Lammas

Early Wiccans celebrated "August Eve" on 1st August, now known as Lammas. It is the second of the harvest festivals, Litha being the first on 1st July and Madron, the third, celebrated on 1st September.




In the Wiccan wheel of the year, with an ever changing God, the Corn God is commemorated and sacrificed to make way for the God of the harvest. Corn is considered as an aspect of the Sun God and as such, people have made Corn Dollies in various different patterns to show the passing of this time of the year. It is also a time to celebrate the first fruits of the harvest, namely the grain, which is used to make bread.



The Celtic God Lugh is their deity of light and wisdom and this festival is called Lughnasadh in Ireland in honour of him. In Ireland, it is a time for hand-fasting, a trial marriage, which lasts for a year and a day. If the trial is successful, then the marriage goes ahead and is supposed to last a life-time.



It is a time for bonfires and dancing, a time to ask the Sun God for his blessing on the full harvest to come.

Celtic people have travelled to other parts of the world. For example, in Switzerland, August 1st is a national holiday. They celebrate it with bonfires. It is a practice that can be traced back to the Lughnasadh celebrations of the Helvetii, Celtic people of the Iron Age who lived in what is now Switzerland.


In Northern Italy, Lughnasadh traditions are still incorporated into modern 1st August festivities.

The Christian church has established the ritual of blessing the fields on this day. In days gone by, it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop of wheat. In many parts of England, tenants were bound to present freshly harvested wheat to their landlords on or before the first day of August.

So, what can we do to celebrate Lammas? We could make a harvest loaf and eat it as a sacrifice to the Corn God? We could invite our friends round for an outdoor party, weather permitting, and light a bonfire as a celebration.

We could even build a Wicker Man in the field and sacrifice it to the Sun God, although that would be a bit dangerous, wouldn't it!

Whatever you do to celebrate, have a wonderful August 1st :)

The Blessing Moon

July Full Moon: The Blessing Moon, July 7th.

The Full Moon in July heralds in the time of the thunderstorms and the hottest days of the year, called the “dog days of summer.” In ancient Egypt, the dog star, Sithor, rose with the sun the most extreme heat. This star was considered a second sun, which they believed added to the heat. Egyptians celebrated the “dog days” because, when the star rose with the sun, the Nile’s annual flood would commence and bring life back to the land. In this time, it’s easy to have short tempers and little patience. Under this Thunder Moon, you could work for patience, peace, and, of course, a cooling summer shower.

Under this steamy Thunder Moon so bright,
I call for patience, peace, and calm this night.
May a cooling summer rain come bless the land soon,
Bringing relief, and joy to the earth, like a boon.
For the good of all, with harm to none,
By the Thunder Moon this spell is done!

--Ellen Dugan

The Tree of Life

Be aware that, like a tree, you live a life on three levels.

The roots of your tree are the dark places. These include areas where your mind takes over, undertaking periods of study or quiet reflection and meditation.

The trunk of your tree is the life around you. Use your senses to experience this. It is the stability in your life, the sense of duty. It is the constant force, which allows others to depend on you for nourishment. It is the working part of your life, which itself draws on its roots to provide the strength it needs to grow.

The rowan tree is the mythological Tree of Life. It bears special fruit every month at each quarter of the year. This associates it with both the lunar and solar cycles. The berries of this tree were believed to stave off hunger month by month, to heal the wounded and to add a year to people's lives.

In another ancient myth, the Celtic God Lugh, asked the sons of Tuirenn to acquire for him, the apples, which grow in the Garden of Light over an ocean.

In Western legend, the apple orchards of Paradise were known as 'the Isles of the Blessed.' and they housed the Tree of Knowledge upon which three sacred apples grew. The boughs of this sacred tree pointed to the north, indicating the region traversed by the sun from spring through summer to autumn and also pointed south to the region of the dominion of winter, when the sun is beneath the horizon, the traditional place of the Underworld. The serpent, which guarded the tree and its saved apples, was seen as the goddess Ceridwen, guarding the knowledge of the seasons.

Shellmo has allowed me to use this prayer for the woods. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

The Bach Flower Remedies

Between the years 1930 and 1936, Edward Bach, M.B.,B.S.,M.R.C.S.,L.R.C.P.,D.P.H., found, perfected and put into use, a system of medicine as simple as it is has proved effective. After a successful career in London, He abandoned a lucrative practice to seek and find herbs which would heal the sick, but from which no ill-effects could be derived.

