Athames, as you know, are not for cutting but for raising and managing energy. Athames that have been carved from crystals have become popular in recent years and can be very pretty. Consider these stones to be carved and polished and used as your sacred tool:
* Amethyst opens up psychic abilities.
* Celestite brings angel-powered insight and advice.
* Selenite is a stone of good fortune in the future.
* Azurite with malachite incites brilliance.
In your witchy community, a new name is an important signifier. It is a marker of your initiation and progress on your pagan path, and it lets the world know your intention and identity. When you are ready to take this step or induct a new witch into your community or coven, this ritual is a beautiful way to mark the occasion ceremoniously. Ideally, the high priestess or leader selects the name, but we witches can also choose what expresses our spirituality best. The greeting and welcoming of the newly named coven member is 5 minutes of pure magic.
Gather together
* firewood and kindling
* a sage wand for blessing with smoke
* “gifts of wisdom” for the newly ordained witch
* drums
Timing: This ritual is best performed on the night of the new moon.
Gather together the tribe, start the fire, and form a seated circle around the flames. Pass the sage wand around for the blessing of smoke.
Present the new name with the explanation of the name. For example, “I greet you ‘Lady Silverlake,’ so named because you are brilliant and reflective; because you shine.
The group should welcome the newly christened witch by going around the circle and speaking their blessings and hopes for the new pagan’s future. “Lady Silverlake, may you see the world and find the place that speaks most deeply to your heart.”
Next, the group should present the newly named tribal member with the gifts of wisdom. We are not speaking here of pricey prizes but perhaps a book that changed your life and the reason why, or an amber amulet for protection.
Drum and sing on this new-moon night, as an important new member of the tribe has just come into being!
Essential elements for this ritual are sheaves of grain (such as wheat or barley), a cauldron, water, one floating candle, one candle for each person present, and essential oils of rose, lavender, or other summer flowers.
Your Lammas Day ritual should be held on August first, the beginning of the harvest season in the ancient cycle of the year. To create the sacred space of the ritual, arrange the sheaves of grain in the four directions around a cauldron. Fill the cauldron three-quarters full with water, then add essential oils of the flowers of summer. Cast your circle in the usual manner.
At this point, the leader of the ritual should light the candles and then hand them to each person and guide the participants to form a circle around the cauldron. Now the floating candle should be lit and placed in the cauldron by the leader, who says:
O Ancient Lugh of days long past,
be here with us now
in this place between worlds,
on this Lammas Day.
Rap three times on the cauldron and say:
Harvest is here and the seasons do change,
this is the height of the year.
The bounty of summer sustains us
in spirit, in soul, and in body.
Now the group circles five times around the cauldron. All present should then speak their gratitude for the gifts of the season and the riches of the summer’s bounty. Storytelling, singing, and dancing should all be a part of this rite; when the tales have been told and the songs have been sung, the leader determines when the rite is done by putting out the candles and proclaiming:
This rite is done!
Close the circle.
You can create your own variations on this Lammas Day celebration, incorporating your own views on the summer season and how you show appreciation to nature and spirit. One lovely way to celebrate Lammas Day, anciently named Lughnasa in Celtic cultures, is to have a feast that begins and ends with gratitude and blessings for the food and wine, with a place set and food set aside for the great godly guest, Lugh.
Beltane is the sexiest high holiday for witches and one that is anticipated all year. I always look forward to having a joyful “spree” every May. Witches begin to celebrate Beltane on the last night of April, and it is traditional for the festivities to last all night. This is a time for feasting, dancing, laughter, and lots of lovemaking. The Celts of old made this day a day of wild abandon, a sexual spree, the one day of the year when it is okay to make love outside your relationship. On May Day, when the sun returns in the morning, revelers gather to erect a merrily beribboned Maypole to dance around, followed by picnicking and sensual siestas.
