Tag: Bread

Wiccan Samhain Sabbat Solitary Ritual Guide

Supplies
Black altar cloth
Scrying mirror or bowl of water
Four white pillar candles for the four quarters
One gold taper candle for the God
One silver taper candle for the Goddess
One black candle
Natural bowl (shell, horn, seed pod, etc)
Slice of bread
Apple cider
Any ritual tools you normally use
Most would usually wear black during this rite

Cleanse the space and cast the circle.

Lighting their candles, call the elements:

“I call upon the spirits of the North, that they join my Circle and bring word of the dead, and take my words to them! Welcome, spirits of Air!

I call upon the spirits of the East, that they join my Circle and bring the comfort of the Earth, the flesh of the Mother, to which we all return. Welcome spirits of Earth!

I call upon the spirits of the South, that they join my Circle, bringing purification, that my soul learns from the trials and joys of life. Welcome, spirits of Fire!

I call upon the spirits of the West, that they join my Circle and bring peace, that I may take comfort in the Cycle. Welcome, spirits of Water!”

Call down God and Goddess.

Light the Goddess candle, saying:

“Lady, may your love shine upon us in bounty and in loss.”

Light the God candle, saying:

“Lord, though extinguished for a time, your light will return to us!”

Extinguish the God candle, saying:

“I mourn and celebrate the death of the God. For the Light is now short, yet our harvest is great, and the light will rekindle again, the Cycle begin anew in Nature. I take comfort also in knowing that no soul is lost or forsaken on the Wheel. Blessed be your rest, Lord.”

Sit in the circle with the bowl (or mirror) before you, the candle behind it, unlit. Have the slice of bread beside you to the left, and the drink to the right.

Pick up the bread and tear off a small piece, dipping it into the drink. Say something like:

“I offer this sustenance to those who have passed before me, this bread of the earth and air, and this drink of the water and fire. With the union of the two, they become whole and I offer it to my ancestors, to the Gods and Goddesses who would have it.”

Place the bread in the natural bowl, taking a moment to contemplate who has passed on that would come to take some of the food you have offered. Once done, pick up the black candle and light it, saying something like:

“I light this candle as a lantern to guide those who have passed before me. I welcome them to this rite so long as they offer good will to it. Negativity will be turned away, positive energies will be welcomed. With this candle, I illuminate the circle as a beacon to those who have passed that I love and cherish.”

Set the candle down behind the bowl of water (or mirror). Stare into the water, preferably at an angle so you can see the flame of the candle dancing on the surface of the water. Let your mind go and concentrate on meeting up and connecting with those that have died before you that you wish to contact. Be they pets, persons, or Deities, concentrate on connecting to those that have gone on, and ask them for guidance, or ask them whatever you like.

Take as long as you like on this part of the ritual, for it should not be rushed.

When done, lift up the bread and take one more piece, dipping it into the drink. Say something like:

“I offer more of the food that sustains me, soaking up some drink to quench the thirst of the thirsty. Thank you for coming to me, sharing in your wisdom, guidance, and company.”

Set this piece in the natural bowl with the other one. Share in with the meal by eating the bread and drinking the cider that you have beside you.

When this is done, dismiss the deities and all others you have called and close the circle. Ground and center.

From: http://www.wiccanway.com/Samhain-Solitary-Ritual-Guide_c_198.html

Protective Magical Ointment

Protective Magical Ointment

Do you feel that you or a loved one is the subject of black magic, a curse or negativity?

Moon Phrase: Full

Supplies:

Mallow Leaves & Stems, Vegetable Shortening, Strainer, Container
Instructions:

– Steep a handful of mallow leaves & stems into a 1/4 cup of vegetable shortening

– Leave it steep overnight

– Strain and place in container

– Rub ointment into skin

– Reapply as needed

Enhanced by Zemanta

Calendar of the Sun for August 30th

Calendar of the Sun

30 Weodmonath

Charistheria

Color: White
Element: Water
Altar: Upon a white cloth set two white candles, a chalice of milk, white bread, and a dish shaped like open hands.
Offering: Work for a charity.
Daily Meal: Except for what is shared in ritual, fasting today until Hesperis.

