Exploring the Energy of Lammas
Harvest. Gratitude. Offering. Ripening. Golden. Strength.
Generosity. Devotion. Sacred labor. Fruition. Nourishment. Grounding. Sharing.
Gathering. Reaping. Resilience. Community. Sun-drenched. Maturing.
Lammas: The Season of Sacred Harvest
Blessings as we dance around the Wheel to the Southwest, marked by the gateway of Lammas on August 1, and into the season of late Summer. Here we step back from pushing the edge of fullness in the South/High Summer and begin to exhale and relax into receiving that which we have working so hard to bring into form.
Lammas (Anglo-Saxon), also known as Lughnasadh (Celtic), Lammastide or Loaf Mass (Christian) comes at the beginning of August. It’s a cross quarter holy day that for some cultures marks the beginning of the season of Autumn. This gateway crosses us from the fullness of the High Summer into the relaxed atmosphere of Late Summer.
This is a time of celebration. We’re looking at the manifestation that emerged of the seeding and the unifying at Beltane that grew into the fullness at summer solstice, and is now ready to be harvested. It’s a time of manifestation, a time of abundance, and a time of beginning to receive the fruits of the labor and our tending of the seeds that we’ve planted, both physically and energetically.
Let's weave these ancient energies and apply them to our modern-day experience, and receive these invitations to enliven them as our life experience. In this article, you can find the Herbs of Lammas, a seasonal recipe, and a ritual to deepen the medicine of this holiday. To learn more about this holy day, and walk the wheel with me, access my instant download course, Wheel Walkers.
May these rhythms, recipes and rituals craft a doorway for deep reclamation and remembrance of who you truly are. Blessings.
The Herbs of Lammas
Yarrow
Nasturtiums
Basil
Raspberry leaf
Mullein
Bee pollen
Aloe
Calendula
Corn stalks
Sunflower
Goldenrod
Peony
Learn more about the herbs of Lammas in Wheel Walkers!
Lammas Ritual
Magical Bread Baking for Lammas
This season is an opportunity to make bread. Any bread can be backed and herbs added to it to make magical bread, Lammas is the loaf time, the first loaf, the seeding of the village of the harvest.
An old AngloSaxxon charm advised the crumbling of the Lammas loaf into 4 pieces,and the burying of them in the four corners of the barn to make it safe for the grain that would be stored there. You can use this as a blessing and boundary support for your own home.
Here is a bread-based ritual I recommend for Lammas:
MATERIALS
Chime
Loaf of bread
Candle
INSTRUCTIONS
The chime is rung 3 times, and we bring into the ritual space the chant “I come to this space in celebrations where there’s a secret garden of the gods and goddesses. The sun god, he gives forth light and the energy of life to all. Through the goddess and from the goddess, all things grow and mature. It is she who is the bearer of life and rebirth of the harvest to come. The land is full and must be tended. Let me now share her bounty.”
Breaking off a piece of this bread and eating it, preparing to light the candle by saying “ I must open myself to change. To do so I must abandon my faults, refresh and revitalize the body and spirit, and embrace growth as I prepare for what it is to become, for what the future holds. For me to grow, it is necessary for part of me to die.”
Lighting the candle declaring your intention- any energies you want to be cleansed of, stick the candle in the ground before you, feeling the raising of the energy, and at its climax, blow out the candle.
After a moment of meditation, declaring “out of the death of this a small part of me, life begins anew”
Lammas Recipe
Brigid’s Blackberry Pie
INGREDIENTS
4 cups fresh blackberries (thawed frozen is okay)
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
Unbaked 9" pie crust
INSTRUCTIONS
Unbaked pie crust
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Line a deep pie dish with the pie crust, or purchase a commercially-made one. Set aside.
Mix all other ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
If it appears too "wet", mix in a little more flour (about 2 tablespoons).
Turn the fruit into the pie shell and dot with butter or margarine.
You can bake the pie as is, or cover it with another pie crust. If you do this, pinch down the ends to hold it to the other crust. Then score the top several times with a sharp knife.
Bake for 1 hour, or until the top crust is a golden brown.
(Note: A sugar-free version can be made by substituting appropriate amounts of sugar-free sweetener.)
(The above recipe for "Brigid's Blackberry Pie" is quoted directly from Edain McCoy's book "The Sabbats: A New Approach to Living the Old Ways", page 179, Llewellyn Publications, 1994)