Black Moon

Society
http://blackmoonsociety.ning.com/
Lammas celebration Aug 1st-2nd
From our Members

Table of Contents
1. General Information of the Sabbat Lady Shadow
2. From Ahyoka Southern Hemisphere / Recipe
3. From Oriel Wiilowroot Poetry
4. Divination Tarot Card of the Day- Lady Shadow
5. Black Moon Society- and Associated Sites

General Information
Lammas: August 2, July 31st/Aug 1st

Frey Fest/Lughnasa/Lugnasad/Lammas
This is an Irish Gaelic name for the feast which commemorates
the funeral games of Lugh, Celtic god of light, and son of the Sun.
In the mythological story of the Wheel of the Year, the Sun God
transfers his power into the grain, and is sacrificed when the grain
is harvested. So we have a dying, self-sacrificing and resurrecting
god of the harvest, who dies for his people so that they may live.
Sound familiar?
The power of the sun goes into the grain as it ripens. It is then
harvested and made into the first new bread of the season. This
is the Saxon hlaef-masse or loaf-mass, now lammas. Seed grain is
also saved for planting for next year's crop, so the sun god may
be seen to rise again in Spring with the new green shoots, as the
sun also rises in the sky. There are many traditions and customs
all over the country that are still carried on at harvest-time today.
Lammas is a festival celebrating the first fruits of harvest, the
fruits of our labours, and seeing the desires that we had at the
start of the year unfold so rituals will be centred around this.
Lammas is an early Christian festival, "lammas" means loaf mass
and represented the first loaves baked from that years crop.
These were taken to church and laid on the altar.
It's a time for bread-making and corn-dollies. Goddesses
celebrated around this time include Demeter and Ceres. Trees
associated with lammas are Hazel and Gorse and herbs are Sage
and Meadowsweet. Colours associated with lammas are golds,
yellows and orange for the God and red for the Goddess as
mother.
Lammas is traditionally first harvest. Look around you and you will
see various trees namely Rowan yeilding bright red berries and
brambles showing ripening fruits alongwith apple and pear trees.
In this day and age when food is mass produced and imported so

we get fruits and veg and corn no matter what time of year it is, it
is easy to loose touch with the natural cycle of things.
Suggested Activities:
Creating and or decorating ritual items such as a Stang. Walk
through the woods to spend some time meditating in beautiful
surroundings. Making bread, make a wicker man and put all of
your bad habits that you want to be rid of inside him and throw
him in the bonfire. Making corn dollies.

Correspondences
Loo-nas-ah) Major Sabbat (High Holiday) Fire Festival August 1, 2
Other Names: Lunasa (meaning August), Lughnasaad, Lughnasa
Celtic),First Harvest, August Eve, Feast of Cardenas, Feast of
Bread, Tailltean Games(Irish), Teltain Cornucopia (Strega),
Ceresalia (Ancient Roman) Harvest Home, Thingtide (Teutonic),
Lammas (Christian). Laa Luanys, Elembious, Festival of Green
Corn (Native American)
Animals and Mythical beings: Griffins, Basilisks, Roosters,
Calves, Centaurs, Phoenix
Gemstones: aventurine, citrine, peridot, sardonyx, yellow
diamonds, citrine
Incense and Oils: wood aloes, rose, rose hips, rosemary,
chamomile, eucalyptus, safflower, corn, passionflower,
frankincense, sandalwood
Colors: red, orange, golden yellow, green, light brown, gold,
bronze, gray