Charistheria Invocation

We open our hands to others
And we do not judge their deserving,
For none of us, hard though we try,
Are always deserving ourselves.
To seek the path of grace
Begins with graciousness.
To learn the dance of graciousness
Requires learning grace
In the giving and the taking.
Holy Charis, embodiment of grace
And graciousness, you whose hands
Are always open to all,
Help us to step beyond our feelings
Of who is deserving, who is worthy,
Who commands our compassion,
Who is pitiable, who is loved.
Help us to step beyond our emotions
Of who should receive your gifts, and ours,
Yet do not ever let us cease feeling,
For your gifts are not given out of cold duty
But out of universal love.
We open our hands to others
And we do not judge their deserving,
For none of us, hard though we try,
Are always deserving ourselves.

(One who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual, and who should be dressed in white, brings the bread and milk to each person, and says, “You take, but you do not now give, for this is charity.” Each person replies, “Now I take, but later I give, for charity is grace,” and partakes of the bread and milk. Any remaining is poured out as a libation.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for Monday, August 12th

Calendar of the Sun

12 Weodmonath

Amaranth and Quinoa Day

Color: Brown
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a brown cloth set an armload of amaranth stalks, a basket of quinoa stalks, a jug of water, bowls of the threshed grain, amaranth flour bread and quinoa porridge.
Offering: Give food to the poor.
Daily Meal: Amaranth bread and quinoa porridge.

Amaranth and Quinoa Invocation

(The jug of water is passed and the remainder poured out as a libation.)

I sing the praises of Amaranth,
Great grain of the Mexican desert,
Sacred grain growing taller than a man
Yet with the smallest seed of all,
Abundance in the dry time
Savior in a drought,
I sing the praises of Amaranth.

(The amaranth bread is passed and the remainder scattered in the garden.)

I sing the praises of Quinoa,
Great grain of the high mountains,
Nourishment of the south continent,
Reaching closest to the sky,
Porridge and cleanser,
Ground under the gleam of gold,
I sing the praises of Quinoa.

(The quinoa porridge is passed until it is finished.)

Song: Lammas Prayer

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for August 8th

Calendar of the Sun

8 Weodmonath

Rye Day

Color: Brown
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a brown cloth lay a scythe, a chalice of water, a basket of unthreshed rye stalks, and a loaf of rye bread.
Offering: Give food to the poor.
Daily Meal: Rye bread sandwiches.

Rye Invocation

I sing the song of the scythe,
Swinging through the air,
Sharpness and keenness its breath,
Rhythm its walk,
The tooth of the Moon,
The razor of the Sun.
For sharpness means that we shall eat this winter,
For keenness means that there shall be enough.
May those of us who find ourselves to be blades
Recall that our cutting edge
Is best used for the nourishment of all.

(The water is passed around, and then the remainder is poured out as a libation.)

I sing the praises of Rye,
Grain of the cold north,
Grain who needs little to prosper,
Grain who feeds those with the worst land,
Tallest of the waving heads,
Dark flour of nourishment,
I sing the praises of Rye.

(The rye bread is passed around, and then the remainder is scattered in the garden.)

Song: John Barleycorn

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for August 6

Calendar of the Sun

6 Weodmonath

Wheat Day

Color: Golden
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a golden cloth place a sheaf of wheat, a sickle, a clay jug of wheat beer, and a loaf of fresh-baked whole wheat bread.
Offering: Give food to the poor.
Daily Meal: Wheat bread, pasta, or pastry.

Wheat Invocation

Today, sweet golden king,
My hand belongs to Her
As does your body.
I thank you for your gift of life
And I promise you rebirth next year
With this my very same hand.
And in your turn
Since someday my body will be Hers as well
Promise me
The same hope;
Rebirth me in joy everlasting.

(The sickle is swung in a circle, then the wheat beer is passed around, and the remainder poured out as a libation.)

I sing the praises of Wheat,
First grain of the wagon people of Europe,
You who make the bread rise high,
You who make the soft white dough,
You who are sweet
And can last a thousand years
And still blossom forth in the Earth.
I sing the praises of Wheat.

(The bread is passed around, and the remainder scattered in the garden.)

