Lughnasadh - August 1 or 2
Lughnasadh is a Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the autumn harvest season. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Originally it was held on 1 August, or about halfway between the summer solstice and autumn equinox (or the first full moon in Leo) and corresponds to other European harvest such as the Welsh Gwyl Awst and the English Lammas
The festival Of Lughnasadh itself is named after the god Lugh. It involved great gatherings that included religious ceremonies, ritual athletic contests (such as the Tailtenne Games), feasting,match-making and trading. There were also visits to local holy wells.
Historically, other religious rites included an offering of the first of the corn, a feast of the new food and of bilberries, the sacrifice of a bull and a ritual dance-play would have taken place on top of hills and mountains. Much of these - sans the sacrifice of an actual bull - can be adapted to modern practices and rituals today.
Rites and Rituals for Lughnasadh
Magical Bread Rite for Health and Abundance
Set your altar with your standard tools and use candles in orange, gold, or yellow. Add fresh sunflowers, orange day lilies, or daisies.
Prepare a bread dough as you like - make your own or use a frozen loaf that you have allowed to thaw.
Once the dough is ready (or thawed) place in a floured and greased bowl and sprinkle in the following fresh herbs:
*Basil - prosperity
*Parsley - protection
*Rosemary - Health
With floured hands kneed the herbs into the dough chanting
"Herbs of Sun and Earth and Rain , your powers now I hope to gain. Plants of plenty and leaves of health - bring to me abundance and wealth!"
As you chant and kneed feel the energy move through your arms and hands and into the bread dough. When you feel that the dough is charged with your intent cover the dough with a damp cloth and allow to double in size. Once this has done, punch it down and bake as normal (350* for 45 minutes or so).
When the bread has been baked and cooled place is on your altar.
Altar Rite -
*On set altar place your magical bread.
*Cleanse and consecrate your space as tradition or desire dictates.
*Light the altar candles except the one that is designated for The God
*Cast your circle and call the quarters as you wish to do so
*Invoke Lugh - "Great God of Plenty and the Bright Sun - Shining One of The Sword - Join me here in my Harvest Circle where we can share the bread of abundance and health that your presence has provided! Hail and Welcome- Lugh!"
* Light the altar candle designated for The God
* With your hands on the loaf of bread literally count your blessings! Take several minutes to bring forth in your mind those things and people that make your life happy and abundant. Please take your time here. When you feel full to the brim with gratitude and thankfulness for what has been provided to you hold the bread above your head and proclaim "ALL OF THESE AND MORE FOR THE COMING YEAR! SO BE IT!"
Stomp your right foot soundly on the ground and place the bread on altar.
Cakes and Ale Ceremony
* Tear off a piece of bread and offer it to Lough with words or poems that are right and fitting for you.
*Tear off a piece and eat it yourself.
*If working with a group pass the remaining loaf around deosil with each person offering it to the next saying 'May you never hunger"
*Hold the chalice of wine or juice over your head and offer it to Lugh with poems or words that are right and fitting for you.
*Take a drink of the wine or juice yourself and if working with a group pass it around deosil each to the next with the words "may you never thirst"
Return to your altar (if you have left it) and bid farewell to Lugh with thanks as is fitting for you or your group. Release the quarters or Guardians and take up your circle. Place any left over bread and juice in your garden with thanks.
*This ritual and all of its components is written by Annie Russell - please reference this website when sharing*
September 21 Mabon ~ Autumn Equinox ~ Alban Elfed
The Autumn Equinox - when night and day are equal- celebrates the second harvest of grain and grapes as well as the coming death of The God. The darkening colors and shorter times of sunlight (in the Northern Hemisphere) symbolize The Lady beginning Her mourning of Her lover as He begins His journey to Death - He walks between the worlds at this time and is honored as The Lord of Mysteries.
Mabon - by all of its names - is a time for contemplation and preparation for the long winter ahead but also a time of great celebration and thankfulness for the harvest provided so far.
Colors of the Season : Dark greens, russet browns, gold, dark reds and rusts, dark purples and deep yellow.
Decorations for the Mabon Altar Sunflowers, grapes, fall leaves, acorns and other nuts, wine and cider, apples, baked bread or oat cakes, gold or orange candles
Magics and Workings for the Autumn Equinox -
*Gather and bless the last of the herbs for drying and keeping.