Tools, Symbols, and Decorations: corn, cornucopias, red,

yellow flowers, sheaves of grain (wheat, barley, oats), first
fruits/vegetables of garden labor, corn dollies, baskets of bread,
spear, cauldron, sickle, scythe, threshing tools, sacred loaf of
bread, harvested herbs, bonfires, bilberries, God figures made of
bread or cookie dough, phallic symbols
Goddesses: The Mother, Dana (Lugh&s wife & queen ), Tailltiu
(Welsh-Scottish), Demeter (Greek), Ceres (Roman grain goddess ..
honored at Ceresalia), the Barley Mother, Seelu (Cherokee), Corn
Mother, Isis (Her birthday is celebrated about this time), Luna
(Roman Moon Goddess), other agricultural Goddesses, the waxing
Goddess
Gods: Lugh (Celtic, one of the Tuatha De Danaan), John Barley
Corn, Arianrhods golden haired son Lleu (Welsh God of the Sun &
Corn where corn includes all grains, not just maize), Dagon
(Phoenician Grain God), Tammuz/ Dummuzi (Sumerian), Dionysus,
plus all sacrificial Gods who willingly shed
blood/give their life that their people/lands may prosper, all
vegetation Gods & Tanus (Gaulish Thunder God), Taranis
(Romano-Celtic Thunder God), Tina, (Etruscan-Thunder God), the
waning God
Essence: fruitfulness, reaping, prosperity, reverence, purification,
transformation, change, The Bread of Life, The Chalice of Plenty ,
The Ever-flowing Cup , the Groaning Board (Table of Plenty)
Meaning: Lughs wedding to Mother Earth, Birth of Lugh; Death
of Lugh, Celtic Grain Festival
Purpose: Honoring the parent Deities, first harvest festival, first
fruits grains & drink to the Goddess in appreciation of Her bounty,
offering loaves of sacred bread in the form of the God (this is
where the Gingerbread Man originated)
Rituals and Magicks: astrology, prosperity, generosity,
continued success, good fortune, abundance, magickal picnic,
meditate & visualize yourself completing a project youve started
Customs and Activities: games, the traditional riding of
poles/staves, country fairs, breaking bread with friends, making
corn dollys, harvesting herbs for charms/rituals, Lughnasadh fire
with sacred wood & dried herbs, feasting, competitions, lammas
towers (fire-building team competitions), spear tossing, gathering
flowers for crowns, fencing/swordplay, games of skill, martial

sports, chariot races, hand-fastings, trial marriages, dancing

round a corn mother (doll)
Foods: loaves of homemade wheat, oat, & corn bread, barley
cakes, corn, potatoes, summer squash, nuts, acorns, wild berries
(any type), apples, rice, pears, berry pies, elderberry wine, crab
apples, mead, crab, blackberries, meadowsweet tea, grapes,
cider, beer
Herbs: grain, acacia, heather, ginseng, sloe, cornstalks,
cyclamen, fenugreek, aloes, frankincense, sunflower, hollyhock,
oak leaf, wheat, myrtle
Element: Fire
Gender: Female
Threshold: Noon

2. From Ahyoka

Since I live in the southern hemisphere (South Africa) we dont celebrate

Lamas now, for us now its Yule, as we are currently experiencing Winter.
Very few people know this and its rare to find information about it.

The Southern Wheel of the Year

The afternoon on the day of Yule, I would go out in the garden and gather
plants and stones or what ever in the garden speak to me. I would gather it
into my Shamanic ritual bag, and when I come in I would get my altar and
the room I use ready. in the room I would prepare a circle. Then I would take
a long meditative bath, cleansing myself and don my robe. Open my circle
and enter it in there I would focus on the past year on all that happened then
I will have a bowl infront of me I call the nothing. in it there will be oil or
spirits. As I think of all the good things and the bad I would write them on
pieces of paper. the good things go in a white bowl the bad things and the
things i need to let go I place on the floor next to the bowl of nothing. When I
am dont I woudl light the bowl of nothing and then take up each paper with
the negative things on it look at it then draw it out of myself and into the
paper. letting it fall into the bowl of nothing, where it will burn. and as it burn
I will release it from my life. when I am dont I would open the circle and
thank the mother. then I would place the bowl in the centre of the door
outside the circle. I will then proceed to enter the circle again close it and
cleanse it with white sage smoke. I would then light the candles and bless
my plate of food, there will be 2 plates. as i am done eating I would sing and
bless the good things that happened in this year, and celebrate the joy of
being alive.at the end of the ritual I would break the circle take the plate of
food thats left and the ashes of the good I celebrates and go out to the
oldest tree in the yard. and big a hole at its roots. int he hole I will lay the

ashes of the ritual, lay a slice of the break on it with the fruit and pour milk
over it, and bless it. cover the hole and place a rock on it. the ashed of the
negative things I would place in a box then go out in nature, and scatter it in
the wind, saying a ritual of release, of all that no longer serve me. Its is a
ritual that tome are very important, as is the Ostara.I wont place the entire
ritual as its very powerful, and take a lot of preparationI do have a recipe I
make for these festivals, its something I have learned form my gan, she
made this bread. We do a ritual of cleansing and release on the day of each
holiday, it is relatively the same just minor changes for each.
Holy Bread
2 and half cup flower
1 and half cup Oats
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of backing soda
1 packet of instant yeast
1 and a half cup honey
1 Cup milk ( you can add more if needed)
1 cup water
Method:
1-Put all dry ingredients in a bowl, except the yeast
2-Disolve honey in warm water and let it cool till its body heat. then add the
yeast to it, stir well and let it rise then add to the dry mix.
3-add the rest of the wet ingredients in and stirr well.
4-its should look like stiff cake batter.
5-Pour into a lined bread tin and bake at 180 grades celcius or till the knife
come out clean.
6-enjoy with a glass of milk or wine as part of the feast.
I usually serve it with winter fruit at yule, and muled wine.

