from The Silver Branch and the Otherworld
Lughnassadh, or Lúnasa in modern Irish, is the ancient fire festival that marks the harvest of the first fruits and grains and the beginning of summer’s dying into winter. Between now and Samhain, flowers will give way to fruit and seeds, the leaves of all but the evergreens will die and fall away, and plants will sink their energy and their consciousness down into their roots. This is a time for celebrating and giving thanks for the harvest—but also for taking stock of what is at hand and what must be preserved and put away. What must be let go, and what must be planted in autumn to bring forth new life in spring.
Here is a simple ritual to mark the day:
Lay a red or gold cloth on your altar. Fill two plates with fruits and edible seeds from the season’s harvest and place them to the left and right sides of the altar.
In the middle of your altar, place three bowls of water from a spring, a well, or a wild stream. Place a candle, preferably a beeswax candle, by each bowl, on the side of the bowl farthest from you.
Light the first candle, and ask: What died that we might live, that we might have this harvest, and how shall we honor it? Gaze into the water until you feel you have learned the answer.
Light the second candle, and ask: What labor of ours will this harvest nourish that will help give life to the world to come? Gaze into the water until you feel you have learned the answer
Light the third candle, and ask: What seeds shall we plant in the burned-over soils that forest and meadow might grow again? Gaze into the water until you feel you have learned the answer.
When you are done with this divination work, call up a feeling of gratitude for the harvest, and eat from the plate on the right side of your altar. When you are done, extinguish the candles. Pour the water from each bowl out onto the earth. Take the plate from the left of your altar and leave it in a place where birds and other wild animals might find it until sunset of the following day.
That is beautiful and thoughtful. I will do it! I'm not used to spending much time at my Alter,...I just make it pretty and keep the Goddess Elen in my mind a lot,....I'm happy to have some advice on Ritual. Thank you.