Sabbats Almanac: Samhain to Mabon - Kristoffer Hughes 2018
A Ritual in Motion for Lughnasadh by Melanie Marquis
Lammas
TO REFLECT THE ATHLETICISM so often involved in Lughnasadh celebrations of the past, this ritual involves a lot of motion. It’s best carried out in the daytime or early evening when there’s plenty of light, and it can be performed at any time during or near the Lughnasadh sabbat. It’s best to perform the ritual in a wooded area with a thick smattering of twigs and small branches scattered on the ground, or in an open field fraught with weeds. If you can’t find either of the above, choose an area that’s covered with dead leaves, or anywhere else you feel could be an appropriate place for this rite. The purpose of the ritual is to remind participants of the ancient legends associated with the holiday, and to embrace the rewards of the season that can be gained through our skill and effort. You can enact this ritual with any number of participants, from a solo practitioner to a large group.
Preparations
No tools are needed for this ritual, and the clothes worn should be rugged and dispensable, as you’re bound to get a little dirty. You might want to wear a pair of work gloves or gardening gloves to protect your hands. The only personal preparation this ritual requires is to get plenty of rest beforehand, and perform some gentle stretches and warm-ups so your body will be ready to engage in the actions of the rite. The ritual space will be more formally prepared during the course of the ritual itself, but you will need to make a thorough survey of the area prior to getting started. Be sure the area is safe, free from unexpected holes and dips, large debris, or any other obstacles that could cause a person to trip or fall. You’ll also need to think about accessibility before your ritual. If you have people in your group with mobility challenges or other disabilities, you’ll need to think of ways to adapt the ritual so that it is accessible to everyone. If someone in your group is in a wheelchair, for instance, you might have the ritual on a safer, more predictable surface such as a basketball court. To mimic the leaves, branches, or weeds that might litter a natural area in the outdoors, you could place around the basketball court a number of basketballs. The specifics of rituals can always be adapted in a way that doesn’t affect the heart of the magick and that doesn’t exclude anyone from taking a full and active role in the rite that’s being enacted.
Casting the Circle while Clearing the Field
To begin the ritual, participants gather in the middle of the chosen space. Describe to the participants the boundaries of the ritual space, and imagine together that the area is encompassed in a large circle. When signaled, the ritualists begin their work to “clear the field,” just as Tailtiu was said to have prepared the fields of all of Ireland. If you’re doing the ritual in a wooded area, have the participants clear the area of any twigs or small branches that might be littering the ground, moving them out from the imagined circle and into the perimeter. If the ground is covered with leaves, carry handfuls and armfuls of them out of the circle and into the outside space. If you’re in a weedy field, pull out as many as you can and rush them out of the magickal space. If you’re performing the ritual on a basketball court, have participants push, kick, bump, or otherwise force the basketballs to roll off the boundaries of the court. Move as fast as is comfortable. The goal is to utilize all your efforts to clear the area as quickly as possible. As the area is cleared, thoughts of the ritualists might turn to other efforts they have recently put forth in their lives. They might contemplate how each weed, each fallen twig, each armful of leaves, might represent the hardships that have been endured for the sake of success. If you want to add a touch of game and sport, you can make this part of the ritual competitive, with participants or teams each having an individual pile on which to place their collected debris. Continue until the area is deemed to be “clear enough” by everyone involved. If it’s agreeable to your group, the individual or team who manages to amass the most in their pile might be chosen to lead the rest of the ritual.
Acknowledging the Harvest
Now that the area is cleared and prepared, the ritual leader or leaders should stand in the middle of the space, with the other participants surrounding them in a circle. The leader or leaders ask each participant in turn, “What have you harvested as a result of your efforts?” The participants can choose to answer out loud, or simply contemplate the question in silence. They might give answers such as, “Through focusing on my career, I’ve gained a promotion and I’m enjoy my new responsibilities,” or something like, “My efforts to watch my diet have paid off in the form of a healthier body.” It doesn’t have to be a huge accomplishment, just something that you put in effort toward that led to something positive. If you honestly can’t think of anything positive, try to identify where you’ve been directing your energies, and do your best to objectively evaluate what you have gained or lost in exchange.
Next, the participants are asked, “What will you plant now that your field is prepared? What next would you like to harvest?” The participants do this part of the ritual simultaneously to help raise the overall energy. Thinking of their next goals, their next big dreams that they’d like to come true and the efforts they are willing to expend to get there, each participant imagines that they are casting a seed towards the middle of the space to take root in the magickally prepared foundation of earth. The physical actions of planting a seed can be mimicked if desired. Goals and intentions can be spoken out loud, or silently projected through focused thoughts.
Working the Magick
Participants then join in a chant to further magnify the magickal energies now collected in the middle of the ritual space: “We’ll make the efforts to make our dreams! The very best harvest the world has seen!” The chant is repeated again and again as the energy rises to a crescendo. When the ritual leader or leaders signal, the energy of the magickal space itself, along with the energies of the intentions and emotions of the ritualists, is directed skyward, up and out of the circle in a funnel of rising power. To finish the ritual, water is given to everyone and a time of rest is enjoyed as stories are shared.