Song: Corn Rigs

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Learning Anything

LEARNING ANYTHING

One of the most important skills you will ever learn in your life is learning
which questions to ask and when to ask them.

You will never learn how to do much of anything in your life if you do not learn
how to ask questions, and not only that, but to question the answers you get in
return.

For instance, “I want to learn about wicca,” is not a question. It is a statement.

“Teach me about wicca,” is also not a question. It is a command, even if you add
the word please.

Think about what you really want to ask. “Can you teach me about wicca?”

Ok, you’re getting closer to the question you really want answered. “Will you teach me about wicca?”

Even closer, but the topic at hand is a large one.

Look for where you actually want to start learning.

Good questions to start working with are “What makes wicca different from other paths?” or perhaps, “What is the first thing I should learn to start my journey of learning about wicca?”

These last two questions are good questions because they are specific and and
give the person you are talking with an idea of what you are actually interested
in learning.

Here’s another example.

I want to learn how to bake bread.

First of all I find someone that knows how (the right person).

Then I wait until they have the time to help me and a place ready to show me how to bake bread.

I try to read up a little ahead of time if I can and show up well rested and
ready to learn hopefully without any preconceptions (the right time).

Now I could ask them what the chemical structure of bread is, or why it browns
when it bakes or what type of butter to use on it, but none of these are very
good questions to help me towards my goal of learning how to bake bread.

True it might be useful information, but I can always learn the answers to those
questions later once I have learned the basics.

So my first questions are, “What are the ingredients we use?” and “How do we
start?,” two specific and useful questions.

A good question asked at the right time to the right person helps the person answering it almost as much as it helps the person asking it.

If the person you are asking questions to has no idea of your level of knowledge of the subject or your specific area of interest at the moment they cannot help you nearly as well as they could if they knew these things.

Good questions are one way of helping a person understand what you want to know and what level of difficulty you want it explained at.

Calendar of the Sun for February 17th

Calendar of the Sun

17 Solmonath

Fornacalia: Day of the Ovens

Color: Brown
Element: Fire
Altar: This ritual should be performed in the kitchen, with the altar built on top of the  or inside the oven. Set a brown cloth with a  and many loaves of bread on .
Offerings: Give some of the loaves of bread to those who have need of it.
Daily Meal: Everything baked – breads, cakes, pies, casseroles.

Invocation to Fornax

Goddess of the Oven
Lady of Fire Enclosed,
Sacred Baker of our food,
We all started as dough,
Raw and soft and unformed,
And we were patted into shape
By those who raised us,
Yet we could not bring ourselves
Fully grown to the table
Until we had endured
The hardening flame.
Be kind to us, Lady!
As we go through life
Let us not be scorched
Or spared the fire
But bring us gently through
To be our final selves.

Chant: Baker of the Loaf of Earth
We endure your fire

(One of the loaves is broken and handed around and shared, some more are set aside to eat later, and then the rest are taken to some deserving place and donated.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for January 13th

Calendar of the Sun

13 Wolfmonath

Compitalia Mania, Day of the Mother of Ghosts

Colors: White and Black
Element: Air
Altar: Upon cloth of black lay many sheer cloths of white, which each person takes as they enter and places over their heads. Lay out also four white candles, incense of myrrh, many loaves of bread made in the shape of men and women, and many skeins of handspun wool.
Offerings: Woolen effigies, to be made in the ritual. Make offerings in a graveyard.
Daily Meal: Fasting today until the evening meal.

Compitalia Mania Invocation

We call upon thee, Mania, Mother of Ghosts,
On this your day when you arise to admonish us.
Let not the spirits of the Dead torment us,
For we love and remember them.
Let not the spirits of the Dead pursue us,
For we wish them peace and rest.
Let not the spirits of the Dead wail in our ears,
For we cannot give them life, or comfort,
And so we beseech thee, Mother of Ghosts,
To take them into your dark arms
And sing them to sleep until it is time
For them to come once more
Into the world of life and breath and body.
(The bread loaves are passed around. Each is named with the name of someone dead who refuses to be forgotten. They are eaten.)
Hail, Mania, Mother of Ghosts!
We take these your children into our bodies,
We make them part of our lives,
And then return them again to the Earth.
May they live again in our flesh and blood
For these few days, and share our thoughts
And hopes, and dreams, and make themselves ready
To come once again into flesh of their own.

