Remember the Earth - A Ritual for Lughnasadh - A Ritual for Lammas Harvest Sabbat

Remember the Earth

A Ritual for Lughnasadh

An original ritual by Dena L Moore – http://www.throughnightsfire.com

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The Remember the Earth Ritual is to be worked on any day from August 1-8^th. Lughnasadh is typically celebrated on the 1^st, but using astrological knowledge, it is celebrated when the Sun reaches 15 degrees of Leo.

If you want me to create a ritual kit for you, just drop me an email at Dena@throughnightsfire.com

Lughnasadh (pronounced loo-na-sa), also known as Lammas, marks the first of the harvest sabbats. This is the time to remember the Earth, to acknowledge the many sacrifices she has made over the centuries for humans. Without her support, we would be homeless...lifeless.

While some paths sacrifice the god at this sabbat, others choose to offer sacrifice to the gods and goddesses. An offering of thanks and goodwill would help ensure a full and bountiful harvest to help us survive the dark winter months.

This is also a time to make commitments, to yourself and to your loved ones.  Clear out the clutter, wipe away the cobwebs, and discard those parts of your life that are no longer needed. Share a part of yourself with others, make offerings to the gods and goddesses, and remember those who have come before.  Who has walked the Earth before you? Who has made offerings and blessed the Earth? It is now your turn...as the wheel of the year turns, take your place in the whole.

This ritual is best performed outside, but if you cannot manage it, try to take a walk before or after the ritual to commune with nature and our mother herself.  Although this ritual is written for solitary practice, a group could easily make a few changes for group participation.

Items needed:

One Woodland Wonders Crystal Journey candle set (4 candles) – Available at http://www.venusilluminated.com under candlegift sets

Hawthorn berries

Enchanted Forest handrolled incense

Matches, a lighter, or a lighting stick

4 plates or candle holders--make sure they are not plastic. Ceramic or glass will work best.

Water or a candle snuffer.

Incense (ash) catcher

A small loaf or slice of fruit or vegetable (such as zucchini) bread

Chalice or other container full of fresh water

Additional items needed if choosing the effigy option:

Cauldron

A handmade straw doll...to be used as a decoration or as an effigy, depending on your desires

Directions:

(Directions for sacrificing the effigy are at the end of the ritual)

Bake or purchase your bread the day before the ritual. It will have much more meaning if you bake it yourself. Make or purchase your straw doll before the ritual as well.

Create your sacred space. If you do not have a particular practice and are new at ritual, imagine yourself and perhaps your entire property encircled in the protective white light of the universe. This can be a circle or a bubble, whichever you feel the most comfortable with. Never blow your candles out. Use water and pinch them out or a candle snuffer.

After creating your space, place the four candles on candle plates (or in votive holders) in a shape symbolizing the 4 directions—one candle to the north, south, east, and west. Use your intuition to determine which candle goes where. Space the candles wide enough so that you may sit or stand at the center of them.  Place the doll, cup of water, and bread at the center.  Sprinkle the hawthorn berries along the perimeter of your circle, or you may leave a trail from one candle to the other (forming a square/diamond shape).  Light the incense and reinforce your protected space. Light all 4 candles in whatever order you choose.

Sit in the center of the circle with the doll, water, and the bread.  Hold the doll in your hand as you begin the following blessing (Please feel free to add, subtract, or change any part of this blessing):

I bless the Earth, for all she’s born.

I bless the Earth, for all she’s given me,

For all she’s given my ancestors, and fellow kind.

I bless the Earth for the bounty of the harvest,

The flowing rivers, and oxygen rich woodlands.

Break the bread in half, and continue:

I thank the Earth for this bread, which will sustain me

As it has sustained the lives of centuries.

Bite into the bread. Chew slowly and swallow. Take the chalice in hand:

I thank the Earth for this water, which will sustain me

As it has sustained the lives of centuries.

Take a sip of the water. Eat half of the bread, but save the rest for later in the ritual. Drink more water. Repeat the first part of the blessing.