Ideally, celebrate outdoors, but if you are stuck indoors on Beltane Eve, pick a place with a fireplace and have a roaring blaze so celebrants can wear comfy clothing and dance barefoot. Ask them to bring spring flowers and musical instruments, including plenty of drums! Place pillows on the floor and serve a sensual feast of foods from the following list, under the title “Oral Fixations,” along with beer, wine, ciders, and honeyed mead that you can make or obtain from a microbrewery. Gather some of spring’s bounty of flowers—roses, tulips, and my favorite, freesias, in your favorite colors, or whatever is blooming with the most vitality where you live. Set out candles in spring colors—yellow, pink, red, green, white, purple. With your arms extended, point to each of the four directions and say, “To the east, to the south, to the west, and to the north,” and recite this Beltane rhyme:
Hoof and horn, hoof and horn,
tonight our spirits are reborn. [repeat thrice]
Welcome joy into my home,
fill my friends with love and laughter.
So mote it be.
Have each guest light a candle and speak to the subject of love with a toast of Beltane Brew. Drumming and dancing is the next part of the circle. This is truly an invocation of lust for life and will be a night to remember for all. Now rejoice!
Without fire, there would be no life. For this ritual, gather together members of your community to participate in honoring the life-giving power of flame.
Supplies:
1. Place the bowl of tarot cards on the space designated as the altar.
2. Ask for a volunteer to be in charge of the fire and to be the leader of the ritual. The fire maker should then select three women to represent the Norns (a.k.a. the Three Fates). One of the fates will be in charge of “giving fire.” With a candle in the cauldron, she keeps the fire safe and gives it to the fire maker. Another fate reads out the future to ritual participants with a one-card tarot reading. The last fate gives life in the form of the ritual foods—the apples, hot cider, ice cream, and so on.
3. The participants should get as cold as possible before beginning the ritual—take off your coats and sweaters, and open all the windows and doors if you are inside. You need to feel the winter deep in your soul. The leader should pass around the ice cubes so the participants engage in a sensory way with freezing cold and the need for fire.
4. While the participants get good and chilly, the leader should start the fire. People who really want the totally authentic experience of firemaking can try to create fire from sparking with a fire drill, but the ritual could then take hours unless the fire maker is well practiced in the art of making fire.
5. The following is the chant to be spoken while the fire is being made. The ritual leader should pass out the drums and begin leading rhythmic sounds to underscore the chanting.
Winter winds howl and wail.
We feel the cold in our bones.
This is an old familiar tale.
The ice binds and surrounds us all.
Fates above, please hear our call.
Fire thaws the ice.
Fire creates the water.
The heat warms our bones.
Fire and ice bind our lives.
Now feel the fire!
6. Holding hands, everyone should dance slowly around the fire sunwise, feeling the life-giving warmth. Next, repeat the chant.
7. The fate of the future goes around the circle with the bowl of tarot cards and performs one-card readings for each individual. If time allows, she should also do a reading for the group with the full set of tarot cards about the future of the community.
8. Last, the fate who gives life serves the group celebratory food— the ice cream and other cold foods are a remembrance of the cold of the icy times, and the hot cider and other hot foods represent the life-giving heat of fire. The head of the ritual should lead everyone in a discussion of the importance of the ritual of the needfire and any other topic important to every participant and the community.
The elements needed for this ritual include:
The essential elements for this ritual are enough candles to represent every year of the crone’s life, flowers, silver wire, crystals, water, flowering branches, silver moon-shaped paper cutouts, and potluck food. The potluck food served at the party after the ritual will be even more special and good for all if they emphasize “women’s food” such as estrogen-filled yams, calcium-rich broccoli, and yogurt. Soy is recommended as well, and chocolate is essential.