(The wool skeins are passed around, and fashioned into the shape of men and women, the Children of Mania, the Manes. These are hung about the house, over windows and doorways, in order to honor the Manes and keep them from tormenting the living.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Asking Questions

ASKING QUESTIONS

 

One of the most important skills you will ever learn in your life is learning which questions to ask and when to ask them.

You will never learn how to do much of anything in your life if you do not learn how to ask questions, and not only that, but to question the answers you get in return.

For instance, “I want to learn about wicca,” is not a question. It is a statement.

“Teach me about wicca,” is also not a question. It is a command, even if you add the word please.

Think about what you really want to ask. “Can you teach me about wicca?”

Ok, you’re getting closer to the question you really want answered. “Will you teach me about wicca?”

Even closer, but the topic at hand is a large one.

Look for where you actually want to start learning.

Good questions to start working with are “What makes wicca different from other paths?” or perhaps, “What is the first thing I should learn to start my journey of learning about wicca?” These last two questions are good questions because they are specific and and give the person you are talking with an idea of what you are actually interested in learning.

Here’s another example.

I want to learn how to bake bread.

First of all I find someone that knows how (the right person).

Then I wait until they have the time to help me and a place ready to show me how to bake bread.

I try to read up a little ahead of time if I can and show up well rested and ready to learn hopefully without any preconceptions (the right time).

Now I could ask them what the chemical structure of bread is, or why it browns when it bakes or what type of butter to use on it, but none of these are very good questions to help me towards my goal of learning how to bake bread.

True it might be useful information, but I can always learn the answers to those questions later once I have learned the basics.

So my first questions are, “What are the ingredients we use?” and “How do we start?,” two specific and useful questions.

A good question asked at the right time to the right person helps the person answering it almost as much as it helps the person asking it.

If the person you are asking questions to has no idea of your level of knowledge of the subject or your specific area of interest at the moment they cannot help you nearly as well as they could if they knew these things.

Good questions are one way of helping a person understand what you want to know and what level of difficulty you want it explained at.

Calendar of the Sun for August 30

Calendar of the Sun

30 Weodmonath

Charistheria

Color: White
Element: Water
Altar: Upon a white cloth set two white candles, a chalice of milk, white bread, and a dish shaped like open hands.
Offering: Work for a charity.
Daily Meal: Except for what is shared in ritual, fasting today until Hesperis.

Charistheria Invocation

We open our hands to others
And we do not judge their deserving,
For none of us, hard though we try,
Are always deserving ourselves.
To seek the path of grace
Begins with graciousness.
To learn the dance of graciousness
Requires learning grace
In the giving and the taking.
Holy Charis, embodiment of grace
And graciousness, you whose hands
Are always open to all,
Help us to step beyond our feelings
Of who is deserving, who is worthy,
Who commands our compassion,
Who is pitiable, who is loved.
Help us to step beyond our emotions
Of who should receive your gifts, and ours,
Yet do not ever let us cease feeling,
For your gifts are not given out of cold duty
But out of universal love.
We open our hands to others
And we do not judge their deserving,
For none of us, hard though we try,
Are always deserving ourselves.

(One who has been chosen to do the work of the ritual, and who should be dressed in white, brings the bread and milk to each person, and says, “You take, but you do not now give, for this is charity.” Each person replies, “Now I take, but later I give, for charity is grace,” and partakes of the bread and milk. Any remaining is poured out as a libation.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for August 27

Calendar of the Sun

27 Weodmonath

Phallogia

Color: Flesh
Elements: Fire and Earth
Altar: Upon a cloth the color of rosy flesh, place seven phallus-shaped candles of different colors, a tall glass of frothy white liquid, and many carved and shaped phalluses of many different materials, sizes and colors. There should be as many as there are people in the House. Have also baskets of phallus-shaped breads and pastries.
Offering: Take a phallus with you to bed, and sleep with it, warming it with your body.
Daily Meal: Phallic foods – long breads and pastries, long root vegetables, sausages.

