Tag: Corn dolly

The Witches Correspondences for Lammas, August 1, 2015

Lammas/Lugnasadh Comments

The Witches Correspondences for Lammas, August 1, 2015

 

Time of Day: Mid-Afternoon, Noon to 5 pm

Time of Life: 40-60’s, Middle Age, Height of Powers, Fatherhood

Decorations: Bread, Corn, Wheat, Fruits, Corn Dolly, Green Man

Foods: Plums, Peaches, Grapes, Wheat, Lamb, Berries, Barley Cakes, Breads

Herbs: Heather, Acacia, Hollyhock, Aloes, Sunflowers, Frankincense, Sandalwood, Rose

Tools: Baskets, Lugh’s Spear (Areadbhar), Sickles, Scythes

Goddesses: Ceres, Demeter, Corn Mother, Pomona, Mother Earth

Gods: Lugh, Mercury, Hermes, Adonis, John Barleycorn, Green Man
Lughnasadh is more of a Men’s Holiday

Themes
Harvest, Transformation, Fruitfulness, Change Abundance, Completion, Prosperity, Robustness, Achievement, Letting Go, Reaping, Sacrifice, Purification, Contentment, Bread of Life, Table of Plenty, Ever Flowing Cup, Chalice of Plenty

Farming Activities
Harvesting and preserving wheat, corn, vegetables

Animals: Crow, Salmon

Tarot, Divination: Wheel of Fortune, Justice

Colors: Golden Yellow, Light Brown, Purple, Orange, Red-Brown, Brown-Grey

Activities, Celebrations
Dancing, Singing, Playing Music, Poetry Reading, Bardic Competitions, Games, Competitions, Men’s Sports, Drinking beer, whiskey, mead, iced tea

Sacred Circle (Valley Spirit): South-West, Violet

Celebrations:
Lughnasadh – Druid, Neo-Pagan, Lammas – Wiccan, Mea’n Fo’mhair (Greenman) – Druid, Welsh

 

How To Hold a Lammas Bread Sacrifice Ritual

How To Hold a Lammas Bread Sacrifice Ritual

By , About.com Guide

Grain is the heart of Lammas, and the beginning of the harvest season is a milestone in many societies. Once the grain is threshed and milled it is baked into bread and consumed, honoring the spirit of the grain god. This ritual celebrates both the harvest and the sacrifices we make each year, as well as the sacrifice of the grain god. Decorate your altar with symbols of the season — sickles and scythes, garden goodies like ivy and grapes and corn, poppies, dried grains, and early autumn foods like apples. If you like, light some Lammas Rebirth incense.

Difficulty: Average
Time Required: Varied

Here’s How:

  1. For this rite, you’ll need a loaf of Lammas bread and a cup of wine or water. You’ll also need pieces of straw or other plant material, enough for each person in the ritual to make a small doll, and some yarn or string to tie the dolls together. Finally, you’ll need a fire. You can either have a large bonfire, or a small tabletop fire in a pot or brazier.
  2. If your tradition requires you to cast a circle, do so now.

    The High Priest or High Priestess says:

    It is the time of the harvest once again. Life, growth, death and rebirth, all have come full circle. The god of the harvest has died once more, That we may eat and consume him, Giving us strength in the months to come.

  3. The HPs hands each member of the group a sheaf of straw, saying:

    We now create dolls in our image. These dolls symbolize our selves, in our many aspects, and all the things we give up each year, so that we may thrive and flourish later on.

    Each member of the group constructs a doll to represent themselves. Use the instructions here if you don’t know how to make a doll: Corn Doll or Straw Man. As each person creates their doll, they should energize the doll with personal qualities. These are the essences of self that each person is bringing to sacrifice, so that they may be reborn as the harvest god is each year.

  4. When everyone has completed their dolls, the High Priestess says:

    The god of grain is dying, vegetation returns to the earth. We call upon the gods of the harvest, asking them for their blessings. Tammuz and Lugh, Adonis, Dumuzi, Cernunnos and Attis, Mercury, Osiris. You are born each year, and live in our fields and are sacrificed as part of the cycle.

