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Lammas Rituals, Spells, and crafts

Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 2:36 pm
by Ravencry
Lammas Bread


add 1/2 cup oat meal
and 1/2 cup corn meal
to 2 cups cold water
and 1 tsp salt.

Bring to boil and cook for 5 minutes to make a porridge.

Add 2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup of either molasses (to make a dark bread) or honey (to make a light bread)

Set aside to cool.

Dissolve 1 tsp sugar
in 1/2 cup lukewarm (100F) water
sprinkle 1 tbsp dry yeast over top.
Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

When yeast is a fluffy layer on top of the water, stir briskly with a fork to mix. Add to lukewarm porridge mixture, and

stir in 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour.

Beat vigorously for five minutes. This mixing allows gluten formation, which gives the bread a springy texture.

Add another 2 1/2 cups flour.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and kneed 9 minutes. Add up to another cup of flour if the dough gets sticky. Sing appropriate chants or carols while kneading, and meditate on your gratitude for the year's harvest.

Shape into a smooth ball and place in a buttered bowl. Rotate dough in bowl to grease surface. Cover with a damp tea towel. Allow to rise until dough is doubled in volume (1 1/2 to 2 hours)

Punch dough down and divide into five equal parts. Form each into a flat round loaf, place loaves on cookie sheets, and brush with melted butter. If desired, you can cut magical symbols into the tops of the loaves with a sharp knife.

Allow to rise under the damp tea towel for another 45 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Bread will sound hollow when tapped when cooked. Brush top with melted butter and place on cake racks to cool.

As you eat this bread, meditate on the gifts you've received...and on taking in and assimilating the blessings you've put into the grains...share them with others if you wish... : )

Corn Dollies

http://www.earthwitchery.com/cornhusk.html

Lammas Incense
•1 part basil
•1/2 part cinnamon bark
•1 part coriander
•2 parts goldenrod
•1 part
•1/2 part rosemary
•2 parts Sweet Annie (you can use dried apple blossoms if you don’t have Sweet Annie)
•1 part yarrow

Lammas Apple Candle holders

Fruit is often a decoration for the Lammas altar. So why not incorporate an apple or two into a candle holder?
First, you’ll want to select some firm fruits. Red apples, early acorn squash, even eggplants work well -- apples seem to last the longest. Rinse and dry the fruit or vegetable thoroughly. Polish the outside with a soft cloth until the apple is shiny. Stand the apple up on its bottom, and use a knife or a corer to make a hole in the top where the stem is located. Go about halfway down into the apple so that the candle will have a sturdy base. Widen the hole until it’s the same diameter as your candle.
Pour some lemon juice into the hole and allow it to sit for ten minutes. This will prevent the apple from browning and softening too quickly. Pour out the lemon juice, dry out the hole, and insert a sprig of rosemary, basil, or other fresh herb of your choice. Finally, add the taper candle. Use a little bit of dripped wax to secure the taper in place
Lammas Ritual

What You Need:
•A candle to represent the Harvest Mother
•Stalks of wheat
•A loaf of bread
•Ritual wine (optional)
-Lammas Incense (optional)

1.Have a candle on your altar to represent the Harvest Mother -- choose something in orange, red or yellow. These colors not only represent the blaze of the summer sun, but also the coming changes of autumn. You'll also need a few stalks of wheat and an un-sliced loaf of bread (homemade is best, but if you can't manage, a store-bought loaf will do). A goblet of ritual wine is optional.

If your tradition requires you to cast a circle, do so now.

2.Light the candle, and say:

The Wheel of the Year has turned once more,
and the harvest will soon be upon us.
We have food on our tables, and
the soil is fertile.
Nature's bounty, the gift of the earth,
gives us reasons to be thankful.
Mother of the Harvest, with your sickle and basket,
bless me with abundance and plenty.

Hold the stalks of wheat before you, and think about what they symbolize: the power of the earth, the coming winter, the necessity of planning ahead. What do you need help planning right now? Are there sacrifices you should be making in the present that will be reaped in the future?