*Bake bread with the grains and fruits of the season
*Perform candle magic for a prosperous and comfortable winter season
*Conduct a group or solitary rite asking the The Lord of Mysteries to walk with you between the worlds for special messages and prophesies for the darker months using guided meditations or shamanic journeying
Mabon - by all of its names - is a time for contemplation and preparation for the long winter ahead but also a time of great celebration and thankfulness for the harvest provided so far.
Colors of the Season : Dark greens, russet browns, gold, dark reds and rusts, dark purples and deep yellow.
Decorations for the Mabon Altar Sunflowers, grapes, fall leaves, acorns and other nuts, wine and cider, apples, baked bread or oat cakes, gold or orange candles
Magics and Workings for the Autumn Equinox -
*Gather and bless the last of the herbs for drying and keeping.
*Bake bread with the grains and fruits of the season
*Perform candle magic for a prosperous and comfortable winter season
*Conduct a group or solitary rite asking the The Lord of Mysteries to walk with you between the worlds for special messages and prophesies for the darker months using guided meditations or shamanic journeying
Samhain- All Hallows, Halloween. Oct.31 or Sun at 15* of Scorpio. The New Year
"Hoof and horn, hoof and horn
All that dies shall be reborn
Corn and grain, corn and grain
All that falls shall rise again"
Ian Corrighan
Samhain, All Hallows, or Halloween is THE quintessential Witches holiday. It symbolizes the end of one season and the beginning of another- it is the border time; the place in between where the veils thin and the Ancestors walk. The Fae change courts and the Unseelie reign with their wild hunt. Carved Pumpkins are put out to confuse the malignant spirits and offerings of sweets and candles set about to welcome the wandering Ancestors and Nature Spirits. Samhain is at once a celebration and a time of contemplation. A time of closure and of beginnings.
Colors of the Season - Black, Gold, Red, Orange, Deep Yellow, Purple, Silver.
Decorations for the Samhain Altar - Pumpkins carved or not, apples and root vegetables, candles , red wine and cider, sweets and cakes, bones, skeletons, and skulls.
Tools- Divination devices, Cauldron, Stangs and Staves, Candles, Ancestor and Spirit Offerings
Oils & Herbs - Frankincense, Myrrh, Cinnamon, Coriander, Anise.
Deities & Spirits The Morrigan, Herne, Wayland the Smith, Hekatate, Persephone, Hades, Hagel, Baron Samedi, ManMan Bridgette, The Ghede, The Mighty Dead, The Unseelie Court of the Fae, the Wild Hunt, your Ancestors.
Purpose and Workings - Honoring the Dead, Erecting and maintaining an Ancestor Altar, Bring in the Dark half of the year, Divinations and Charms work well due to the thinning of the veil.
Yule. Alban Arthus, Teill Fionane, Winter Solstice. Dec 21
Yule is a time of re birth of awakening. The new born sun (son) is once again apart of this realm with the promise of life, warmth, and joy after the longest and darkest nights of the year that lead up to this one. This is a celebratory time with much merry making, family time and feasting - 'Life Goes On and the Sun (son) Returns!'
Customs & Symbols - Candles, Light, Singing, Decorating the inside of the house with ever greens, Feasting, Gift-giving, Dawn Vigils, Family gathering, Burning or Lighting a Yule Log, Making/displaying wreaths, Pineapples and other Fruit.
Colors of the Season - Bright Red, Green, White, Silver, Gold
Rituals & Magics - Personal Renewal, Peace & Harmony, Festival of Lights, Abundance & Plenty
Deities & Spirits - Reindeer, Stag, Wren/Robin, Oak King/Holly King, Shamans, Elves, Stag, Doves, The Cailleach, The Mother Goddess, The Sun King/Child, Angelic Beings.
Foods - Nuts, apples, pears, oranges, pork, ginger, cider, red wine, roasted fowl,eggnog, cakes & cookies
Herbs - Holly, Oak, Evergreens, Moss, Sage, Clove, Cinnamon, Bay, Bayberry, Cedar, Frankincense, Myrrh, Rosemary, Yarrow, Chamomile.
Stones - Bloodstone, Diamond, Garnet.
Magics and Rituals - lighting the yule log, making wreaths for abundance and prosperity, ritually cleansing the home, decorating an every green tree, chants and singing, giving away of food, clothing, gifts to others.
Customs & Symbols - Candles, Light, Singing, Decorating the inside of the house with ever greens, Feasting, Gift-giving, Dawn Vigils, Family gathering, Burning or Lighting a Yule Log, Making/displaying wreaths, Pineapples and other Fruit.
