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Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 11, 2012 at 10:09am

Lammas Bread Protection Spell

A book of Anglo-Saxon charms advised the crumbling of the Lammas loaf into four pieces and the burying of them in the four corners of the barn to make it safe for all the grain that would be stored there. You can use this old spellcraft in a protection spell for your home.

Bake a Lammas loaf, and when it is cool break it into four pieces don't cut it with a knifeand take one to each corner of your property with the words:

I call on the spirits Of north, and south, east and west
Protect this place, Now, at the time of the Blessing.

Leave the bread for the birds to eat or bury the pieces.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 11, 2012 at 10:09am

Lammas Bounty Spell

Lughnasadh; it is a celebration of plenty and optimism, and of nature's infinite bounty. It is the time of the first harvests, and it marks midsummer's joyous and fanciful energy. This spirit is celebrated, too, in Shakespeare's A Mid-Summer's Night Dream. To tap into this energy, gather a small bundle of long grass or reeds to braid, and light a white candle. Braid the grass as you speak this verse:

Fairies prancing in the meadow, Spirits in the corn;
Green Man is flourishing everywhere On this Midsummer morn.
Grains begin to ripen, All things bear fruit.
Summer glistens with possibility, Blossoms take root.
Fairies whisper secrets, Powerful blessings to see.
Cycles move and all around, they share their gifts with me.
Air to fire, Fire to water, Water to earth, Earth to air.
Elements feed spirit, And the circle glows.
At Lammas, day and night, We witness Nature's awesome might.
Growing full And blessing all,
'Tis Earth's celebration Before the chill of fall.
Now braiding this grass, I mark this day
Protect my hearth, With the abundance of grain.
The blessings of the Goddess come again;
Place the braid above my door. Hunger be banished now and then.
Blessings be drawn to this place, Summer's energy fill this space.
Air, fire, water, earth unite, And bless us all this day.

Activities that may be incorporated into the Sabbat ritual or engaged in during the day.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 11, 2012 at 10:09am

From: Green Witchcraft, Ann Moura

Make sand candles to honor the Goddes and the God of the sea. If you don't live near a beach, you can achieve the same effect by putting sand in a large box, adding water, and working from there. This is definitely a porch or kitchen job, and newspapers are recommended under your work area for easy clean-up. Melt wax form old candles(save the stubs from altar candles) in a coffee can set in a pot of boiling water. Add any essential oil you want for scent(or scent blocks from a candle supply store). Scoop out a candle mold in wet sand(you can make a cauldron by scooping out the sand and using a finger to poke three "feet" in the sand). Hold the wick(you can get these ready-made in arts and crafts stores)in the center and gently pour in the melted wax. Wait until it hardens, then slip your fingers under the candle and carefully lift it out and brush off the excess sand.

String indian corn on black thread for a necklace.

If the Sabbat falls on a rainy day, you could collect rainwater in a glass or earthenware container, add dried mugwort, and use to empower objects.

Create and bury a Witch's Bottle. This is a glass jar with sharp pointy things inside to keep away harm. You can use needles, pins, thorns, thistles, nails, and bits of broken glass; it's a good way to dispose of broken crockery, old sewing equipment, and the pins that come in new clothes. Bury it near the entry to the house(like next to the driveway or the front door), or inside a large planter.

Do a Harvest Chant when serving the corn bread at dinner: The Earth Mother grants the grain, The orned God goes to his domain. By giving life into her grain, The God dies then is born again.

Make a Corn Dolly to save for next Imbolc. Double over a bundle of wheat and tie it near the top to form a head. Take a bit of the fiber from either side of the main portion and twist into arms that you tie together in fromnt of the dolly. Add a small bouquet of flowers to the "hands," and then you can decorate the dolly with a dress and bonnet(the dress and bonnet may be made out of corn husks if you wish, or and cotton material is fine too).

Collect blackberries and make a fresh pie marked with the Solar Cross.

Have a magickal picnic with libations to the earth of bread and wine.

Sprout whear germ in a terra cotta saucer(these can be found in nureries for use under terra cotta flower pots). The sprouts can be added to homemade bread or used as an offering. Children enjoy planting the seeds and watching them grow, too.

God the grain, Lord of rebirth. Return in spring, Renew the Earth.

Make a Solar Wheel or Corn Man Wheel:

Turn a wire hanger into a circle(standard circle material for wreaths too), keeping the hook to hang it by. Make a small cardboard disk to glue the corn tips onto. You can decorate it with any design, for example, a pentagram or sun.

