Lughnasadh (August 1st)

Lore

It is appropiate to plant the seeds from the fruit consumed in ritual. If they prout, grown the plant with love and as a symbol of your connection with the Goddess and God.

Wheat weaving (the making of corn dollies, etc) is an appropiate activity for Lughanasadh. Visits to fields, orchads, lakes and wells are alsto traditional. The foods of Lughanasadh include bread, blackberries, and all berries, acorns, crab apples, all grains and locally ripe products. A cake is sometimes baked and cider is used in place of wine.

If you do make a figure of the God from bread, it can be used for the Simple Feast.



Ritual 

Place upon the altar sheaves of wheat, barley or oats, fruits 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

May the powers of The One,

the source of all creation;

all-pervasive, omnipotent, eternal;

may the Goddess,

the Lady of the Moon;

and the God,

Horned Hunter of the Sun;

may the powers of the Spirits of the Stones,

rulers of the elemental realms;

may the powers of the stars above and the Earth below,

bless this place, and this time, and I who am with You. 

Invocation of 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 the bounties of nature give of themselves

so that we may survive

O God of the ripening fields, Lord of the Grain,

gramt me the understanding ot sacrifice as you

prepare to deliver yourself under the sicke 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 bite it, savoring its flavor, 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 Mother's breast, ensuring rebirth in the warmth

of the coming Spring

FROM, "WICCA" by Scott Cunningham