3 From Oriel Wiilowroot

Poetry

Hail The King

Who giveth our Bread

And
For Blessing the Abundance
of Earth
As season comes to End
Love and Blessings
We send~~
One of tree....still to com

It is Time of The Great Dance

Giving Thanks to the Man of his sacrifice
To the Lady,as she Rises
For we set our tables with the fruits of your Blessings
Adorned with reds of poppies and the golds of wheat
For now the Horned One wanes and weakens
We store your powers for the months to come
In Honor of the sacrifice,transformation,death, and rebirth
Lammas Blessings

Winners are !

AHYOKA
ORIEL WILOWWOOT

DIVINATION- TAROT OF THE DAY

The Wheel of Fortune is highly symbolic. The angel in the top left
corner is Aquarius, the eagle is Scorpio, the lion is Leo and the
bull is Taurus. These are the four fixed signs of the Zodiac but all
have wings signifying stability amidst movement and change. The
book they each have in their hands is the Torah, representing
wisdom. On the wheel itself are the Hebrew letters IHVH (Yod Heh
Vau Heh), the unpronounceable name of God. Interspersed with
these letters are TORA (read anti-clockwise) or TARO (read
clockwise) which also translates to TAROT when you return to the
spot where you started. The snake descending on the left side of
the Wheel is the Egyptian god Typhon, the god of evil. The snake
also represents the life force descending into the material world.
The Anubis rising on the right side of the Wheel is Hermes, a
symbol of intelligence, wisdom ascending or our shadow selves.
The Sphinx on the top of the wheel represents lifes riddles. The
middle wheel contains the alchemical symbols for mercury,
sulphur, water and salt the building blocks of life and the four
elements and represents formative power. The outer circle
represents the material world. The eight spokes in the wheel
represent the Universal radiant energy, as well as the eight
Sabbats of the year. The blue background represents wisdom.

The planet of this card is Jupiter, the planet of opportunity,

growth, success, and expansion. The number 10 is a higher
octave of the number 1, empowering the qualities of the 1.

Todays Tarot Meditation Drawing: The Wheel of Fortune

Jul

The Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marchetti

Focus on being centered and youll keep the wheel
spinning in peak performance. If you allow the nay-sayers
to get you down, youll sway the wheel out of balance.
Forget about what theyre telling you cant be done. Tell
them what you can and will do. Keep it stable and remain
in your own space. Do what needs to be done, and the
cogs in your machine wont become cluttered or out of
sync. By the end of the week youll shut them up with all
your accomplishments! Then rest, relax and have some

fun through the weekend. Youll have earned it.

Additional Insight:
Others are secretly hoping you fail. They think youre
making them look bad and they dont want to put in any
more effort than they already are. They will constantly tell
you what cant be done in an effort to make you give
up. So be cautious of their offers to help, their advice and
especially their negativity.
It can get overwhelming when the nay-sayers add their
voices to the mix. Instead of listening to the barrage of
negativity, put on your headphones, keep your head
down and do whats on your list. Focus on each item one
at a time and youll get things done faster than you
expected.
The Wheel reminds us that our fortune is in our own
hands. You can spin the wheel and stand back to let all
the influences around you dictate where it stops. Or you
can work to maintain the machine and keep the engine in
top performance to keep the spin moving in your favor.
Manifest your goals and create your future on your own
terms. Dont watch the world go by wondering when its
going to be your turn. Get in there, play a part in your
own manifested creation. Youre the one who can stop the
wheel right where you need and want it to be.
By the end of the week, your list will be completed and
you can make space for new ventures. But make sure you
take some time off to recoup your energy. Give time and
attention to those you care about and love. Part of
keeping in balance is knowing when to work and when to
play. By Tuesday, youll be ready to start-up again and
feel in much better spirits to boot.
Source of this meditation

Springwolf
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