The first part of the ritual takes place before the honored guest, the new crone, arrives. Working together, women should take the silver wire and form a round crown. Glue semiprecious crystals to this crown, attach charms and amulets, and affix the silver crescent moons. Make it beautiful and meaningful. The silver moon is a sign of the Goddess, and the new crone is a representative of the Goddess’s third aspect. The crystals, which are the stones and bones of Mother Earth, add power and the beauty of Gaia. Charms and amulets are for health, protection, good luck, and good life. As you make it and place the jewels and charms on the crown, state your intentions and hopes for the new crone. When the crown is complete, place it on a beautiful purple pillow or on the altar.
Upon the arrival of the soon-to-be-crowned crone, the eldest woman present should take a flowering branch and dip it in water and sprinkle it on her head, just a few drops, and speak a blessing, such as:
I bless you in the name of the Goddess.
I bless you in the name of Mother Earth.
I bless you in the name of every woman.
Sister, do you accept the role of teacher and leader as crone?
The crone responds. If she accepts the title, then the eldest woman says:
She is crowned.
Now the elder places the Crown of Cronehood upon the new crone’s head. Go around the circle and have each woman speak of the gift she added to the crown; here are examples:
I give you amethyst to represent the healing power of the planet.
I give you silver, sacred to the moon.
I give you roses, the flower of desire.
I give you a sacred heart charm to represent the mysteries of love.
I give you a blue star because you are a star.
I give you an abalone shell because you are powerful like the ocean.
I give you moonstone because you are wise and reflective.
I give you an angel pendant because you are so beautiful in body and in soul.
Now everyone should speak together:
We gather together to celebrate that [new crone’s name] is entering the Wise Age.
Now the eldest woman lights one candle, and then each woman present in turn lights a candle until all fifty-six (or the appropriate number equaling this crone’s age) candles are lit.
Singing and chanting now take place with the circle holding hands:
[Crone’s name], Lady Mine,
We now honor you; we will never forsake you.
[Crone’s name], we listen to your wisdom with the love of our hearts.
We accept your teachings with ears and hands.
Blessed be the new crone! Long life and good health! Happiness
and joy!
After everyone has spoken her tribute to the crone, she can speak her thanks. At this point, the crone assumes her leadership role. Leadership is best handled with great gravity and lightness at the same time. “Benevolence” and “wisdom” are the watchwords. The crone should speak anything she is holding in her heart. Doubtless, she will want to speak her gratitude for the support of the sisterhood, but she should also speak forth any concerns she has. The concerns can be specific to her world, which is now her domain—her family, her group of friends, her spiritual circle, her community, or even the planet. The crone can choose to ask a pair of disputing friends to make up and work it out. She can request that a healing garden be made for her people. Whatever comes to her mind that will be helpful and essential to the group and the greater good is what she should speak. I know a cronewho has asked people to help her build a community center, and it is happening.
I know another crone who quit her high-powered corporate job to study the medicine wheel and become a shaman. Still another elder has taken up the brush and is painting beautiful art after years of working for the defense department; this is my mother, Helen, who is a wonderful example of the power of cronehood. When the crone has spoken from the wisdom of her heart, everyone should again hold hands. The eldest woman who inducted the new crone again holds out the flowering branch and hands it to the new crone. The crone speaks her blessing to everyone present, touching everyone’s heads with a few drops of blessing water and saying words from her heart to each person. When she is done, she says: This circle is now open. Blessed be to all.
Now the food is served, and it should be a birthday party to remember for the rest of the crone’s life.
