What is Lammas?

We are well into summer now, balmy nights and breezy days have taken up our lives for the time being and the warmth is such a welcome change. For Pagans, being this far into summer means that 'Lammas' is just around the corner, or in this year's case, today.

Lammas is a Pagan festival from Celtic origin that celebrates the start of harvest, welcomes the start of Autumn and was one of four festivals to help split up the year. Lammas was traditionally held on the day the fields would be harvested and reaped for their nutritious goods. This harvest season would continue until Samhain (nowadays known as Halloween) when the last of the food would be stored away for the winter months.

To celebrate, Pagans would play music, dance, eat and get together as a community, whilst others would perform rituals and ceremonies similar to this one. A popular thing to do on Lammas is to play traditional games that legend says Lugh (the God Lammas was named after) started as homage to his deceased mother. 

Nowadays people still do all of this to celebrate. They bake berry pies and loaves of bread, spend quality time with friends and family and often groups will be involved in rituals or ceremonies to welcome harvest.

Now I'm not a pagan or a wiccan myself but still find their festivals absolutely fascinating! The celebrations sound like a lot of fun too and I'd really love to get involved and celebrate them one year.

What festivals (if any) do you celebrate and what do you do?

Friday Spell!

Attracting a new friend

You will need:

• Three brown candles
• A pen
• A sheet of paper

Casting the spell:

• Light the candles.
• On the sheet of paper, write down the attributes you would like your friend to have.
• Say each one out loud.
• Fold the paper in half twice.
• Light the edge of the folded paper from one of the candles and repeat the words below 

'With heart and mind I do now speak, Bring to me the one I seek. Let this paper be the guide And bring this friend to my side.

Pain and loneliness be no more. Draw a companion to my door. Let not this simple spell coerce Or make my situation worse. As I will, it shall be.' 

• Let the paper burn out then snuff out the candles.
• Use these candles only for the same type of spell.

Within the next few weeks, you should meet someone with some or all of the qualities you are searching for. Remember that you have called this person to you, so you have the confidence and the time to explore the relationship properly. Never ever be judgmental about the qualities your new friend possesses that are not ones that you have requested.

What is Samhain?

As we are working our way through October, Halloween is getting closer and closer. Nowadays, Halloween is a very Westernized holiday, with people throwing parties left right and center and children going trick or treating. 

Halloween actually derives from a Pagan festival called Samhain. In the Pagan calender, it marks the 'Feast of the Dead' and has been celebrated (in Britain) for hundreds of years. In Pagan Celtic traditions, it was the time of the year when links between this world and the 'Otherworld' were at their thinnest. When spirits of the dead could be amongst the living. When Christians took on this festival, they named it 'All Hallows' Eve', however, it still held the main elements of remembering and honouring the dead. 

For modern Pagans who celebrate Samhain, it is a time to honour and show respect for their dead; to invite loved one's spirits to join at the celebratory feast and to formally welcome children who have been born in the past year into the community. Pagans also use Samhain as a time to reflect on significant changes in their lives. It's a time of coming to terms with the past and looking forwards to the future. 

The Ancient Druids who celebrated Samhain thought that the presence of spirits would help their priests to make predictions about the future. To celebrate, they built huge, sacred bonfires and bought harvest foods and sacrificed animals to share at a communal celebration feast. During their celebrations, the Druids/Celts would wear costumes, generally made from animal heads and skins. I like to think that wearing costumes on Halloween nowadays is probably thinly linked to this ancient tradition.

For a bit more information on each holiday, click here.

Blue moons

I've been doing a little research into pagans and I've found that a lot of the rituals and spells they take part in are done under a full moon. (Although, I believe that that depends on what you're wanting from the spell).

At the end of this month there will be the second full moon of August. This is what's known as a blue moon. A blue moon is a fairly rare occurance, however not as rare as people may think, it happens, on average, every three years. There are 28 days in each lunar cycle and there are more days in the calendar year than that. Dependent on where in each month the lunar cycle falls, they is a possibility that a few days are left over. These days accumulate so around once every 28 months a second full moon occurs. This has been named a 'blue moon'.

The next blue moon will occur on 31st August at around 2pm. So keep your eyes peeled for this magical moment and make a wish.

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