoculars 30 minutes after sunset, you should pick up Venus standing just 3° high. It shows up only because in shines so brightly, at magnitude –3.9. Mercury appears 6° above the horizon but will be harder to see because it glows more dimly at magnitude –0.2. And if you have a haze-free sky, you might spot the 1st-magitude star Regulus between the two planets.
Read about and make a loaf of bread. Loaves of bread are a traditional part of the First Harvest Feast. Break bread into four pieces and place at each of the Four Corners altars. Lammas means “Loaf Mass” in the Welsh language. Sharing bread is a common feature of a Lammas celebration. What is the role of baking bread in human culture? Find a really good bakery in your area.
The Sun
Sun Direction: ↑ 100.64° E
Sun Altitude: 44.56°
Sun Distance: 94.375 million mi
Next Equinox: Sep 22, 2016 9:21 AM (Autumnal)
Sunrise Today: 5:57 AM↑ 66° East
Sunset Today: 8:04 PM↑ 294° Northwest
Length of Daylight: 14 hours, 6 minutes
The Moon
Moon Direction: ↑ 208.01° SSW
Moon Altitude: 67.56°
Moon Distance: 230494 mi
Next New Moon: Aug 2, 20163:44 PM
Next Full Moon: Aug 18, 20164:26 AM
Next Moonset: Today4:19 PM
Current Moon Phase: Waning Crescent
Illumination: 21.3%
Witches Of The Craft® 
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