Lughnasadh 2009
by J
Invocation to the Corn King by Bird, Invocation to the Triple Goddess by Blayze

Items required:
Basket of bread, wheat, barley, berries, etc.
Crown (Lughnasadh cord interwoven with grain) for Corn King
Cloak for Corn King
Spear, Sword, Shield, Cauldron for Corn King
Veils for Maiden, Mother and Crone
Circlets for Maiden, Mother and Crone
Sickle
Corn dollies for all (to be made pre-ritual)
Fire

Roles:
HP, HPS, Corn God: to be chosen during ritual
Quarter Guardians, Maiden, Mother, Crone.

Ritual Prep

As part of preparation for ritual, all participants are to make small corn dollies. 

Before the Ritual

The men stand alone in the ritual space. They are adorned as warrior priests (men participating should dress as warriors – as they see fit – feel free to use face/body paint (geometric shapes, animal totems, magical symbols, etc in natural tones), weaponry, etc). They shall now choose their king… their sacrifice… 

HP takes up a bundle of barley and challenges all of the men to come forward.

HP:	A sacrifice must we prepare
	By water, fire, earth and air
	A game we’ll play to chose our king
	So gather round into a ring.

Men move forward, forming a circle around the HP

	Reach forward now and choose your grain
	Check it once, and check it twice.
	For he who pulls the shortest sheaf
	Becomes the sacrifice

Men each pull forth a stalk of barley from the bundle. The one with the shortest stalk is named the sacrificial Corn King. Men cheer, stomp, etc as Corn King is revealed.

HP: As a warrior you have lived and as a warrior shall you die. Guardians of the four quarters, guardians of air, fire, water and earth, come forth and prepare your king to meet death.

The four guardians step forward to prepare the Corn King. They cloak him and arm him. 

The HP moves to the Corn King and crowns him with the Lughnasadh cord.

HP: 	With this cord, I bind you to your duty

The Corn King moves to stand by the altar and the Elemental Guardians flank the HP who moves to the entrance of the circle.

The women then come to the entrance, led by the HPS.

HPS: 	Is he prepared?

HP: 	He is ready for his duties

HPS: 	Then let us begin

The women, led by the HPS enter the circle – they are blessed by the Elemental Guardians as they enter (air/fire – bless with incense, water/earth – aspurge with salt water). As the women enter the circle, they move anticlockwise around the edge, singing the Lammas Song:

By Barley seed and Rowan tree
By magic strong and free
By Goddess fair with golden hair
We do call to thee.
By harvest home and Summers gold
The fields and the grain
By heated days and blessed nights
And gentle Autumn rain.
Come gather in the harvest now
Come gather in the corn
Come gather in and sit awhile
By Oak and Ash and Thorn.

The Ritual:

HP casts circle

Quarters

HPS: Welcome to the Sabbat of Lughnasadh! At the turning of the wheel to the first harvest, we celebrate what has come to us this cycle. What was sown in the Spring, we now shall reap. However, let us not forget the sacrifices that have brought us here. 

HP: Now shall we call forth the keepers of the mysteries of Lughnasadh, they who have sown the seeds, nurtured the growing sheaf and who now stand ready to reap the grain at it’s height. We call forth the Triple Goddess. We call forth the Maiden, Mother and Crone!

HP the Triple Goddess

HP: 	We call to thee O Maiden of the starlit plain
Virgin of the crescent moon
Whose light kisses the field unfarrowed
Whose beauty shapes the world unformed

We call to thee O Mother of the ripened grain
Queen of the fertile earth
Within whom the seed is planted
And the bounty of the fields is born

We call to thee O Crone of blackest night
Dark Lady of the sickle and scythe
Before whom the field lies fallow
Awaiting the blood-red dawn

Maiden, Mother, Crone of Old
Thee we invoke by the harvest gold
Three in one and one in three
Light and bright and dark are thee!

Maiden, Mother and Crone come forward, veiled and crowned. Maiden leads, then Mother, then Crone, they split as they approach the HP – Maiden steps left, Mother steps right and Crone steps forward, coming to stand before the HP.

Maiden: I am dawn’s first light on the newly sown field. I am the seedling stretching toward the sun. I am the hope for the future.

Mother: I am the midday sun, shining upon the golden rows of wheat. I am the sheaf reaching for the sky. I am the promise of the growing grain.

Crone: I am the setting sun on the fallow fields. I am the grain brought down in harvest. I am the reaper of sacrifice.

HPS:invokes the Corn God

HPS: 	We call to thee O Father of the sunlit plains
	Lover of the crescent moon
	Whose golden light lives within the seed
	Planted in the field

We call to thee O Father of the maturing corn
King in the fertile soil
Wrapped in the womb of the mother
Where the bounty of the wheel is born

We call to thee O Father of the setting sun
Whose head bows in the summer breeze
Full of the love of the earth
Awaiting rebirth from the earth

O King of the Golden Corn
We invoke thee 
King of the Golden Corn
We welcome thee

Corn King steps forward to stand before the Maiden, Mother and Crone.

Maiden: 	We thank you for the hope you bring us.

Mother: 	We thank you for the promise of the future to come.

Crone: 	You have grown tall in the sun my love, but now is the time of 				reaping…

Crone passes the sickle across the Corn King’s throat and he falls to the ground, dead.

The Maiden and Mother move forward to cover the Corn King’s body with a shroud as the Crone mourns his loss.

Crone: Wethank you my love, for the gifts you have given by your sacrifice.As the sun begins to fall lower in the sky and the wheel turns towards winter, know that we are thankful for all we have, the bread that will feed us through the season, the wine that quenches the fire of our thirst. Know that your sacrifice is not without vain, for without it, the cycle of life could not continue.

Maiden and Mother: All things grow, all things die, all shall be reborn

All: 	John Barleycorn is cut down dead, 
	It is his time to die!
	The Sun that warmed our summer days
	No longer is so high.
	We thank him and the Goddess fair
	We thank them for the Corn
	We gather in the harvest now
	And leave the fields forlorn.
	(repeat 3 times)

All participants face outward as they sing

(Corn King moves from beneath shroud, replacing his body with the woven loaf of bread and vessel of wine – he then rejoins the circle)

HPS: Just as the Corn King sacrifices himself for the harvest, so must we all sacrifice of ourselves at the turning of the seasons. Each come forward, and give your sacrifice to the flame.

Each person steps forward and places their corn dolly in the flame, uttering a statement of their sacrifice.

HP: Let us not mourn the sacrifice for long, for we are here to celebrate the harvest and the promise it holds!

HP throws back the shroud to reveal the bread and mead. The shroud is folded and placed at the altar.

HP: The bread and mead represent the sacrifice of the Corn King at the first harvest. Let us all partake in the blessings of the season.

HP and HPS to perform cakes and ale

All share in the bounty of the season

Farewell quarters

Close Circle