Holy Month
The September full moon marks the feast day of what the Anglo-Saxons referred to as Hāliġmōnaþ or “Holy Month.” It coincides with the end of harvest and the festival celebrating its bounty.
The time around the longest day of the year is a period for honoring the sun goddess Sunne as she rises in all her glory. The Old English word Litha means “calm.” June and July have some of the best weather in Britain. In Louisiana, we also know this is the beginning of hurricane season, a reminder that the Mother can be both pleasant and destructive.
Bonfires are traditionally lit throughout Britain at this time. In the Orkney, the fires are kindled with a mixture of peat and twigs. An animal bone is thrown in when they are lit—hence the term bon(e)fire. Each farmer takes a light from the fire to bless their farm.
Like other high festivals of the year, this is when the magical realms are closer to those of humans. The veil between our world and the Elfamme is again thinner at midsummer. The Feast of St. John is widely celebrated in Britain on June 24th. In New Orleans, St. John’s Eve, the evening of June 23rd, has traditionally been celebrated as a Voodoo holiday. The practice is said to date back to Marie Laveau. Sally Ann Glassman continues this tradition today and conducts a public ceremony near Bayou St. John each year.
Harvest Home Meditation
Decorate your shrine with fall colors and the final fruits of the harvest, such as pumpkins, squash, turnips, and fall leaves. Carving the turnip (as above) or pumpkins and light from the inside is appropriate. Have an incense burner or small cauldron with lit charcoal and a small bowl of grain on hand as well as an unlit candle.
Light the candle saying:
Farewell, O Mother Sun,
even in thy departure
Is the promise of thy return.
Sleep well, dear lady.
Symbolically sacrifice the God by dropping a pinch of wheat onto the charcoal.
He departs to the land of youth.
To dwell crowned as the king of the year.
He is ever the Horned Leader,
Who rules over the green of the wood.
As we stand unseen within the circle,
The forms of the Mighty Spirits
Of the other realms surrounding us.
Likewise, he is the Lord within ourselves.
He dwelleth within as the sacred seed,
The seed of new reaped grain,
The seed of flesh, hidden within the earth
And the mysterious ancient starseed.
Thee are that which is never born and never dies,
Therefore, we weep not and rejoice!
Meditate on the journey of the God from this world to the Underworld and the coming time of darkness.
Adapted from Breeding Devils in Chaos: The United Rite.