  5. Raise energy by circling your fire or altar three times, moving in a counter-clockwise (widddershins) direction, building speed each time (you’re moving against the pattern of the sun, because it’s the end of the harvest season). If you like, you can increase the feeling of power by chanting one of these popular traditional Wiccan verses:

    Hoof and horn, hoof and horn, all that dies shall be reborn. Corn and grain, corn and grain, all that falls shall rise again.

    or:

    Earth my body, water my blood, air my breath and fire my spirit.

  6. If your group is musically inclined, have half the group sing the “Hoof and horn” part, and the second half sing the “Earth my body” verse, so that it forms a round robin. The effect is amazing!

    When the raising of energy is complete, each person in the group approaches the fire, one at a time, and casts their doll into the fire. They can either say out loud what their sacrifice will be this year, or speak it only to themselves and the gods. As each doll is placed in the fire, direct leftover energy into the flames as well.

  7. When everyone has made their sacrifice, the HPs holds up the loaf of Lammas bread. Say:

    Months ago, we planted seeds, and through the summer watched them grow. We have tended the fields in our lives, and now we are blessed with abundance. The harvest has arrived! Thank you, lord of the harvest, For the gifts yet to come. We eat this bread, grain transformed by fire, in your name, and honor you for your sacrifice.

  8. The HPs breaks off a piece of bread for herself, and passes it around the circle, so that everyone can take a piece. Eat the bread, and then pass around the cup of wine or water. If you wish, you can say something as the cup is passed, like:

    May you reap the blessings of the harvest.

    Once everyone has eaten their bread and sipped from the cup, take a moment to reflect on what you have harvested for yourself this season. End the ritual as you normally would or move directly into a Cakes and Ale ceremony or other rites you wish to perform.

What You Need

  • A loaf of Lammas bread
  • Straw or plant material
  • String
  • A fire
  • A cup of wine or water

Goddesses Of Seasons

Lammas/Lugnasadh Comments

 Goddesses Of Seasons

A Column By Heathwitch, WMS, Order of the White Moon

Lady of the Earth
whose body is the golden corn
which nourishes us;
Corn Mother,
your love for us keeps us alive
and for that we honour you
through feasting and play
under the bright sun
and the fields of your life;
for this, Corn Mother, we thank you.

At the height of summer our calendar turns to Lughnasadh, the first harvest. Also known as Lammas, the festival is associated with ripening grain and as it approaches so does the coming of Autumn. Our altars are filled with colours of gold, light brown, orange, and green, and are filled with foods and breads. Lughnasadh is a festival of plenty, so celebrate with your favourite foods and drinks, and honour Mother Goddesses such as Corn Mother.

Many native peoples see corn and grain as a Goddess — the Goddess called Corn Mother. A fertility Goddess, Corn Mother rules over the earth, its plants and animals; with Spring Maiden, She influences human fertility. She has a special interest in agriculture and Her consort is the Sun Lord, whose light and heat are needed for Corn Mother’s golden corn to grow.

The Arikara Creator God, Nesaru, fashioned Corn Mother from an ear of corn which grew in heaven. Corn Mother then came to earth and taught people how to honor the deities and to plant corn. She gives of herself to her people to sustain them and nourish them.

Corn Woman’s colours are gold and yellow; her symbol is the corn. You can invite Corn Mother into your life by making a pendant out of corn or a corn dolly and placing it on your altar. A simple incense for Corn Mother is to take the corn silk and burn it in a small censer.

Corn Mother’s presence can be invoked when you are working fertility or prosperity magick. She is also a wonderful Goddess to invite into your Lughnasadh activities; simply invoke Her presence before you begin. Some ideas for such rituals and activities include:

Making a corn dolly; baking a loaf of bread (remember to give a piece to the earth in thanks); work prosperity magic; harvest herbs and use them in a Lughnasadh fire or incense; have a magical picnic and break bread with friends; attend or host a public harvest festival — or role-play one of your own!

Always thank Corn Mother by dedicating some food to Her on your altar; afterwards, return it to the earth in thanks.

Have a blessed Lughnasadh!

Sources:
Conway, D. J. The Ancient and Shining Ones. Llewellyn: Minnesota (1993).

Marashinsky, Amy Sophia. The Goddess Oracle: A Way to Wholeness through the Goddess and Ritual. Element: Boston (1997).
About The Author: Heathwitch is a Witch, teacher and author. She runs courses and workshops on energy work, healing, Witchcraft and magic. High Priestess of the Circle of the Moon coven, Heathwitch lives in Cheshire, England.

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.