Dr. Bach taught that the basis of disease was to be found in disharmony between the spiritual and mental aspects of a human being. This disharmony, to be found wherever conflicting moods produced unhappiness, mental torture, fear, or lassitude and resignation, lowered the body's vitality and allowed disease to be present. For this reason the remedies he prepared were for the treatment of the mood and temperament of the patient, not for his physical illness; so that each patient becoming more himself, could increase his or her own vitality and so draw from an inward strength and an inward peace, the means to restore health.

Each patient must lead his own life and learn to lead it in freedom. Each was a different type, a different individual, and each must be treated for his personal mood and the need of the moment, not for his physical disease.

Bach wrote in his book, The Twelve Healers and Other Remedies, 'in treating cases with these remedies, no notice is taken of the nature of disease. The individual is treated as as he becomes well, the disease goes, having been cast off by the increase in health. All know that the same disease may have different effects on different people. It is the effects that need treatment, because they guide to the real cause.

The mind, being the most delicate and sensitive part of the body, shows the onset and the course of disease much more definitely than the body, so that the outlook of mind is chosen as the guide as to which remedy or remedies are necessary.'

Dr. Bach stressed that his remedies could be used in conjunction with any other form of treatment, and would not clash or interfere. Equally, they could achieve great results used alone.

My father, D.r F.J. Wheeler; who knew and worked with Dr. Bach from 1928 until his death in 1936, and who has himself achieved many remarkable results with the 38 remedies, which Dr. Bach produced, set out a repertory for the guidance and help of those who use these remedies.

These indications for the use of the remedies should be studied together with The Twelve Healers, to which they are intended to be a supplement. There can be no hard-and-fast rules in treating patients with these remedies, as each patient must be regarded as an individual and helped in the light of his personal and particular circumstances and moods. However, the basic states of mind and the remedies remain constant, and while always bearing in mind the need to retain flexibility and a mind ready to receive fresh inspiration while using these methods of treatment, this repertory should prove of assistance to those seeking to develop their own ability to choose and administer the right remedy either for themselves or for others.

It is the sincere hope of making yet a further contribution to the understanding of the true art of healing that this book was prepared.

Taken from: "Preface to 'The Bach Remedy Reperty Remedies' by Frances M. Wheeler
London 1952"

You can read more about The Bach Flower Remedies here.

Midsummer's Eve

The summer solstice, which starts tonight and continues tomorrow, is the time to weave flowers in your hair and dance the day away.

Now is the time for me to use my holy, spring water, collected in April and blessed at the last full moon, to good effect. The summer has begun and my flowers are ready to be sprinkled. It is also a good time to bless my pets, offering to them, my love and devotion in return for the pleasure they bring to me.

Wiccans can light a fire in their cauldrons, ready for the jumping o'er tonight.

This is a magickal night indeed; a holiday for the faery folk. Watch them dance in their circles on the stroke of midnight and remember to leave them something to take away, a cupcake perhaps, or a new pair of shoes?

At this time of year, the sun is at his strongest, but from tomorrow onwards, he will begin to lose his strength as the oak king prepares to give way to the holly king.

This is an excellent time to lay out a summer love garden, using seedlings prepared in the spring. Favourites of mine have to be lavender and rosemary and roses, of course. If you only have room for pots, then make your pots as attractive as possible, choosing pretty colours and decorating them with coloured ribbons and glass jewels.

At the stroke of midnight, go out into your garden, quietly and pick a white rose. Do this in secret. Clasp the rose to your bosom and make a wish for happiness in love. Now take the rose indoors and wrap it up carefully - in white tissue paper. Place it into a white shoe box and keep it til Yule (21st December). When that day comes, pin the rose to your outfit and you may receive a declaration of love before that day is out.

Midsummer is an important time to send prayers for the earth to the Sun. The earth has been planted and is ready to provide. We await the harvest. Light your beacon fires and make offerings to the Sun God, by which ever name is right for you. I will choose Lugh, the Celtic Sun God. Pray for an abundance of love, peace and food over all the earth.

What is your prayer for tomorrow going to be? Let's join hands and make those prayers come true.
Bibliography: Titania's Book of Hours and Titania's Enchanted

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