Phallogia Invocation

As the trees stretch toward the Sun,
As the leaves burst forth on the branch,
As the grass thrusts to the sky,
As the pod explodes its seeds,
As the stamen lifts its pollen,
As the bird leaps for the heavens,
As the mountains heave toward the clouds,
As the lightning strikes the ocean,
As the wave swells forth toward the shore,
As the wind penetrates our lungs,
We honor today the leaping forth
Of the male principle,
And its symbol carved in flesh
And in many other places.
Hail, Priapus, Giver of Fertility,
Source of the Seeds of Life.
May we all share your boundless enthusiasm,
Your untamed vigor,
And your ecstasy as you wither and fall.

(Each should approach the altar and select one of the phalluses, which should then be taken to their bed and tucked in. Tonight, each will sleep with the phallus, warming it with their bodies, and they shall be returned to the altar the following morning upon sunrise.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for August 12

Calendar of the Sun

12 Weodmonath

Amaranth and Quinoa Day

Color: Brown
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a brown cloth set an armload of amaranth stalks, a basket of quinoa stalks, a jug of water, bowls of the threshed grain, amaranth flour bread and quinoa porridge.
Offering: Give food to the poor.
Daily Meal: Amaranth bread and quinoa porridge.

Amaranth and Quinoa Invocation

(The jug of water is passed and the remainder poured out as a libation.)

I sing the praises of Amaranth,
Great grain of the Mexican desert,
Sacred grain growing taller than a man
Yet with the smallest seed of all,
Abundance in the dry time
Savior in a drought,
I sing the praises of Amaranth.

(The amaranth bread is passed and the remainder scattered in the garden.)

I sing the praises of Quinoa,
Great grain of the high mountains,
Nourishment of the south continent,
Reaching closest to the sky,
Porridge and cleanser,
Ground under the gleam of gold,
I sing the praises of Quinoa.

(The quinoa porridge is passed until it is finished.)

Song: Lammas Prayer

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Calendar of the Sun for August 6

Calendar of the Sun

6 Weodmonath

Wheat Day

Color: Golden
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon a golden cloth place a sheaf of wheat, a sickle, a clay jug of wheat beer, and a loaf of fresh-baked whole wheat bread.
Offering: Give food to the poor.
Daily Meal: Wheat bread, pasta, or pastry.

Wheat Invocation

Today, sweet golden king,
My hand belongs to Her
As does your body.
I thank you for your gift of life
And I promise you rebirth next year
With this my very same hand.
And in your turn
Since someday my body will be Hers as well
Promise me
The same hope;
Rebirth me in joy everlasting.

(The sickle is swung in a circle, then the wheat beer is passed around, and the remainder poured out as a libation.)

I sing the praises of Wheat,
First grain of the wagon people of Europe,
You who make the bread rise high,
You who make the soft white dough,
You who are sweet
And can last a thousand years
And still blossom forth in the Earth.
I sing the praises of Wheat.

(The bread is passed around, and the remainder scattered in the garden.)

Song: Corn Rigs

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Lammas Bread

Lammas Bread

2 cups warm milk

2 packages dry yeast

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix together in a large bowl, cover and set in a warm place until doubled (about 30 minutes).

Add the following:

 

3 Tbs softened butter

2 cups unbleached white flour

Stir until bubbly.

Mix in the following:

1 cup rye flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

With floured hands, turn the dough onto a floured surface and gradually knead in more white flour until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a large greased bowl, turning once so that the dough is greased, cover with a cloth and set in a warm place until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).

Punch the dough down and divide in two. Shape into balls, flattened at the top and place on a cookie sheet. Cover and set in a warm place until doubled. (about 1 hour) When the final rising is almost complete, use your athame and carve a pentagram in the centre of the loaf as you recite a blessing of thanks to the Grain Goddess.

For variety, once the bread has been separated in two, shape the dough into figures symbolizing the God and Goddess of the Grain.

Cover and allow to rise until doubled.

Beat together:

1 egg

1 Tbs water

Brush the loaves and bake in a preheated oven at 300 degrees for 1 hour.

Share this blessing of the Goddess during your Lammas Feast.

No. 2 Things To Do For Lammas…..

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. 

