The Coven met this past weekend to celebrate Beltane. As part of our feast, we had Leek and Chicken Pie, Roasted Vegetables, and traditional Scottish oat bannocks, with butter, honey, and jam.

We worked with two new spirits as a matter of experimentation.

We also had time to "Read the Bones" for one of the Witches. Here's a former entry with greater detail about reading bones.

https://covenrochester.dreamwidth.org/45810.html

Today, two days later, one of the predictions from the bone reading has come true.
Lammas is the Great Sabbat held in honor of the God. The superficial meaning of the Sabbat concerns the Harvest and thankfulness. Its Mysteries, however, involve the Sun and Sacrifice, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Responsibility.



The Altar, with some of the offerings thereon (there were more), and and some instruments below, for the dancing.



Blessings to you from the Great Mother and the Horned Father.



My Lammas dish for the feast. I recently read a book called OLD CRONE COOKERY. It contained simple and homey fare, mostly vegetable based. And so I thought I would make a panoply of vegetables in a skillet . . . baby corn in butter, sauteed broccoli-stem slaw, and roasted potatoes. And then a bit of cheese on the side. We also had fantastic cookies and a warm berry cobbler.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester


Images of Bald Mountain, Poland

Today, I recited a history of the Old Religion for a lad in Poland. In return, he taught me the traditional chant that Witches in Poland use to attend the Sabbats on Bald Mountain. It rhymes in Polish, of course, so it could obviously be used as a word charm for astral projection.

POLISH:
Płot nie płot,
Las nie las,
Wieś nie wieś
Biesie nieś!

APPROXIMATE PHONETIC:
pwot nye pwot,
lahs nye lahs
vyesh nye vyesh
BYESS-ee nyesh

TRANSLATION:
Fence, no fence,
Forest, no forest,
Village, no village
Horned Father, carry!

APPROXIMATE MEANING:
Past fence, or no fence,
Past forest, or no forest,
Past village, or no village,
Horned Father, take me away!

As soon as the lad recited it to me, I smiled, for I recognized a pattern similar to what Witches of other countries use in the Sabbat chants. Old Witches might recognize such lines as:

I will go through brake and fen,
I will go through thicket and thorn,
I will go over hill, down dale . . .

Lines are also sometimes set in a double negative in Sabbat chants. Example:

I will go neither walking nor flying,
I will go neither in Sun nor in Moon,
I will go neither in haste nor in sloth,
I will go in the Horned One's name.

So, there is a bit of witch lore from Poland for you!

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester



When the Goddess comes among humankind, She comes veiled, at first. When She thinks you are ready, She will lift Her veil and give you this command:

"Omma theis eiso peplon!"

It is marvelously ambiguous, and depending on who and what you are, you will understand one of these two things:

(a) Hide your eyes within your cloak!

or

(b) Look beneath my coverings!

We mention this only because this old chestnut has nearly disappeared from human consciousness, and we would not have it so.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester



We have given the esoteric symbolism of Candlemas in a previous post. It is a feast of the goddess, light, and purification.

https://covenrochester.dreamwidth.org/2351.html

The New Moon after Candlemas this year is 20 February. It is a wonderful time to easily move things out of your life that you do not need: books, clothing, papers, other personal detritus. Gift, donate, sell, recycle, upcycle, throw away. This cleaning time is a time to look back on your prior path of who you were, or who you thought you should be. Give it up. You have other foci in the present and the future. While doing this, a Witch will focus on the image of a broom or besom.

The Great Goddess is like an image of a Triple Flame reflected in a pool of water. The image of the Water-Bearer, itself, is made out of the burning fire of stars [1]. The Flame of the Maiden inspires. The Flame of the Mother purifies or renews. The Flame of the Crone transforms, i.e., changes the form of something into another thing.

If you are open to it, too, this is the Sabbat when the Great Goddess will give you a personal gift. But, in exchange, she will require something in return, and perhaps a quest for you to gain that something to return to Her.

The importance of this Sabbat cannot be overstated. Make a "Brighid Cross" if you must. Smile with the infant Son/Sun. Admire the snowdrops. Honor the lambing. Plan your spring garden. Make Macaroni and Cheese, or the Plate of Three Tastes. But for the Goddess's sake, do not shun Her Mysteries in favor of those little things.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, stop reading books and go find the Wise Ones.

[1] Well, technically the burning of stars is not fire, per se, but nuclear explosion. Fire requires oxygen, and there is no oxygen in space. Just so, the Sun of our own solar system is not "on fire." There are very important spiritual teachings here, both with respect to the combustion of the Sun and the presence of terrestrial fire on Earth. "Sun light" is not the same as "Earth fire," although a Witch, of course, and other clever people, can turn the former into the latter.



*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester
ExpandMy Father, Italy, Primagosto [Lammas] 1988 )

I was initiated into the Craft the following year, 1989, at the age of 19.



The Lord of the Sun

Hand-colored image in the Coven's Book of Shadows, before the section on the Lammas Sabbat.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

* Copyright to Coven Rochester

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