LAMMAS 2001
Written by, Blackwood

A fire is prepared and the straw and string is made ready. If no straw is available, long grass will work.

Group gathers, grounds, and performs a group breath.

Guest lights the Lamp or Candle of Art with the words: "The fire is lit, the ritual has begun."

Wolfwings:
"The wheel slips into a new place as Lammas comes again. The time of warm, golden days and cool moon-kissed nights returns, and we clebrate the season. As the wheat and the corn ripen in the fields, we make our cakes and loaves, some savory and some sweet, and we share the Earth's bounty among our kith and kin."

Foxglove:
"This is the first harvest; first of three, just as our Lady and Lord each have three faces for us. As the Maiden and the Youth are fresh and sweet, with the promise of future fullness and maturity, so is this first harvest of the Wheel fresh and sweet to us. We revel in the tastes of fruits and grow hungry at scent of the baking goods that fill our ovens."

Guest:
"The sun god dies, falling to the scythe of the farmer as he cuts the first sheaves of wheat; wheat needed to feed us, to nourish us through the long cold winter months. The sacrificed god falls, yet will rise again. We will see him, and make him part of us, in the breads and cakes made from the ground seeds; we will see, and we will taste, and we will remember his sacrifice."

Blackwood:
"Today, we celebrate Lammas, which comes to fruition in 2 days. Let us therefore use the coming days to contemplate what we are presently harvesting in our lives. If it is something concrete, then celebrate according to the fortune it brings you; if it is only ambitions, study why it is taking them so long to manifest. If it is sorrow, embrace the bitter so that you can better appreciate the sweetness that will surely come. And if you harvest good things in your life now, rejoice and count yourself truly blessed, for that is the best harvest of all."

The elements and the gods are called.

Starting in the North, Foxglove calls:
"Hail, Guardians of the watchtowers of the North, Powers of Earth! We summon, stir, and call ye up, asking you to our circle for the celebration of Lammas. Fertile plain, black bull of midnight, cornerstone of all power, prosperity and wisdom, all are your faces to men and women. Come, we humbly beseech thee! A light to guide you; a space is prepared for your greatness. Hail, and welcome." (Candle is lit)

Coven echoes, "Hail, and welcome."

Wolfwings calls East:
"Hail, Guardians of the watchtowers of the East, Powers of Air! We summon, stir, and call ye up, asking you to our circle for the celebration of Lammas. Gold eagle, whirlwind, inspiration, mental acuity, scents on the air and chimes, all are your faces to men and women. Come, we humbly beseech thee! A light to guide you; a space is prepared for your greatness. Hail, and welcome." (Candle is lit)

Coven echoes, "Hail, and welcome."

Guest goes to the South to call Fire:
"Hail, Guardians of the watchtowers of the South, Powers of Fire! We summon, stir, and call ye up, asking you to our circle for the celebration of Lammas. Volcanoes, dancing flames, mighty sun, passion and willpower, all are your faces to men and women. Come, we humbly beseech thee! A light to guide you; a space is prepared for your greatness. Hail, and welcome." (Candle is lit)

Coven echoes, "Hail, and welcome."

Blackwood moves to the West and calls:
"Hail, Guardians of the watchtowers of the West, Powers of Water! We summon, stir, and call ye up, asking you to our circle for the celebration of Lammas. Whales, sea serpents, rain, emotion and intuition, all are your faces to men and women. Come, we humbly beseech thee! A light to guide you; a space is prepared for your greatness. Hail, and welcome." (Candle is lit)

Coven echoes, "Hail, and welcome."

All call to Spirit:
"Hail, Guardians of the Watchtowers of the Inner Worlds, Powers of Spirit! We summon, stir, and call ye up, asking you to our circle for the celebration of Lammas. Unity, division, the void, echo of creation, dark and bright mirror of the Self, all are your faces to men and women. Come, we humbly beseech thee! A light to guide you; a space is prepared for your greatness. Hail, and welcome." (Candle is lit)

Earth-Water Purification
Guest and Wolfwings perform the purification.

Wolfwings cleanses the water thusly:
"Blessed be, thou creature of water.
May you serve to wash away the impurities
within this sacred space."

Guest charges the salt thusly:
"I charge this salt, element of Earth,
with the power of cleansing.
Dissolve the negativity and the impurities
within this sacred space,
in the names of Cerridwen and Cernunnos."

