Lughnassad Ritual Essay
For Lughnassad, I celebrated with Spiral Spirit Protogrove. It was a rather spontaneous occurrence on my part as I was unaware of their ritual until some three hours prior to it happenting when I spotted a post on the adf page of livejournal. I have come to know a member of the Protogrove recently and had been intending to join them for a ritual at some point anyway. The previous week had been difficult at work and on that Friday our eldest cat, the matriarch of the group, had passed away suddenly. My wife and daughter were out and about on Saturday and my wife had a baby sitter lined up for the night as we had intended to go out, but she had forgotten that her coven’s ritual was that night. So, all signs pointed to me going. I was missing Grove of the Othergods’ ritual as I would be away that weekend and I was feeling the need for an ADF group event.
The ritual was very harvest focused as we sat in a gazebo in the middle of a centuries old apple orchard. We sang to honor the Earth-Mother and gave peace to the directions (a vestige of OBOD membership for two of the members of the protogrove). The centerin-and-grounding meditation was a narrative of birth and rebirth through the story of Taliesin. Manannan was called as Gate Keeper and Bridgit as Bardic Diety. Tobacco was offered to the spirits of the Native American deities through honoring a local Native American Chieftain and this was tied into the overall Outsiders offering. This was an interesting concept for me that makes sense: as the Outsiders include those whom are not part of the intent of our ritual making an offering to the Gods and Spirits who were here before us and aren’t part of our pantheon (to use the term very broadly) seems appropriate. This is a feature I will carry over into my personal practice going forward. Offering of various foods were given to the Sacred Kindred.
The story of Llew accompanied us eating fruit and bread, shared with the Kindred and Llew in the ritual as part of the praise offering. We chanted the names of many Sun gods to honor them as well. We sang “John Barleycorn.”
The omen was taken by scrying the crumbs of a piece of the shared corn bread that was smashed onto a table. The omen was a shape of an ear of corn ready for the harvest which was taken to mean the wheel of the year would continue to turn and the harvest would come again. We drank of the waters of life and closed as normal.
This ritual was done at a leisurely pace, though much was done during the ritual. The eating of the shared meal in ritual was a meaningful reflection on the importance of the harvest. Early August saw a massive heat wave on the East Coast which reminded me of climate change issues. My hosts were commenting on a fire blight that threatened the apple orchard. All in all, the ritual broadly drove home a message that we rely on the Earth for our existence and that our irresponsibility continues to threaten the Earth and ourselves. I also came away grateful for ample and kind hospitality.
The ritual was very harvest focused as we sat in a gazebo in the middle of a centuries old apple orchard. We sang to honor the Earth-Mother and gave peace to the directions (a vestige of OBOD membership for two of the members of the protogrove). The centerin-and-grounding meditation was a narrative of birth and rebirth through the story of Taliesin. Manannan was called as Gate Keeper and Bridgit as Bardic Diety. Tobacco was offered to the spirits of the Native American deities through honoring a local Native American Chieftain and this was tied into the overall Outsiders offering. This was an interesting concept for me that makes sense: as the Outsiders include those whom are not part of the intent of our ritual making an offering to the Gods and Spirits who were here before us and aren’t part of our pantheon (to use the term very broadly) seems appropriate. This is a feature I will carry over into my personal practice going forward. Offering of various foods were given to the Sacred Kindred.
The story of Llew accompanied us eating fruit and bread, shared with the Kindred and Llew in the ritual as part of the praise offering. We chanted the names of many Sun gods to honor them as well. We sang “John Barleycorn.”
The omen was taken by scrying the crumbs of a piece of the shared corn bread that was smashed onto a table. The omen was a shape of an ear of corn ready for the harvest which was taken to mean the wheel of the year would continue to turn and the harvest would come again. We drank of the waters of life and closed as normal.
This ritual was done at a leisurely pace, though much was done during the ritual. The eating of the shared meal in ritual was a meaningful reflection on the importance of the harvest. Early August saw a massive heat wave on the East Coast which reminded me of climate change issues. My hosts were commenting on a fire blight that threatened the apple orchard. All in all, the ritual broadly drove home a message that we rely on the Earth for our existence and that our irresponsibility continues to threaten the Earth and ourselves. I also came away grateful for ample and kind hospitality.