Calendar of the Sun
1 Weodmonath
LAMMAS
Colors: Golden and purple
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon the cloth of golden and purple fill baskets of unthreshed grain, and bowls of
threshed grain, and clay jugs of beer and wine, and grapes, and other fruits of the harvest. The
wheatsheaf loaf should have pride of place, and beside it should be the corn dollie from last
year's Lammas. The new corn dollie should be carried in the arms of one participant.
Offerings: Give food to the poor.
Daily Meal: Bread. Lots of bread and grain.
Ritual Note: Like all the eight high holidays, this day should ideally be spent not enclosed and
isolated, but in common with the larger pagan community. This can be done a number of ways,
including spending the day elsewhere, at the Brigid's Day ritual of another group or tradition, or
by inviting in those pagans who would otherwise not be able to attend a ritual. Either way, the
eight holidays should be a time of remembering the place of the house in the greater community.
If the choice is made to go elsewhere, then no liturgy is needed for the day. If the choice is made
to bring the greater community into the lesser one, the following ritual can be used:
(First four who have been chosen to do the work of the ritual cast the quarters with sickle, flail,
basket, and pot.)
East Caller: Spirits of the East, Powers of Air!
You who are the cold steel of the scythe,
You who are the blade that separates
One from another,
Life from death,
You who are smoke on the wind
And the bringer of the new dawn,
Be with us today!
South Caller: Spirits of the South, Powers of Fire!
You who are the bright Sun above us,
You who are the unflinching light of day,
The scorching heat of the summer,
Pulling the crops toward the sky
And drying them to golden as your rays,
Be with us today!
West Caller: Spirits of the West, Powers of Water!
You who are the gentle rains that fall
To feed the plants that long ago sprang forth,
You who are the summer storms
That knock down those you nourished,
Capricious and random as you are eternal,
Be with us today!
North Caller: Spirits of the North, Power of Earth!
You who are the ground beneath our feet,
You who sustains and nourishes us,
You who brought us forth,
You to whom we shall all one day return,
We honor you especially today.
Be with us now!
Lammas Invocation
Great Lugh,
You who shine forth upon us,
Give us this day our daily bread
And serve it forth with a great helping
Of joy and mirth
Even as we watch your track in the sky
Slowly lower down from the zenith,
This is still your time,
You are still strong,
Ruler of the Earth,
Until the day we watch you fall.
(The sickle is swung in the air.)
In this time of harvest,
When the Sun begins his drop from the sky,
We shall find beauty and contentment by our hearths.
For as the Sun falls, so falls the grain,
So falls each plant life grown by those golden rays,
Fallen by our hand to nourish us,
And nourished we shall be,
By he that grew from the Mother's womb so many moons ago.
The Sun above has become part of our memories
And we shall carry him forever,
And the grain below will become part of our bodies,
And we shall carry that memory as well.
For to be bound to the cycle of life
Though it be painful, is the truest thing
That any of us can ever do.
(The bread is passed, and torn apart, and eaten.)
Do not forget, in this time of harvest,
The power of love above and below the Earth.
At Beltane, when love flourished forth
In all directions unchained and unboundaried,
We felt it like a rushing wave of pleasure
Unadulterated with pain.
At the Solstice, when the Oak King died
We learned again, and for the first time,
That there is pain in love, and the deeper the love
The greater the pain. And now as we face
The first funeral of the year, we gain
An inkling of how deep both love and pain can be.
May this wisdom bear us up
Throughout the bright days and the darkness
And the dawning yet to come.
Taste sweetness and give thanks
That there is still sweetness in life.
(The wine and beer is passed around, and drunk.)
Follow the serpent to the end of the labyrinth,
And there you will find the door under the earth.
Slide down between the roots of all life
And there you will find the source of all life.
Follow the roots to the underground rivers
And there you will find the deepest nourishment.
Swim down the rivers through the darkest caves,
And there you will find hidden the spark of life.
Follow the spark upwards through the soil
Until it bursts out into the singing air.
Watch it shoot skyward towards the Sun its progenitor,
As gold returns to gold
And the heavens take back their own.
Do not let go of that spark!
Stretch upward with its soaring,
Risk the bright sky and the high flight
Though it will mean your death,
And then you understand the Mystery.
Song: Lammas Prayer
(Last year's corn dollie is lifted aloft and carried to the stove or fireplace, where it is burned.
Then the new corn dollie is lifted to her place on the shelf or altar, and all cheer. Great feasting
comes next. Invite in as many as possible to share it.)
[Pagan Book of Hours]