• Spells & Rituals

    The Rite Way

    A Ritual for Lughnasadh   Lughnasadh is the first of the three harvest sabbats celebrating the crops of late summer and early fall – in particular grain. Also known as Lammas, or Loaf Mass, it honors the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, both in the form of the Harvest Mother aspect of the goddess and as the sacrifice of the grain god. Grain is harvested, thrashed, milled, and baked into bread. It is also fermented to make beer, ale, mead, kefir, wine, brandy, and kombucha. Consuming these foods during this ritual honors the god of the harvest who has died that we might be nourished. For cakes and ale…

  • Crafting Articles,  This Month's Holiday

    Samhain Recipe: Phoenician Wheat Porridge

    Samhain Recipe: Phoenician Wheat Porridge This Phoenician wheat porridge is served in Lebanon on happy occasions, such as to celebrate baby’s first tooth,  when it is distributed to all friends, relatives and neighbors. It was also served for the New Year as wheat symbolizes prosperity and happiness, as well as for Samhain, at which people wear a disguise and go door to door. They are welcomed with a dish of wheat berries in a sweet anise-scented broth covered with a multitude of nuts. This dish was customary in any celebration; in my ancestor’s time, families would send the High Priest or High Priestess two large platters of this dish that…