LAMMAS? WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT???

Merry Meet Brothers,

Although in the heat of a Cape Town's summer is in full swing, the festival of Lammas (FEB 2nd) marks the end of summer and the beginning of fall.

It is a cross-quarter day, one of the four High Holidays or Greater Sabbats of Witchcraft, occurring one quarter of a year after Beltane.

Its true astrological point is fifteen degrees Leo, but tradition has set Feb 2nd as the day Lammas is typically celebrated. This date has long been considered a “power point” of the zodiac, and is symbolized by the Lion, one of the tetramorph figures found on the tarot cards, the World and the Wheel of Fortune (the other three figures being the Bull, the Eagle, and the Spirit).

“Lammas” was the medieval Christian name for the holiday, and it means “loaf-mass”, for this was the day on which loaves of bread were baked from the first grain harvest and laid on the church altars as offerings. It was a day representative of “first fruits” and early harvest.

Lammas, is also sometimes called Lughnasadh. It celebrates the god Lugh it's time to begin reaping what we have sown throughout the past few months, and recognize that the bright summer days will soon come to an end. So in many regards, it is a wake or mourning for the weakening Sun God Lugh of the Celts.

Many people burn a straw effigy. As Green Men MTF proposes making a straw poppet of yourself, meditating with it in your hands and streaming all the unwanted energies fear, anxiety, anger and characteristics you are not fond of into the poppet and then setting it on fire. This aims to help you overcome your obstacles to achieve the goals you set for yourself at summer solstice.

Blessed Be,

Green Phoenix.