LUGHNASADH / LAMMAS

Overview Lughnasadh (also called Lammas) is the fifth Pagan Sabbat of the year, following the Midsummer / Summer Solstice, and falls between the four solar festivals. It is also the first of the three harvest celebrations in the pagan Wheel of the Year, the other two being Mabon (the autumn equinox) and Samhain. Lughnasad is typically celebrated from sundown on July 31 through sunset on August 1, though some celebrate on or around August 5 or 6, referred to as Old Lammas or Old Style Lammas. Others time the festival astrologically to coincide with when Leo reaches 15 degrees relative to the sun’s position.

Originating in Ireland, Lughnasadh got its name from the Celtic deity Lugh, the son of the Sun God and a human mother. Other names recognized and associated with Lugh within various Celtic circles are Hu, Lew, Lliu, or Llew. He was the keeper of knowledge and was capable of miracles, magick, divination, and healing. He was also a traveler, a master of all crafts, music, and trade, and he created the rules and laws that governed society. (Nasadh means festival.)

Lugh decreed that a commemorative feast be held each year at the beginning of the harvest season to honor his foster mother, Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after clearing the forest for agriculture. Games and athletic competitions were held in her honor, and later evolved into modern summer fairs.

Origins and Celebrations Lammas, or Lughnasadh, is the Sabbat where many Pagans choose to celebrate the beginnings of the harvest and the ending of summer while looking forward to the fall. This Sabbat is about the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth—the grain god dies but will be reborn again in the spring. Some may also observe this Sabbat as the day of the Celtic craftsman god, Lugh. Lammas also marks the beginning of the harvest season and annual wheat harvest. It includes celebrating athletic contests, feasting, trading, and thanking the Gods, especially Lugh/Azazel, for a bountiful harvest. Ways to honor this holiday are making loaves of bread, cakes, pies, and picking berries. Often feasts included dancing as well as exhibitions of performance combat. Many city Pagans enjoy feasting with family, friends, and neighbors, featuring fruits, vegetables, and bread. The food is considered sacred and magickal, symbolizing nature’s glory and a gift from the earth. Also, a bike ride through the park, a drive to the country, or simply noticing the beauty of trees, shrubbery, and other city foliage can be very refreshing Lughnasadh activities for city dwellers. Magic and rituals frequently focus on abundance, protection, and fertility, though death and shedding away the old are common themes. Offerings vary widely, from specific deities like Danu and Lugh, to ancestors or the dead. Still others make offerings at Lughnasadh to nature spirits like dryads and other types of vegetation-protecting nymphs. Protection magick was widely practiced to celebrate Lughnasadh. Horses and cattle walk through water to purify and bless them, as rivers and other water sources were considered sacred by the Irish, especially at the time of Lughnasadh. Different prominent customs involved the first fruits of the harvest, which would be either offered to divine spirits or ceremonially eaten. The August sabbat is both an opening and a closing. It's the crossroads where seemingly opposing and contradictory forces join together to form an open path extending in all directions. Magically, it’s a great time for highly transformative workings, as the energy flow can become a sort of doorway or portal into dimensions you might not be able to easily access regularly. The Lughnasadh Sabbat provides an opportunity to go down the rabbit hole, or through the keyhole or looking glass; you’ll be able to work more powerful magick on a grander scale if you take advantage of the in-between, undefined, and therefore limitless nature of the season. Lughnasadh is also a great season for reflection, introspection, and reconnection–with the earth, ourselves, and the other inhabitants of our precious planet. Spend some time in nature thinking and reflecting, contemplating, and dreaming. You might also consider reconnecting to your ancestors in rituals, meditations, or other activities intended to honor the dead or communicate with them. Your Lughnasadh celebration might focus on harvest, honoring the dead, reflection, sacrifice, human craft, skill, or several other possibilities.

This Sabbat has a powerful, reflective, protective energy flow, making it an ideal time for spellwork and divination focused on safeguarding success, exploring gratitude, attracting prosperity, and welcoming good fortune. It’s also a good time to gauge prospects and evaluate past experiences through the art of divination. Like spells, divination methods can be successfully used at any time, but may be more effective if used during August. One way to tap into the hidden wisdom of your subconscious and check on the progress of your goals is through a form of divination known as scrying. Scrying involves gazing steadily with open until the mind enters into a hypnotically aware state. Visions are perceived and information received by the subconscious mind which then conveys this knowledge to the conscious mind and other people present for the scrying session. Lughnasadh is an excellent time to scout out some new magick tools in the great outdoors. . . You might find a fallen branch to use for a magickal staff, or a fallen stick you might use for a witch’s wand. You might find appealing stones for spellwork, as part of a magickal charm bag, a meditation aid, or an addition to a wand or other tool.

Correspondences (Llewellyn examples) Spiritual focus and keywords Gratitude Reflection Introspection Sacrifice Magical focus Abundance Strength Growth Protection Honoring ancestors Personal transformation Communicating with the dead Sacred wells, hilltops, and cemeteries are ideal sites for magickal workings. Colors Yellow: Solar energies, happiness, transformation Brown: Earth energies, strength, protection, wealth, animals Gold: Illumination, success, divine power, harvest Green: Abundance, prosperity, fertility, growth, wealth, life, health, vegetation Crystals and Stones Citrine: Solar energies, joy, strength, vitality, purification Topaz: Calming, clear vision, psychic insight, trust Carnelian: Strength, love, courage, calming, healing Onyx: Protection, defense, binding, determination Quartz: Psychic power, magickal power, luck, growth

Lammas / Lughnasadh Altars Use a combination of summer and fall colors—the yellows, oranges, and reds of the sun can also represent the turning leaves to come. Add some browns and greens to celebrate the earth’s fertility and harvested crops. Cover your altar with cloths that symbolize the changing of the season from summer to harvest time, and use candles in deep, rich colors. Reds, burgundies, or other autumn shades are perfect this time of year.

Because Lammas is a grain holiday representing the first harvest, it's a great time to bake bread. Consider adding loaves of freshly baked bread and incorporate them into your harvest rituals and spellwork. If you're not a baker, get some stalks of wheat, barley, or corn, and add those to your altar to represent the bounty of the late summer fields.

If your celebrations focus more on the god Lugh, observe the Sabbat from an artisan's point of view. Place symbols of your craft or skill on the altar—a notebook, your special paints for artists, a pen for writers, and other tools of your creativity. Some key takeaways for Theistic Satanists As mentioned above, the August Sabbat is both an opening and a closing. . .It's the crossroads where seemingly opposing and contradictory forces join together to form an open path extending in all directions. Magically, it’s an excellent time for highly transformative workings, as the energy flow facilitates access into spheres of existence you might not be able to access regularly. It’s a perfect time to evaluate past experiences through divination, tap into the hidden wisdom of your subconscious, check on the progress of your goals, and give thanks for your blessings. Spiritual and magickal focus include reflection, introspection, growth, and personal transformation. Reference Sources The primary reference source used is Llewellyns’s Sabbat Essentials. Various Internet sources were also used, particularly for pictures.