For your celebratory mask-making ceremonies, you can and should design your own wild woman images. You can also choose from a list of classical goddess images, such as:
December 1, Festival of Pallas Athene (Ancient Greece)
December 2, Festival of Shiva (Hindu)
December 3, St. Xavier’s Feast Day
December 4, International Hug Day
December 5, International Volunteers Day
December 6, St. Nicholas Day, precursor to St. Nick
December 7, Burning the Devil Night in Guatemala, La Quema Del Diablo
December 8, Festival of Ix Chel, Mayan lunar goddess
December 9, Virgin of Guadalupe first appears (1591)
December 10, International Human Rights Day
December 11, Pilgrimages at Tortuga, New Mexico
December 12, Pilgrimages at Guadalupe in Mexico, Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe
December 13, Saint Lucia Day in Sweden
December 14, Feast of St. John of the Cross
December 15, Consualia in Rome
December 16, Las Posadas in Mexico, procession commemorating the Holy Family’s search for lodging
December 17, Saturnalia begins
December 18, Virgin of Solitude Day in Oaxaca, Mexico
December 19, Feast of Saint Boniface, the apostle of Germany
December 20, Commerce God Festival in Japan
December 21, Winter solstice
December 22, Saint Chaeremon Day
December 23, Laurentalia, Roman festival of hallowing the home
December 24, Mother Night (Anglo-Saxon)
December 25, Christmas Day
December 26, First day of Kwanzaa (Afro-American)
December 27, Freya’s Day (Teutonic)
December 28, Holy Innocents Day (Mexico)
December 29, Saint Thomas of Canterbury’s Day
December 30, Nia, or Purpose Night during the celebration of Kwanzaa
December 31, Hogmanay (Scotland)
Nearly every solar god is celebrated in December—Baal, Attis, Adonis, Apollo, Ra, Baldur, and Mithra, to name a few. Scots celebrate Hogmanay, a secular holiday with roots in the worship of the ancient solar god, Hogmagog. Yule is one of the pagan sabaats, or the eight holidays of the wheel of the year, and is celebrated on December 21, the shortest day of the year. The word Yule comes from the Germanic jol, and means midwinter. The old tradition was to have a vigil and a bonfire from dusk to dawn to make sure the sun does indeed rise again on this longest night of the entire year.
Light as many candles as you can in the room where you are performing this ritual. Create a circle of candles, and create sacred space by having a symbol of each element in your circle: a dish of salt or earth, a cup of water, incense, and a candle. Sit lotus-style in the center of your circle and relax in the flickering candlelight. Feel the center of your circle and relax in the flickering candlelight. Feel the presence of the four elements and the balance they create. Notice how warm and alive the room feels. Notice how the gentle, flickering candlelight makes you feel safe. Now think back to all the difficult situations you have experienced over the past year and think of the people who have angered or hurt you. Imagine them surrounded by the warm, loving candlelight, and say to each of them, one by one:
I release you. May the lights of Diwali bless you.
As you release each person or situation, visualize their image melting into the candlelight. While the image fades from your mind’s eye, place a bite of the cake or confection in your mouth. Allow the treat to dissolve, spreading its sweetness across your tongue. Visualize and feel that sweetness spreading through you, counteracting any of the traces of pain or bitterness that might remain. This is the sweetness that your new life holds, untainted by these bitter demons that have held you back.
When you have finished releasing your demons to the light, purify the new piece of clothing or item of jewelry by passing it through the smoke of the incense. Put on your new piece of jewelry of clothing, saying:
With this act, I declare the past gone, and see the future bright with hope.
Stay within your circle of light as long as you desire. Leave some of the cake or sweets as an offering to the gods in thanks for your new life.
Diwali is like a New Year, when everyone can start again, forgiving quarrels, wearing new clothes, and starting life anew with a fresh attitude and bright hopes. In the village and mountainous regions of India, bonfires are going strong, warming up the landscape along with fireworks that light up the night skies.
Diwali honors the victory of Rama, an avatar aspect of Vishnu who battled a ten-headed demon that stole Rama’s wife, Sita, with devotional music, lamp-lighting rituals, feasting, games, gambling, gift giving, and special foods, such as sweets, fruits, candies, and pastries that are constructed into temple- like towers.