If you are outdoors (if you are not outdoors, save the bread for your walk and leave a trail of crumbs as you walk), crumble the rest of the bread up and spread it out on the ground within the circle.  As you crumble the bread, offer thanks to the Gods/Goddesses or to the universe...this is your offering, so give to those your are attuned with or fits with your life and beliefs. Feel your connection to nature fully and embrace it lovingly.

Allow the candles to burn for as long as you can. Discard of the ‘leavings’ in any manner you desire. You can discard the straw figure or keep it until next Lughnasadh.

If you wish to ‘sacrifice’ the God—symbolized by the straw figure:

Have the cauldron with you in the center of the circle. After eating and drinking but before crumbling the bread, set the straw figure on fire in the cauldron while adding your own words/beliefs as the figure burns.

This ritual is the original work of DenaL Moore, aka Venuskitty, of Through Night’s Fire Astrology

Please direct any questions, comments, or concerns to Dena at Dena@throughnightsfire.com

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Focus on: Summer Solstice Herbs - St. John's Wort

Some of the most popular herbs used in ritual at the Summer Solstice (Midsummer/Litha/Sun Blessing) are St. John’s Wort, lavender, mistletoe, vervain, and fern.  For the traditional herbalist who grows or gathers his or her own herbs, Midsummer Eve is the night to gather fern, mistletoe, St John’s Wort, and vervain.  It is a good time to discard of the old mistletoe and vervain and gather enough of these plans tto dry for use in the coming year.  Other plants are widely used in summer solstice rituals and celebrations, including rose, violet, chamomile, honeysuckle, basil, mint, rosemary, mugwort, and star anise, depending on what tradition you follow and your location on Gaea.

As St. John’s Wort (hypericum perforatum) is one of the most popular plants used at the Summer Solstice, I have chosen to highlight this particular gift from our Mother Earth here.

St. John's Wort

St John’s Wort is a plant that grows tall and slender with bright yellow flowers and due to its abundant growth in places it is not always wanted, it is

sometimes considered a ‘pest’ plant or weed. It is a dominating and invasive plant that can upset ecosystems, so if you grow your own strive to do so in an enclosed area. A large pot may be best. If you are gathering the plant in the wild, be sure to wait until it is flowering and then only harvest about a third of the plant, including leaves, stems, and flowers.  

A similar plant known as the Rose of Sharon grows closer to the earth and has more showy flowers.  One good way to know you have St. John’s Wort and not Rose of Sharon is to pinch one of the flowers. St. John’s Wort ‘bleeds’ a red oil when you pinch the flowers, making it an easy way to determine if you have the right plant. Another way to identify the plant is to check its stem, as St. John’s Wort has a wood-like stem with double-ridges running down its length. The flower petals often have dark spots or streaks, which also helps to identify the plant.

Rose of Sharon

This is a plant with many diverse and medicinal uses, particularly as an herbal remedy for depression, but I would like to focus on the ritual uses of St. John’s Wort and why it is used at the Summer Solstice.  This plant is known in the craft by several different names:  Goat Weed, rosin rose, chase-devil, Tipton Weed, and Klamath Weed. Long before John the Baptist walked the earth, practitioners were using St. John’s Wort both medicinally and in their ritual work.  St. John’s Wort is classified as a masculine herb, an herb which is associated with the Sun and is of the element Fire.

The Summer Solstice is the best time of year to gather the plant as it begins blossoming in June and is ready to be harvested by the time the Sun moves into Cancer (around the 20th – 22nd of each year astrologically). This year, 2013, the Sun moves into the water sign Cancer at 1:04 am on June 21st (US East Coast). The Moon will be in Scorpio at the exact time the Sun moves into Cancer but void of course. For the most potent gathering this year, it may be better to wait until the Moon moves into the Fire sign of Sagittarius early in the morning (4:31 am EDT). Get up early (or stay up late!) and gather St John’s Wort before the Sun rises, especially in the hotter regions of the world. A little dampness or dew is believed to imbue the herb with a more potent, balanced energy, taming the fiery energy (fire can easily get out of control) yet helping it to flow more readily…this is especially helpful if you plan to use the herb in love spells. 

