Lammas or Lughnasadh - The First Harvest

 

August 1  with the Sun near the midpoint of Leo 

 

The Saxon holiday of Lammas celebrates the harvesting of grain, the first sheaf is ceremonially baked into a loaf and eaten by the people.  The God of Grain gives up his life so that the people may live.  Eating the bread of the Gods gives us life.   This is the Wiccan Mystery of the slain God who sacrifices himself for the good of his people, and is reborn later in the year. Grain has always been associated with Gods who are killed and dismembered and then resurrected from the Underworld.  The story of Demeter and Persephone is a story about the cycle of death and rebirth associated with grain. Demeter, the fertility Goddess, will not allow anything to grow until she finds her daughter who has been carried off to the Underworld. The Eleusinian Mysteries, celebrated around the Autumn Equinox, culminated in the revelation of a single ear of corn, a symbol to the initiate of the cyclical nature of life, for the corn is both seed and fruit, promise and fulfillment.


The Celtic Lughnasadh is named after the God Lugh. It is the wake of Lugh the Sun King whos light begins to dwindle after Litha.  The Summer King is weakening, the Winter King grows in strength.  The Winter King strikes His first killing blow to the crops, bringing us the First Harvest.  The Celtic people held a tribal gathering around August 1 where they held games and contests, feasts and trial marriages were formalized.  At this time of the year flocks and herds were rounded up before being slaughtered at Samhain.  The grape harvest also begins at Lughnasadh.  Bread is the body of the God, wine is His blood.

Now is the time to teach what you have learned, to share the fruits of your achievements with the world.

      

Lammas Prayer for the Grain 

From the fields of gold,
come the waves of the grain.
As we bid farewell to the summer
the harvest has begun
and crops are ripe for picking.
As the summer sun fades to autumn
our flour will be milled
our bread will be baked
and our food will be plentiful for the winter.

 

 

 Lammas Spell of Courage

 

Lammas Cauldron Spell 

Lammas Wishing Powder

 

In a mortar and pestle grind together Vervain, Rose petals, and Calendula flowers. Be sure to keep your magick goal firmly in your mind. If you skip this step the wishing powder will not be programmed and the magick will be lost.

Pour the herbs in a mason jar with lid, then add few drops of rose, frankincense or sandalwood essential oil. Add yellow, gold and orange glitter. Put the lid on the mason jar and shake vigorously.

On Lammas morning hold the wishing powder in your hand. While thinking of your wish, spin deosil (sunwise) three times while the powder slips through your fingers.

 

 

To Celebrate Lammas Today

 

 

Oh Lady, your breast is the field.  Inanna, your breast is your field.

Your broad field pours out plants, your broad field pours out grain.

Water flows from on high for your servant.

Bread flows from on high for your servant.

Pour it out for me Inanna.  I will drink all you offer

 

 

 

• Bake a loaf of bread being sure to honor the source of the flour as you work.  Shape the loaf into the figure of a man or a woman and give your grain-person a name such as Lugh or Demeter.  If you have a garden add something you've grown to the dough.  Bread combines the elementals of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water to become a substance that has nourished and sustained people since the discovery of grain.  Bread combines seeds from the Earth (flour and salt), with Water and Air (yeast  the secret, airborne traveler, sacred changer of the Gods)  add Fire to bake.  Suddenly, from those four ancient, basic elements, you have bread.  If you don't want to bake bread you can make corn bread, or popcorn or muffins, the important part of the baking process is to mindfully enter the sacred by being fully aware of your intention.
• Make a corn dolly, as you work on her, think of what you've harvested this year.
• Place an ash leaf under your pillow for prophetic dreams
• Decorate sheaves of grain with flowers or ribbons
•  Eat and drink all in the name of the Goddess and God. Begin with a prayer of thanks for the bounty laid before you.
•  Leave offerings of bread to the Faerie Folk.
•  Honor the pregnant Goddess and the waning energy of the Sun God by offering them bread and wine.
• Make a Stang
• Pick vervain to make lustral waters for cleansing altars and sacred spaces
•  Vervain Lustral Water

1 cup dried vervain, 4 cups boiling water  - Infuse for 15 minutes and strain.

• Hang crystals, faceted glass and sun catchers in the windows of your house to deflect unwanted energy and to create dancing rainbow colors in your home
•  Sacrifice bad habits and unwanted things from your life by throwing symbols of them into the Sabbat fire.  Prayer scrolls can contain written descriptions of offerings, or they can be doodled or drawn representations.  They can be symbols or words, whatever is a more powerful association for you.  

• Lammas is a good time to renew protection on your home by putting a rowan cross above your front door. Simply tie two pieces of rowan twigs together to form a cross using red thread. Chant while you're tying the thread:
  Red thread and rowan wood
  Out evil, in good.