November 1, All Saints Day
November 2, All Souls Day, Dia de los Muertos
November 3, St. Hubert’s Day, celebrated with a hunter’s Mass
November 4, Mischief Night in England with bonfires and firecrackers, a “festival of chaos”
November 5, Guy Fawkes Day in England since 1605, also known as Bonfire Night
November 6, Leonhardi-ritt in Bavaria, for St. Leonard, patron saint of cattle
November 7, Mayan ghost banquet
November 8, Fuigo Matsuri, festival honoring Hettsui no Kami, Japanese goddess of the kitchen hearth
November 9, Dia de Camana (Peru)
November 10, Martin Luther’s birthday (1483)
November 11, Remembrance Day, Armistice Day
November 12, Tesuque Feast Day for Pueblo Indians
November 13, Roman festival of Jupiter
November 14, South America’s Little Carnival before Advent
November 15, Recycling Day (United States)
November 16, Festival of Bast (Ancient Egypt)
November 17, The Leonid meteor shower is visible on this day
November 18, Saint Plato’s Day
November 19, Pilgrimage Day for Islam
November 20, Ebisu-ko, Japanese ceremony to the prophet god
November 21, Presentation of the Virgin Mary
November 22, St. Cecelia’s Day, patron saint of musicians
November 23, St. Clement’s Day, saint of blacksmiths
November 24, Feast of Burning Lamps for Isis and Osiris (Ancient Egypt)
November 25, Mange Yam, harvest festival (Haiti)
November 26, Thanksgiving if a Thursday and St. Peter of Alexandria Day
November 27, St. Maximus’ Day in Provence
November 28, Baha’i Ascension of Abdul-Baha in 1892
November 29, St. Andrew’s Eve, a night of fortune-telling in Europe
November 30, Saint Andrew’s Day
Essential elements for this ritual are wheat or barley, sheaves of grain, cauldron, water, one floating candle, one candle for each person present, and essential oils of rose, lavender, or other summer flowers.
To create the sacred space of the ritual, arrange the sheaves of grain in the four directions around a cauldron. Fill the cauldron three-quarters full with water and add essential oils of the flowers of summer. Cast your circle in the usual manner.
At this point, the leader of the ritual should light the candles and then hand them to each person and guide the participants to form a circle around the cauldron. Now the floating candle should be lit and placed in the cauldron by the leader, who says:
O Ancient Lugh of days long past,
Be here with us now
In this place between worlds,
On this Lammas Day
Rap three times on the cauldron and say:
Harvest is here and the seasons do change,
This is the height of the year.
The bounty of summer sustains us
In spirit, in soul, and in body.
Now the group circles five times around the cauldron. All present should then speak their gratitude for the gifts of the season, and the riches of the summer bounty. Storytelling, singing, and dancing should all be a part of this rite, and the leader determines when the rite is done by putting out the candles and proclaiming:
This rite is done!
Close the circle.
There are many ways you can create your own variations on Lammas Day celebrations with your own views on the summer season and how you show appreciation to nature and spirit. One lovely way to celebrate Lammas Day is to have a feast that begins and ends with gratitude and blessings for the good and wine with a place set and food served for the great godly guest, Lugh.
August 1, Fiesta Day (Nicaragua)
August 2, Our Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica)
August 3, Drimes Day in Greece with offerings to the dead, all-night parties and bonfires in vineyards and orchards
August 4, Dom Perignon invents champagne in 1693— celebrate!