Calendar of the Sun for August 1

Calendar of the Sun

1 Weodmonath

LAMMAS

Colors: Golden and purple
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon the cloth of golden and purple fill baskets of unthreshed grain, and bowls of threshed grain, and clay jugs of beer and wine, and grapes, and other fruits of the harvest. The wheatsheaf loaf should have pride of place, and beside it should be the corn dollie from last year’s Lammas. The new corn dollie should be carried in the arms of one participant.
Offerings: Give food to the poor.
Daily Meal: Bread. Lots of bread and grain.

Ritual Note: Like all the eight high holidays, this day should ideally be spent not enclosed and isolated, but in common with the larger pagan community. This can be done a number of ways, including spending the day elsewhere, at the Brigid’s Day ritual of another group or tradition, or by inviting in those pagans who would otherwise not be able to attend a ritual. Either way, the eight holidays should be a time of remembering the place of the house in the greater community. If the choice is made to go elsewhere, then no liturgy is needed for the day. If the choice is made to bring the greater community into the lesser one, the following ritual can be used:

(First four who have been chosen to do the work of the ritual cast the quarters with sickle, flail, basket, and pot.)

East Caller: Spirits of the East, Powers of Air!
You who are the cold steel of the scythe,
You who are the blade that separates
One from another,
Life from death,
You who are smoke on the wind
And the bringer of the new dawn,
Be with us today!
South Caller: Spirits of the South, Powers of Fire!
You who are the bright Sun above us,
You who are the unflinching light of day,
The scorching heat of the summer,
Pulling the crops toward the sky
And drying them to golden as your rays,
Be with us today!
West Caller: Spirits of the West, Powers of Water!
You who are the gentle rains that fall
To feed the plants that long ago sprang forth,
You who are the summer storms
That knock down those you nourished,
Capricious and random as you are eternal,
Be with us today!
North Caller: Spirits of the North, Power of Earth!
You who are the ground beneath our feet,
You who sustains and nourishes us,
You who brought us forth,
You to whom we shall all one day return,
We honor you especially today.
Be with us now!

Lammas Invocation

Great Lugh,
You who shine forth upon us,
Give us this day our daily bread
And serve it forth with a great helping
Of joy and mirth
Even as we watch your track in the sky
Slowly lower down from the zenith,
This is still your time,
You are still strong,
Ruler of the Earth,
Until the day we watch you fall.

(The sickle is swung in the air.)

In this time of harvest,
When the Sun begins his drop from the sky,
We shall find beauty and contentment by our hearths.
For as the Sun falls, so falls the grain,
So falls each plant life grown by those golden rays,
Fallen by our hand to nourish us,
And nourished we shall be,
By he that grew from the Mother’s womb so many moons ago.
The Sun above has become part of our memories
And we shall carry him forever,
And the grain below will become part of our bodies,
And we shall carry that memory as well.
For to be bound to the cycle of life
Though it be painful, is the truest thing
That any of us can ever do.

(The bread is passed, and torn apart, and eaten.)

Do not forget, in this time of harvest,
The power of love above and below the Earth.
At Beltane, when love flourished forth
In all directions unchained and unboundaried,
We felt it like a rushing wave of pleasure
Unadulterated with pain.
At the Solstice, when the Oak King died
We learned again, and for the first time,
That there is pain in love, and the deeper the love
The greater the pain. And now as we face
The first funeral of the year, we gain
An inkling of how deep both love and pain can be.
May this wisdom bear us up
Throughout the bright days and the darkness
And the dawning yet to come.
Taste sweetness and give thanks
That there is still sweetness in life.

(The wine and beer is passed around, and drunk.)

Follow the serpent to the end of the labyrinth,
And there you will find the door under the earth.
Slide down between the roots of all life
And there you will find the source of all life.
Follow the roots to the underground rivers
And there you will find the deepest nourishment.
Swim down the rivers through the darkest caves,
And there you will find hidden the spark of life.
Follow the spark upwards through the soil
Until it bursts out into the singing air.
Watch it shoot skyward towards the Sun its progenitor,
As gold returns to gold
And the heavens take back their own.
Do not let go of that spark!
Stretch upward with its soaring,
Risk the bright sky and the high flight
Though it will mean your death,
And then you understand the Mystery.