St. John’s Wort is considered a protective herb and can be carried or worn to help ward off darker energy and spirits. Like many things pagan, early Christians took the knowledge of the wise ones and placed their own stories and beliefs on top or changed it to demonize those who did not follow the same path. This is true of St. John’s Wort, an herb of great value and power that we still, even with all the scientific research and study,  to this day, do not fully understand. The early Christians named the herb St. John’s Wort after John the Baptist, who was born on June 24^th. The red oil of St. John’s Wort was considered to represent the spilled blood of their Saint.

An old English poem contains the following verse about St. John’s Wort and how it would keep the ‘witches’ and devils away, showing the age old fear of magic and ritual of  the craft. Strangely enough, the witches (the wise ones) were probably the only ones who originally knew how to use the herb!

St. John’s wort doth charm all witches away

If gathered at midnight on the saint’s holy day.

Any devils and witches have no power to harm

Those that gather the plant for a charm:

Rub the lintels and post with that red juicy flower

No thunder nor tempest will then have the power

To hurt or hinder your houses: and bind

Round your neck a charm of similar kind.

We see here, however, a use of the herb that is still commonly practiced. St. John’s Wort is woven into a wreath or necklace and hung around the house or around the neck for protection, to keep away the dark and negative – or ‘evil’ – energies. The necklaces or bracelets made of the Midsummer harvest of St John’s wort can be used as potent love charms as this herb is also one that is commonly used to attract a lover or enhance sensuality in a relationship.

Midsummer is a time to draw love, enhance fertility, and to make use of the heightened creativity of the Sun in the Moon’s natural sign of Cancer. 

Midsummer is the longest day of the year and thus, also the shortest night of the year.  Symbolically, God and Goddess now join in a loving, gentle relationship. The passion and ecstasy of Beltane has given way to a more solid and enduring union.  The Moon Goddess is at her most sensuous; the Sun God is at his highest physical peak. Together they hold the power of creation.  Midsummer is a time to celebrate and ask for Prosperity, Fertility, and a bountiful harvest.  The Universe is eager to grant wishes at Midsummer and using St. John’s Wort at this time enhances the magic of this solstice point. St. John’s Wort can strengthen desire and motivate one to make their dreams come true.

How to use:

Gather, dry, and preserve St. John’s Wort over the Solstice and through St. John’s birthday, June 24^th (when many people celebrate St. John’s Day or Midsummer, although the solstice astrologically occurs days earlier) for the greatest potency. If you are able, obtain and preserve enough to use throughout the year in your ritual work. If you have leftover herb from the previous years harvest, focus on one of your greatest desires and then burn it all in a great fire. Bonfires are common, so if you are attending one, you may want to take along your old herb. If you want a more private and sacred space to do your work, create your own fire in a fire pit or fireplace and burn your old herb there while you focus your intent and ask for what you want.

Weave the longer pieces of the fresh plant into wreaths, necklaces, bracelets, or rings. Allow them to dry before using. Be sure to focus your intent while you are weaving. You can change the energy of the wreaths by adding additional herbs, spells, or psychic energy into the work. For instance, if you are making a ring to attract love, you can burn rose incense, chant a love spell, and focus on what you would love in a partner. If you are making a protective wreath, you would focus on protection and safety or perhaps banishing if you need help with a specific problem.

St. John’s Wort can be dried and chopped into small pieces, ground into a powder, made into a tea, made into tinctures and skin balms, soaked in oil to make St. John’s oil…there are multitudes of uses.

Whenever you need to add the Sun’s energy to your work, you can use St. John’s Wort.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This article also appeared in my June 2013 New Moon & Summer Solstice Edition of the Venus Illuminated's Metaphysical Newsletter

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