August 5, Grasmere Rush Bearing Festival in Cumbria, England, dating back to the medieval custom of weaving flooring for cathedrals
August 6, Peace Ceremony for World War II bombing of Hiroshima
August 7, Feast of Hathor (Ancient Egypt)
August 8, Dog Days in Japan, or Doyo
August 9, Nagasaki Peace Ceremony in Japan
August 10, Celebration of the Goddess of Reason, established 1793 in France
August 11, Puck Fair in Killarney, Ireland
August 12, International Youth Day
August 13, Feast of Vertumnus, god of seasons, gardens, and trees, in Rome
August 14, Ferragosto, Italy’s traditional mid-August holiday
August 15, Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary
August 16, Saint Roch’s Procession in France and Italy
August 17, Potunis in Italy; Marcus Garvey Day for Rastafarians
August 18, St. Helen’s Day Pilgrimage
August 19, Roman Vinalia Rustica in honor of Venus since 293 BCE
August 20, Szent Isvan Napja, Day of St. Stephen, in Hungary
August 21, Consualia in honor of Consus, god of seeds, grain, and harvest
August 22, Feast of the Queenship of Mary, Star of the Sea, since 1954
August 23, Paper Costume Parade and Holy Bath Day in Portugal
August 24, St. Bartholomew’s Day
August 25, Opiconsivia, festival to the goddess Ops
August 26, Feast day of Luonnatar, Finnish goddess of fertility
August 27, Birth of Isis
August 28, St. Augustine’s Day to honor Augustine of Hippo (354-430), leading Christian theologian and Father of the Church
August 29, Festival of St. John, commemorating his death
August 30, Santa Rosa (Mexico); Saint Rose of Lima (Peru)
August 31, Anant Chaturdasi, a women’s purification festival (Hindu)
The Romans honored Demeter, the grain mother and overseer of the harvest, during August. The Celts celebrated Lughnassadh in honor of Lugh, their god of many skills. Lughnassadh was adopted and adapted by the Christian church as Lammas (“Loaf-mass”) and is still celebrated. The custom is that when the first grain is harvest, it must be baked into a loaf and offered to Lugh as thanks for healthy crops. Native Americans called August the Corn Moon, and the Franks referred to this time of year as Aranmanoth, The Corn Ears Month.
This simple ceremony blesses your home with the power of the sun and the protection of the palm leaf. Essential elements for this ritual are a palm leaf or front, incense, cup of water.
Take your palm leaf outside on a sunny day. Cast your sacred circle. Light the incense and pass the palm leaf through the smoke, saying:
By air and by fire I cleanse and consecrate you to the purpose of protection.
Touch your fingertips to the water, sprinkle a few drops onto the leaf, and say:
By water I cleanse and consecrate you to the purpose of protection.
Lay the palm leaf on the ground, saying:
By earth I cleanse and consecrate you to the purpose of protection.
Now hold the palm leaf up to the sun. Visualize the warmth and strength of the light permeating the palm leaf and filling it with power. Say:
Honored Sun,
Beloved light of the day,
Bless this palm with your protection and light.
So mote it be!
Pour the remaining water out onto the ground as an offering. When you return home, hang the palm leaf up over your front door.
July 1, Climbing Mount Fuji Day in Japan
July 2, Palio de Siena, the legendary festival for the Italian horse race with feasts, blessings, and betting, founded in the Renaissance
July 3, Festival of Sothis (Ancient Egypt)
July 4, Festival honoring Pax, Roman goddess of peace
July 5, Tynwald Fair Day on the Isle of Man since 1079
July 6, Jan Hus Day in the Czech Republic
July 7, Tanabata, Japanese Weavers Festival; China’s Chi Nu Feast for Milky Way
July 8, First actual Thanksgiving, Massachusetts’s Bay Colony (1630)
July 9, Pilgrimage for Sempachfeier, retracing and re- enacting the 1386 battle between the Swiss and Austrians. Defend an issue about which you feel strongly, as the peaceful Swiss did.