Song: Lammas Prayer

(Last year’s corn dollie is lifted aloft and carried to the stove or fireplace, where it is burned. Then the new corn dollie is lifted to her place on the shelf or altar, and all cheer. Great feasting comes next. Invite in as many as possible to share it.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]

Lammas Ritual

Lammas Ritual
Scott Cunningham

Place upon the altar sheaves of wheat, barley or oats, fruit and Breads, perhaps a loaf fashioned in the figure of the Sun or a man To represent the God. Corn dollies, symbolic of the goddess, can be
Present there as well.

Arrange the altar, light the candles and censer, and cast the Circle Of Stones.

Recite the Blessing Chant.

Invoke the Goddess and God.

Stand before the altar, holding aloft the sheaves of grain, saying These or similar words:

Now is the time of the First Harvest,
When bounties of nature give of themselves
So that we may survive.
O God of the ripening fields, Lord of the Grain,
Grant me the understanding of sacrifice as you
Prepare to deliver yourself under the sickle of the
Goddess and journey to the lands of eternal summer.
O Goddess of the Dark Moon,
Teach me the secrets of rebirth
As the Sun loses its strength and the nights grow cold.
Rub the heads of the wheat with your fingers so that the grains fall
Onto the altar. Lift a piece of fruit and bit, savouring it flavour,

And say:

I partake of the first harvest, mixing its energies
With mine that I may continue my quest for the starry
Wisdom of perfection.
O Lady of the Moon and Lord of the Sun,
Gracious ones before Whom the stars halt their courses,
I offer my thanks for the continuing fertility of the Earth.
May the nodding grain loose its seeds to be buried in
The Mothers breast, ensuring rebirth in the warmth
Of the coming Spring.
Consume the rest of the fruit.

Works of magic, if necessary, may follow.

Celebrate the Simple Feast.

The circle is released.

It is appropriate to plant the seeds from the fruit consumed in Ritual. If they sprout, grow the plant with love and as a symbol of Your connection with the Goddess and God.

 

July 11 – Daily Feast

July 11 – Daily Feast

As unlikely as it seems at times, there is always a way – even a better way. If we can keep on working and using our vision, there will be solutions and they will not fail. Our limited view can make us believe answers must come through certain channels. It is hard to stop thinking that one particular way is all there is, that we have no choice. It makes us rely on a crust of bread when we could have a feast. If we want a breakthrough, we need to take off our blinders – stop pressing our minds into tiny molds that have no room to expand. Allow, even encourage, the mind and spirit to use the gift of a go wa dv di, vision – extraordinary ability to see beyond ordinary sight, to a better way.

~ There was a time….our wants were within our control….we saw nothing we could not get. ~

SHARITARISH

‘A Cherokee Feast of Days’, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Calendar of the Sun for Thursday, June 7th

7 Lithemonath

Vestalia: Vesta’s Day

Color: Red
Element: Fire
Altar: Today the altar is set up in the kitchen, in front of the stove or fireplace, at the point which is most “hearth”. Before setting it up, everyone pitches in to clean the kitchen thoroughly, and purify it. All halls leading into the kitchen are swept as well, and everyone enters barefoot with cleanly washed feet. Upon a red cloth set a bowl of water, one large red candle, bread baked the night before, and kitchen implements.
Offerings: Promote domestic harmony.
Daily Meal: Breads and baked goods.

Invocation to Vesta

Hail Vesta, Lady of the Central Fire,
Flame of the Hearth
Keeper of the Inner Circle
Faceless One
Eldest of the Olympians
Lady of the Pantry
Whose open hands dispense hospitality
Chimney and cooking fire
Lady of routine and dailiness
To miss your quiet strength
In the rush of our sudden lives
Would be as great a disservice
As forgetting the air we breathe.
Teach us to take our time, Lady.
Teach us of the holiness of step after step
Chore after chore, moving in small circles
Around the hearth of our own beings.

Chant (spoken, not sung):
I circle my hearth from without
And I focus the work of my hands;
I circle my hearth from within
And I focus the work of my heart;
Every work of my hands
Is a victory won;
Every thing that I do
Is another thing done.

(All share bread, and pitch in together to make more, which can be saved or given away.)

[Pagan Book of Hours]