Guest places 3 mounds or pinches of salt in the water and stirs, saying:
"Water and Earth, sacred powers of elemental cleansing, do our will this day and purify this sacred space. Remove all energies that are worldly and let enter all energies that are sacred. Water and Earth, potion of cleansing transformation, let it be so."

Wolfwings then cleanses the circle.

Fire-Air Charging
Foxglove and Blackwood perform the charging.

Foxglove blesses the charcoal thusly:
"Blessed be thou creature of Fire.
May you serve to sanctify and ordain this sacred space. "

Blackwood charges the incense thusly:
"I charge this incense, element of Air,
with the power of sacred intent.
Bring to this circle protection, reverence, and mindfulness
of our holy purpose in this rite of Lammas,
in the names of Cerridwen and Cernunnos."

Blackwood places incense on the charcoal, saying:
"Fire and Air, sacred powers of elemental charging,
do our will this day and bless this sacred space.
Bring positive energies herein,
and ward the circle from intrusion by disruptive forces.
Fire and Air,
breath of change and hand of action,
let it be so."

Foxglove then charges the circle.

Guest casts the circle, saying these or similar words:
"I cast this circle in celebration of the first harvest, the sabbat of Lammas. We are between the worlds, out of time, out of space. So mote it be."

Coven echoes, "So mote it be."

The coven either moves to the fire or lights the fire. Foxglove says:
"Thus burns the sun, bright, but waning. We feel His gentle heat, nourishing the earth, feeding us, caressing The Mother. Mankind builds fire in imitation of Him, but we cannot replace Him. He is as She is...eternal, eminent, not transcendent. We feel Him around us...in the grass...in the warm stones...in wheat we harvest...in the fruits we eat. And now, the Grain God must die, dieing unto Himself so that He may be reborn young again. And so we seek the Sacrificed God...and in Him, we see aspects of ourselves."

Coven gets straw and string and makes straw dolls. They are made thusly:

Take a good hank of straw, and bend it in half. Take some string and tie it close to the looped section...this makes the head. Separate some straw from the main body, bend them up and away from the main bunch of straw, and do this and inch or more from where you tied the string for the head. These are the arms. Next, tie a 'belt' of string at his hips, and then separate the straw below that into two parts to make his legs; tie the legs off with string near the 'feet' or 'ankles'.

Now, the coven may decorate the straw dolls with objects that represent what they are willing to sacrifice in order to harvest good things in their life. Bad habits, prejudices, grudges, and negative traits to be worked on are all appropriate things. Or, the covers may write down these things on paper and sip them into the dolls. Anything put on the dolls should be both easily burned and/or smell sweetly. Herbs or flowers with Magickal intent may be used for this; in fact, it's ideal.

The coven 'breathes' life into the dolls, *AND* into the problems/vices to be sacrificed, naming each one silently or aloud, as they choose. They infuse the doll with their negativity, with their weaknesses. If the coven wishes, they may then chant to raise power, and channel it into their dolls. If this is what the coven wishes to do, here is a chant to use:

�Horned one, lover's son, leaper in the corn,
Deep in the Mother, first die then be reborn !�

When they reach the peak of power, or when all participants are done breathing life into the dolls, they cast them into the fire, and visualize the smoke as visible signs of the vices/prejudices, etc. ascending to the gods realm. The gods have the spiritual form of those problems, now it is time for the coveners to work on them.

Wolfwings then says:
"The spirits of the scarified rise towards the heavens, and seek the gods. Now we must concentrate on the material plane, on removing those things from our lives, so that our next harvest will be even sweeter. Like separating the chafe form the wheat, this is only the first step...we must each take further steps to cleanse ourselves and be prepared for the introspection of Winter."

Any other Work is done, then Cakes and Ale performed.

Blackwood blesses the milk/ale, saying,
"As the cup to the female,
so the athame is to the male,
and conjoined, they bring blessings."

Guest blesses the bread, saying:
"Blessings be upon this cake (or bread, etc.),
in the names of Cerridwen and Cernunnos.
May it nourish our bodies as the gods nourish our souls."

Cakes and ale are shared.

When the coven is ready, they may close down the circle, if there is no more Work to be done. However, one-card divinations are interesting. The querant asked either what they should look for as an obstacle to their harvest, or what they will be harvesting this season. They then pull one card from a tarot deck, one rune from a rune set, etc., and interpret for each other what each person thinks it means for that person.