Place ears of Indian "squaw" corn(it is smaller than regualr corn and fits easily on a coat hanger)with the tips inthe center of the circle and secure with hot glue to the cardboard disk. Use eight ears for a Solar Wheel, or five ears for a Corn Man. If all the ears of corn meet just right you won't need the disk, but if they are uneven the disk is helpful. Wrap a bit of the husks of each ear around the wire on either side of the ear of corn, leaving some to stand out free from the corn. Let dry overnight and hang on the front door.

Other activities:

bake breads, make preserves, canning
make corn dollies (burn previous years, and bury)
bless tools
make corn necklaces
spells for money
prepare house for fall
corn husking contests

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 11, 2012 at 10:08am

Corn Husk Dolls

Corn dollys bring health, wealth and general prosperity to the land or property owner. A simple ritual could include writing a special wish with a marker onto the dolly (good health for a friend?) and burn the dolly.

Items Needed:
Corn husks
Large bowl of water
Twine or string
Scissors
Old pieces of fabric
Watercolors or markers
Glue

Soak the cornhusks in warm water for an hour, until they become pliable. Gather several of the damp husks and then tie them together with a piece of twine about ½ inch from one end. To make the head, hold the knotted end in one fist, then fold the husks down (as though you were peeling a banana) so that they cover the knotted end. Smooth out the husks to make a face, then secure them with a piece of twine around the doll's neck. To make the arms, roll up a single husk and tie it off at both ends. Position the arms up between the husks, under the doll's neck. Smooth the husks over the arms to form the chest and back then cinch in the waist with twine. For a skirt or legs, arrange several husks, inverted (like a skirt that has blown up over the doll's head) around the waist. Secure with twine, then fold the skirt down. For legs, divide the husks into two parts, tying each bunch at the knees and ankles To make clothes, hair, hats or other headpieces, glue on little pieces of fabric You can use markers and watercolors to give the illusion of facial features. Glitter can be added as well as any other decorations to the Corn Husk Doll.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 11, 2012 at 10:07am

LUGHNASADH

Kathleen Dupree

The grain is ripe for harvest. Apple trees and gardens bear forth the fruits of summer. This is the time of Lughnasadh, the ancient Celtic festival held in celebration of the first fruits of the harvest.

The modern Irish spelling, Lúnasa, is the name of the month of August in Irish Gaelic. Lughnasadh, an older spelling, is often used to designate the name of the seasonal festival that surrounds the first day of the month of August. In Scots Gaelic the day is known as Lunasda or Lunasdal. This is the time that marks a rest from labor, a time to take stock of what the summer sun has yielded. It is a time to celebrate and enjoy the outcome of our daily toil.

Lughnasadh is named for Lugh, the Celtic deity who presides over the arts and sciences. According to Celtic legend, Lugh decreed that a commemorative feast be held each year at the beginning of the harvest season to honor his foster mother, Tailtiu. Tailtiu was the royal Lady of the Fir Bolg. After the defeat of her people by the Tuatha De Dannan, she was obliged by them to clear a vast forest for the purpose of planting grain. She died of exhaustion in the attempt. The legend states that she was buried beneath a great mound named for her, at the spot where the first feast of Lughnasadh was held in Ireland, the hill of Tailte. At this gathering were held games and contests of skill as well as a great feast made up of the first fruits of the summer harvest.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 11, 2012 at 10:07am

Games and contests in honor of the dead were an ancient tradition across Europe. It has been suggested that the Olympic Games may originally have been held to commemorate the deeds of heroes who had died in battle. Offering up a portion of the harvest to the Gods and the Ancestors and feasting in their honor was also a common tradition in Europe and in indigenous cultures throughout the world.

As years passed, traditions surrounding the feast at Tailte began to solidify into events and ceremonial activities designed to celebrate not only Tailtiu and the bounty of the harvest that her original sacrifice provided but also to honor the work and sacrifice of human beings as they strove to provide sustenance for their families and community

The name of Lugh is derived from the old Celtic word "lugio", meaning "an oath". A traditional part of the celebrations surrounding Lughnasadh have been the formation of oaths. From before recorded history into the twentieth century marriages, employment contracts and other bargains of a mundane nature were formed and renewed at this time of year. Since the agricultural year had its culmination in the harvest and the harvest festivals, oaths and contracts that had to wait until after the corps were in could be focused on at this time. Marriages, hiring for the upcoming season and financial arrangements were often a part of the Lughnasadh activities and in many areas fairs were held specifically for the purpose of hiring or matchmaking.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 11, 2012 at 10:07am