3.Rub the stalks between your fingers so a few grains of wheat fall upon the altar. Scatter them on the ground as a gift to the earth. If you're inside, leave them on the altar for now -- you can always take them outside later. Say:

The power of the Harvest is within me.
As the seed falls to the earth and is reborn each year,
I too grow as the seasons change.
As the grain takes root in the fertile soil,
I too will find my roots and develop.
As the smallest seed blooms into a mighty stalk,
I too will bloom where I landed.
As the wheat is harvested and saved for winter,
I too will set aside that which I can use later.

4.Tear off a piece of the bread. If you're performing this ritual as a group, pass the loaf around the circle so that each person present can take off a small chunk of bread. As each person passes the bread, they should say:

I pass to you this gift of the first harvest.

When everyone has a piece of bread, say:
As the grain dies, it transforms to bread,
and brings us life through the winter.
We bless this bread, and it blesses us in return,
and we are thankful for the gift of the harvest.


5.Everyone eats their bread together. If you have ritual wine, pass it around the circle for people to wash the bread down. Once everyone has finished their bread, take a moment to meditate on the cycle of rebirth and how it applies to your own life - physically, emotionally, spiritually. When you are ready, if you have cast a circle, close it or dismiss the quarters at this time. Otherwise, simply end the ritual in the manner of your tradition.


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 piecesdon'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.

A Harvest Spell
Set an orange candle on either side of the caldron. On a piece of paper (small)write the things you have harvested over the past year, light the paper from one of the candles and let it burn in the cauldron. After it is done put some corn (or squash) seeds in the cauldron. "Stir" the seeds with your wand visualizing white light coming from the tip of the wand, filling the cauldron and entering the seeds. When you feel the seeds have absorbed their fill stop, put the seeds into another container to be kept on the altar until next year's planting.

Another Solitary Lammas Ritual
Prepare a place for your ritual, ground yourself in your preferred way.
To ready the area:

Walk the circle with a bowl of salt:
"I walk this circle once around to cleanse and consecrate this ground."
Walk the circle with a bowl of water:
"I walk this circle once again, between the worlds, time can bend."
Walk around with lit incense:
"I walk this circle thrice this time, for the protection of the Lord and Lady are mine."

Cast the circle with your athame. Invoke the Elements, lighting a candle for each in the appropriate direction.
(This is my shorty invocation!)
"Guardians of Air, Fire, Water and Earth, I ask you to join my circle and watch over me."

Invoke the Goddess and light Her candle.
"I invoke and call upon thee, O Mother Goddess; Goddess of Grain,
Fertility, Livestock and Beasts. I call upon you Dana, Tailltiu, Barley Mother, Isis, Artemis, Bast, Gaia and Rhiannon. I invite you to my circle."

Invoke the God and light his candle.
"I invoke and call upon thee, O Father God; Lord of Sun, God of Grain and Vegatation, Master of all that is wild and free. I call upon you Lugh, Johnny Barleycorn, Amon, Attis, Cernuunos, Saturn, Adonis, Pan, The Green Man and Herne." I invite you to my circle."

For Safety ( I always say this before any kind of work. I believe this originally came from Dorothy Morrison):
"By Karmic power of number three
This spell tied and knotted be
So that its contents stay together
And can't harm humans, beasts, or weather."

Corn Dolly Ritual:
Sometimes I make a new corn doll for Lammas, sometimes I rededicate one.
Pass the doll three times thru incense smoke and say:
"O Great Mother, Spirit of the Corn
Into this dolly, ye shall be reborn.
For good harvest, now to thee
May we give thanks,
So mote it be!."
Set the dolly aside to later go on your altar or in your kitchen.

Ritual of thanks:
Pick three significant things that happened this year. Reflect on them and write them on papers. Give thanks for each, and burn them in your cauldron.

Spell Booster
I do this any time I want to add a little "umph" to a spell.
"By the pentagram I wear,
Water, Fire, Earth and Air
Ruled by Spirit as all should be
As I speak, so mote it be!"

Gingerbread Magic
Take up a gingerbread man (Pepperidge Farm has bagged ones!) and think of something you would like the harvest to bring you this season. Hold him firmly and focus your energy and intention into him. Say:
"Man of Ginger, man of dough,
Take me where I want to go.
We honor now your sacrifice
And accept your gifts of grain and rice.
Let the harvest bring to me
All I want.
So mote it be!"