Colors of the Season - Bright Red, Green, White, Silver, Gold
Rituals & Magics - Personal Renewal, Peace & Harmony, Festival of Lights, Abundance & Plenty
Deities & Spirits - Reindeer, Stag, Wren/Robin, Oak King/Holly King, Shamans, Elves, Stag, Doves, The Cailleach, The Mother Goddess, The Sun King/Child, Angelic Beings.
Foods - Nuts, apples, pears, oranges, pork, ginger, cider, red wine, roasted fowl,eggnog, cakes & cookies
Herbs - Holly, Oak, Evergreens, Moss, Sage, Clove, Cinnamon, Bay, Bayberry, Cedar, Frankincense, Myrrh, Rosemary, Yarrow, Chamomile.
Stones - Bloodstone, Diamond, Garnet.
Magics and Rituals - lighting the yule log, making wreaths for abundance and prosperity, ritually cleansing the home, decorating an every green tree, chants and singing, giving away of food, clothing, gifts to others.
Imbolc -Candlemas February 2nd
The first of February belongs to Brigid , 'The Exalted One' or 'The Fiery Arrow'. Her festival is on Feb 1 or 2 and is known as Imbolc or Olmec - both terms which refer to the lactating of ewes, the flow of milk that heralds the return of the life-giving forces of Spring. Candlemas is the term given the holiday that refers to Her worship as St Brighid by the Catholic Church in the early Middle Ages.
Brigid is the daughter of The Dagda (The Great or Good God) of the Tuatha de Danaan. She rules over regeneration, abundance, smith-craft, prophesy and poetry, weaving, divination and justice.
(She traveled far with the enslaved Irish to the West Indies and Haiti where She became a vital part of the Voodoun pantheon of Llwa as ManMan Bridgette the red haired skeletal faced wife of Baron Samedi. With Him She rules graveyards, matters of justice and protection of women and children.)
Lough of the Irish/Celtic pantheon is also honored at this time. His name translates to 'The Shining One" and He is the God of Light, the Sun, and the Harvest. Lough reigns over the Light Half of the Year as the Consort of Brigid (The Goddess) at Imbolc but he is honored singularly at the Sabatt that bears His name- Loughnassadh.
Herbs- Lavender, Lilies or any white blooms, Seeds, Ever green Boughs, Salt
Colors - All soft, spring colors such as lavender, pink, light green, soft yellow.
Stones - Rose Quartz, Amethyst, Tiger's Eye, Sugalite, Labradolite, Clear Quartz
Food - Milk & Porridge Dishes, Custards, Rice, Poppy-seed Baked Goods, Cream-based soups
Objects & Concepts - Candles, Fires, Flames, Cauldrons, Melted Snow, Oil Lamps, Swords, Initiations & Dedications, Beginnings, Purification. This is a perfect time of year to make your own ritual candles and/or incenses.
Brigid is the daughter of The Dagda (The Great or Good God) of the Tuatha de Danaan. She rules over regeneration, abundance, smith-craft, prophesy and poetry, weaving, divination and justice.
(She traveled far with the enslaved Irish to the West Indies and Haiti where She became a vital part of the Voodoun pantheon of Llwa as ManMan Bridgette the red haired skeletal faced wife of Baron Samedi. With Him She rules graveyards, matters of justice and protection of women and children.)
Lough of the Irish/Celtic pantheon is also honored at this time. His name translates to 'The Shining One" and He is the God of Light, the Sun, and the Harvest. Lough reigns over the Light Half of the Year as the Consort of Brigid (The Goddess) at Imbolc but he is honored singularly at the Sabatt that bears His name- Loughnassadh.
Herbs- Lavender, Lilies or any white blooms, Seeds, Ever green Boughs, Salt
Colors - All soft, spring colors such as lavender, pink, light green, soft yellow.
Stones - Rose Quartz, Amethyst, Tiger's Eye, Sugalite, Labradolite, Clear Quartz
Food - Milk & Porridge Dishes, Custards, Rice, Poppy-seed Baked Goods, Cream-based soups
Objects & Concepts - Candles, Fires, Flames, Cauldrons, Melted Snow, Oil Lamps, Swords, Initiations & Dedications, Beginnings, Purification. This is a perfect time of year to make your own ritual candles and/or incenses.