In the Celtic nations of Europe traditions surrounding Lughnasadh still continue from pre-Christian times. Most often, celebration of the holiday occurs on the first Sunday of August or the Sunday just before the first day of August. In modern Ireland the tradition still continues that on the last Sunday of July families ascend into the hills of the countryside to pick bilberries. The bilberries are symbolic of the bounty of Mother Earth at this time of year and of the fruits harvested in that ancient time when Tailltiu made a place for the grain that would feed the generations to come after her. With the coming of Christianity to the Celtic lands, the old festival of Lughnasadh took on Christian symbolism. Loaves of bread were baked from the first of the harvested grain and placed on the church altar on the first Sunday of August. The Christianized name for the feast of Lughnasadh is Lammas which means "loaf mass". And, of course, there are the fairs which are still held all across Europe and America.

It is Lughnasadh that gave rise to the country fairs which have always traditionally been held in late August or early September in the Appalachian region of America. The early European settlers to the new land brought with them the tradition of celebrating the fruits of their summer labor and the harvest fair.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 11, 2012 at 10:07am

The small town country fair is the American Lughnassadh tradition. The agricultural competitions and midway games echo the ancient days when people gathered to pay homage to the land and the fruits of their labor and to take to take time for community reverie. When we as a culture shifted our focus to city living, we lost a sense of the community oriented celebration that was with our forbearers in the old days and that still exists in smaller communities. The time of Lughnasadh reminds us that we are not alone. We need this sense accomplishment in our work, of rejoicing in what we achieve as a group, of dependence on the community we live in.

If a sense of belonging is lost to some of you, if you feel disconnected from the world around you, perhaps what you need is to seek out one of the small county fairs near you in some out of the way and still mostly agricultural community. Go there and spend your money on the midway. Go into the exhibition buildings and see the the home canned goods and traditional crafts. Stand still and be aware of the time and the effort that went into these works. These are the works of the human spirit brought into being from the bounty of nature by human labor and imagination. We would have not come this far without them. Give honor to those people among us that still know how to reap the harvest. They connect us to the Old Ways of our ancestors.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 11, 2012 at 10:06am

Correspondences

Tools, Symbols & Decorations

The sun, oak, birch & fir branches, sun flowers, lilies, red/maize/yellow or gold flower, love amulets, seashells, summer fruits & flowers, feather/flower door wreath, sun wheel, fire, circles of stone, sun dials and swords/blades, bird feathers, Witches' ladder.

Gods & Goddesses

Lugh
(Celtic, one of the Tuatha De Danaan)
The Mother, Dana
(Lugh’s wife & queen)
Demeter/Ceres
(Roman grain goddess..honored at Ceresalia)
Johnny Barleycorn
Arianrhod’s golden haired son Lleu
(Welsh God of the Sun & Corn where corn includes all grains, not just maize)
Other agricultural Goddesses
The Waxing Goddess
The Waning God

Colors

Red, Orange, Golden Yellow, Green, Light Brown, Gold, Bronze, Gray

Customs

Bonfires, processions, all night vigil, singing, feasting, celebrating with others, cutting divining rods, dowsing rods & wands, herb gathering, handfastings, weddings, Druidic gathering of mistletoe in oak groves, needfires, leaping between two fires, mistletoe(without berries, use as a protection amulet), women walking naked through gardens to ensure continued fertility, enjoying the seasonal fruits & vegetables, honor the Mother's fullness, richness and abundance, put garlands of St. John’s Wort placed over doors/ windows & a sprig in the car for protection.

Comment by Dept of PMM Artists & things on July 11, 2012 at 10:05am

Animals/Mythical Beings

Griffins, basilisks, roosters, calves, centaurs, phoenix

Gemstones

Aventurine, citrine, peridot, sardonyx, yellow diamondsand citrine

Herbs

Grain, acacia, heather, ginseng, sloe, cornstalks, cyclamen, fenugreek, aloes, frankincense, sunflower, hollyhock, oak leaf, wheat,myrtle

Incense/Oil

Wood aloes, rose, rose hips, rosemary, chamomile, eucalyptus, safflower, corn, passionflower, frankincense, sandalwood

Rituals/Magicks

Astrology, prosperity, generosity, continued success, good fortune, abundance,magickal picnic, meditate & visualize yourself completing a project you’ve started.

Foods

Loaves of homemade wheat, oat, & corn bread, barley cakes, corn, potatoes, summer squash, nuts, acorns, wild berries (any type), apples, rice, pears, berry pies, elderberry wine, crab apples, mead, crab, blackberries, meadowsweet tea, grapes, cider, beer

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