 

Lammas Correspondences

 

Goddesses - Aine, , Ceres, Cerridwen, Demeter, Inanna, Ishtar, Kore, Persephone

 Gods - Adonis, Dumuzi, Lugh, Odin, Loki, Baal

 Colors - Orange, gold, yellow, purple

 Candle Colors - Golden yellow, orange, green or light brown

 Stones - Yellow diamonds, adventurine, sardonyx, peridot and citrine

 Animals - Roosters, calves, stags

 Mythical Creatures - Phoenix, griffins. centaurs and speaking skulls

 Plants - Corn, barley, wheat, rye and ginseng

 Herbs - Acacia flowers, aloes, calendula, cornstalks, cyclamen, fenugreek, frankincense, heather, hollyhock, myrtle, oak leaves, sunflower, vervain

 Incense - Aloes, rose, rose hips, rosemary,chamomile, passionflower, frankincense and sandalwood

 Foods -  Homemade breads, corn, potatoes, berry pies, barley cakes, nuts, wild berries, apples, rice, roasted lamb, acorns, crab apples, summer squash, turnips, oats, all grains and all First Harvest foods.  Traditional drinks are elderberry wine, ale and meadowsweet tea.

 

Incense Recipes

Lughnasadh Incense

    1 part benzoin resin
    1 part myrrh resin
    1 part oak wood
    1 part heather flowers
    1 part basil
    1 part borage flowers
    2 parts frankincense
    A few drops of pine oil

 Lammas Incense

    1 part oak bark
    1/4 part pine resin
    A few drops oak moss oil
    2 parts red sandalwood
    1 part cedar wood
    A few drops cedar oil
    3 parts frankincense
    1/2 part sunflower petals

 Lugh Incense

    3 parts frankincense
    1 part oak bark
    1 part ash wood
    1/4 part poppy seeds
    1 part heather flowers
    A few drops of red wine
    1 part barley grains crushed

Blodeuwedd Incense

    1 part broom flowers
    1 part bean flowers
    1 part horse chestnut flowers
    1 part oak flowers
    1 part meadowsweet flowers
    1 part flowering nettle
    1 part primrose flowers
    1 part hawthorn flowers
    1 part flowering burdock
    1 part blackthorn flowers
    1 part corncockle flowers

Ceres Incense

    1/2 part Bay Laurel leaves
    1/2 part wheat grains
    1/2 part poppy seeds
    3 parts willow wood
    1 part chaste tree leaves
    1/2 part narcissus flowers
    2 parts frankincense
    2 parts myrrh

Horned God Incense

    1 part cedar wood
    1 part benzoin
    1 part pine resin
    1 part frankincense
    2 parts crushed juniper berries
    A few drops oak moss oil

 

 

Recipes  

 

Summer Pudding

• 6 cups berries
• 1 cup sugar
• Loaf of white bread one or two days old

Wash the fruit and leave in a bowl with the sugar overnight.  The next day put the contents into a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Gently simmer for 2 or 3 minutes., there should be lots of juice.

Cut the loaf into 1/4 " thick slices and remove the crusts.

Cute a circle from one slice of the bread slightly larger than the bottom of a 1 liter pudding dish and place in position.  Cut wedges of bread to fit around the sides of the bowl.  If there are any gaps push in small pieces of bread. 

Pour half of the fruit and juice mixture, cover with bread cut to shape and add the remainder of fruit and juice.

Cover the top with a couple slices of bread, trimming off the excess to make a nice, neat finish to the pudding.

Put a plate on top and weight it down with two or three cans of food.  Leave in the refrigerator for a day or two.

When pudding is taken out of the fridge, run a thin, flexible knife between the pudding and the bowl to loosen it.  Place a serving dish upside down on top of the bowl  Quickly turn it over and remove the bowl.  Serve with lots of whipped cream.

 

  Barley Mushroom Soup

• 5 C. vegetable broth
•     1 C. barley, uncooked
•      1/2 lb. mushrooms (use morels or enoki for a woodsy flavor)
•      1/2 C. onion, diced
•      1/2 C. fresh carrots, chopped
•     1/2 C. celery, chopped
•      2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
•      Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Bring the vegetable broth to a low rolling boil on the stove and then reduce heat. Add the mushrooms, onions, carrots and celery, and allow to simmer for ten minutes. Add the barley and garlic, cover and simmer for another hour.

Add salt and pepper, seasoning to taste.

 

Lammas Corn Fritters 

• 1 can corn kernels
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp salad oil

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, eggs and salad oil in a bowl until the batter is smooth.  Add the can (or 1 cup of fresh) corn kernels and mix well.  Heat 1/4 " of salad oil in a frying pan and drop fritters by level tablespoon full into the hot oil.  Fry until golden, turning once.  Drain and serve. 

 

 

 

Lammas Spells

 

Lammas Bread Wish Spell

Make a loaf of bread at Lammas and before you put the loaf into the over, dip a paintbrush in milk and write on the crust what you most desire  Bake the bread and then eat it while it's still warm.

 

Lammas Bread Protection Spell

Bake a Lammas loaf and when it's cool, break it into four pieces - don't cut it with a knife.  Take one piece to each corner of your property chanting:

I call on the spirits

Of north and south, east and west

Protect this place

Now at the time of the Blessing.

 

Spell to Gain Courage

 

You will need:

• 6 inch square of orange cloth
• Red thread or ribbon
• Pinch of dried basil 
• Pinch of dried thyme
• A few black peppercorns
• A few drops of orange oil

Lay out the cloth and sprinkle the thyme, basil, peppercorns, and orange oil onto it chanting:

The strength of  bull, the daring of boar

Grant me courage, now and more

Grant me bravery in life each day

To follow my path and have my say.

Tie up the sachet with the red thread or ribbon and keep it near you during the day.  Place it under your pillow at night when you sleep.  Every full Moon, replace the herbs and oil.  When you feel you have gained sufficient courage untie the sachet and bury it.