July 10, Silence Day in India
July 11, Feast Day of Saint Olga, the first Russian Saint
July 12, Nadaam festival of horses, in Mongolia
July 13, Commemoration of the Departed (Japanese Buddhist)
July 14, Bastille Day (1789) in France
July 15, Chang Yuan, Festival of the Dead (China)
July 16, Feast for Our Lady of Carmel
July 17, Festival of Amaterasu, Japanese Sun Goddess
July 18, Saint Marina Day in Cyprus
July 19, Martyr’s Day in Myanmar
July 20, National Moon Day (United States)
July 21, Horse’s holiday in Rome, part of the Festival of Consualia
July 22, Saint Mary Magdalene’s Feast Day
July 23, Rastafarian Celebration honoring Haile Selassie
July 24, Simon Bolivar Festival Day in South America
July 25, Incan holiday for Illyap, god of thunder and lightning
July 26, Birthday of Carl Jung and Robert Graves
July 27, Birthday of Osiris (Ancient Egypt)
July 28, Peruvian Independence Day (1821)
July 29, St. Martha Day in France, first celebrated in 48 CE
July 30, International Bog Day, celebrating the protection of wetlands
July 31, St. Ignatius’s Day
The most appropriate rituals you can perform in the month of July are those in celebration of the sun.
Sirius, the Dog Star, rises in early July. The Egyptians knew this star as Sothis. In Egyptian mythology, Isis is Queen of Heaven, and Osiris, ruler of the underworld, is her husband and her brother. While these deities ruled, Egyptian culture thrived, advanced in the arts and science, and also grew in magic and religion. The Egyptians built great cities and became very powerful and renowned for the beauty of their civilization.
Isis is typically depicted as a beautiful winged woman. On her noble head is a crown with the disc of the sun gleaming golden. Veneration of Isis spread from Egypt to the Greeks, the Romans, and throughout the Hellenic world until her last temple was destroyed in the fourth century.
The palm tree is sacred to Isis and can be used in ritual. You can lay the palm leaves in your path and walk in procession. The palm has been used in various ways throughout the world in ritual. The following are some suggestions you can build upon in your own ritual design:
Essential elements for a Celtic-inspired Midsummer ritual are a wooden wheel, fallen branches and firewood, multicolored candles, multicolored ribbons, food and drink, and flowers for garlands. This ritual should be performed outside, ideally on a hill or mountaintop, at dusk. Call the local fire department to verify the fire laws in your area. You will likely need a special permit to light a bonfire, and certain areas may be restricted. Always clear the grass and brush away from your fire area, and make sure to dig a shallow pit into the ground. Circle the pit with rocks to help mark the edge of the fire pit as well as to contain the accidental spread of fire. Have a fire extinguisher, a pail of sand, and water bottles nearby in case the fire gets out of control. One person not directly involved in the ritual should be on hand to watch the fire at all times. Make sure the fire pit is far enough away from surrounding trees and other landscape features to allow for a group to dance around it.
Lay the wooden wheel down in the circle of stones, and arrange the fallen branches and firewood around the edge of it. The wheel represents the turning of the year, and the sun on its daily and yearly cycle. Tie the colored ribbons on the nearest tree. While these preparations are being made, the priestess to lead the ritual should meditate in the area where the ritual will be held, connecting to the goddess. The gathered celebrants should weave garlands of flowers while the sun slowly sets. Just before the sun vanishes completely, the priestess should direct the gathered celebrants to ready their candles, or more ideally, torches. The priest lights them, declaring:
The fire festival is begun.
Under this longest day of the sun.
Let us go forth and make merry.
The god and goddess are here!
All say:
Blessed be!
The priest leads the celebrants into the circle where the priestess waits, and directs them to throw their torches and candles in the bonfire. The priestess raises her arms and invokes the Goddess:
Great Earth Mother and Lady of the Forest,
Be with us here and now!
On this night the Goddess reigns supreme.
On this, our night of our midsummer!
All say:
Blessed be!
All should dance in the direction of the sun (clockwise) around the fire, raise their arms, and clap and shout for joy for as long as they want. When people begin to tire, it is time for the feast. The priest directs the blessing of the food:
Blessed Lady of the Forest,
And old god and animals, spirits of the wild,
Bless this food and drink,
That it may strengthen us in your ways.
All say:
Blessed be!
Everyone should share in the refreshments and eat, drink, and make merry. Another round of dance and song is in order. When the bonfire has turned to ash, the priestess declares the ritual to be over and says:
Our revelry this day is done, dear one.
Gods of the old and spirits of nature,
We thank you for your blessings this night.
This rite is done.
All say:
Blessed be!
Make certain the fire has completely gone out before you leave the ritual site. Soak the ashes with water and clean up the site. Always leave a natural area cleaner than you found it.
June 1, Roman festival of Carna, goddess of doors and locks
June 2, US Congress granted citizenship and voter’s rights to all Native Americans, 1927
June 3, Festival of Bellona, a Roman goddess of battle
June 4, First recorded Chinese solar eclipse (780 BCE)
June 5, Feast of St. Boniface
June 6, St. Fermin’s Day in Spain, Running of the Bulls
June 7, Weaver’s Festival in Japan
June 8, Founding of Islam circa 622 CE
June 9, Vestalia, Festival honoring the Roman goddess Vesta
June 10, Day of Anahita (Persian)
June 11, Feast of Saint Barnabus
June 12, Dia dos Namorados, Lovers’ Day (Brazil)
June 13, Birth of the Muses
June 14, Otaue Shinji, Rice-Planting Festival in Japan
June 15, St. Vitus’s Day
June 16, Bloomsday festival in honor of Irish author James Joyce with readings, breakfast, and a pilgrimage retracing the steps of Leopold Bloom
June 17, Iceland’s Independence Day, 1944
June 18, High holy day for women’s rights—Susan B. Anthony defies the law in 1872 by voting
June 19, Juneteenth
June 20, Day of Ix Chel (Mayan)
June 21, Midsummer
June 22, Rose Festival in England, Feast of Saint Alban
June 23, Jani, the major festival in Latvia
June 24, Feast of the Sun (Aztec)
June 25, Croatian Independence Day
June 26, Pied Piper Day, circa 1284
June 27, Stonewall, 1969, the day gays fought back
June 28, Constitution Day in Ukraine
June 29, Saint Peter’s Day
June 30, Burial of Yarilo in Russia, a traditional rite of song, games, and dance
May 1, May Day, Beltane
May 2, Last day of Ridvan, the Baha’i festival when no work can be done
May 3, Dia de la Crus, Day of the Holy Cross in Mexico and South America
May 4, Feast of Bona Dea, a Roman women’s mystery rite
May 5, Mexico’s Cinco de Mayo; Children’s Day in Japan
May 6, National Day of Prayer (United States)
May 7, St. Nicola, pilgrimage of the Italian Christian hero
May 8, Festival of the Roman goddess of the mind, Mens, from whom Mensa takes its name
May 9, Lemuria, when Romans banished ghosts from their homes
May 10, Women’s rights hero Victoria Woodhull is the first woman nominated for president in 1872
May 11, Anniversary of the year 330 CE, Roman ritual rededication of Byzantium to Constantinople
May 12, International Midwives Day
May 13, Portuguese Pilgrimage to Fatima
May 14, Mercuralia, Festival of Mercury
May 15, International Day of Families
May 16, French processions on Saint Honoratus Day, patron saint of all bakers
May 17, Norwegian Independence Day
May 18, International Museum Day
May 19, Holiday of Poetry (Turkmenistan)
May 20, Cuba’s Independence Day
May 21, Anastenaria, Greek fire-walking festival
May 22, World Biodiversity Day
May 23, The American Civil War ends, 1865—celebrate national unity
May 24, Slovenian Sveti Kiril I Metodi
May 25, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s birthday
May 26, Birth of Isadora Duncan (1878), self-proclaimed Dionysian ritual dancer and choreographer
May 27, St. Augustine of Canterbury Day, make a pilgrimage to a local shrine or holy place
May 28, John Muir founds the Sierra Club (1892)
May 29, Oak Apple Day in England
May 30, Memorial Day or Decoration Day
May 31, Flores de Mayo, last day of flowers, or May Day
