Lughnasadh/Lammas blessings ...

Feel Me now as Bountiful Mother
I am fertility and creativity.
I am the abundance of the harvest.
I am the abundance of life.
I create and nurture all being.
My golden cloak is the ripening grain.
Pause a moment whenever you eat
Feel My presence
I am your nurturing Mother.

                                  Source: Wendy Andrews

Anahita - Ancient Persian Goddess

Here at The Goddess House we honour all aspects of the Divine Feminine, the Great Mother, and today I am delighted to announced that we took delivery of a representation of Anahita, an ancient Persian Goddess who was associated with water, fertility and war, as well as being the patroness of women.

With her name meaning "the immaculate one", Anahita was often portrayed as a virgin (not belonging by any man), wearing a golden cloak and a diamond tiara.  She was also know as Lady of the Lions, or Lady of the Beasts, she is associated with rivers and lakes, the waters of birth, and as such was also depicted carrying a water pitcher.

Animals considered sacred to Anahita were the dove and the peacock. 

Goddess of the Grain

In the Celtic calendar, Lammas (or Lughnasadh) represents the first of three harvest festivals, the time when the mythological grain God is sacrificed.  The grinding of the grain represents his death, baking it into bread represents rebirth in the womb of the Goddess, and eating the bread brings new life.

The Serpent Goddess is invoked at Lammas because of her role in rebirth and in protection of grain. Serpents used to be kept in households to safeguard the domestic food supply from rodents. Even today, serpents protect grain crops. Snake meat became so popular in restaurants in China at the start of the Year of the Snake in 2001 that the crops were threatened due to the uncontrolled population explosion of mice.

Brighid of the Celts

Last week a "true" Celtic warrior woman completed her journey from this world to the next, crossing the "rainbow bridge" into the Summerlands, or the Tir na n'Nog (the "Land of the Forever Young") as it was known by the Irish.  While the passing of this amazing woman, Lynne Sinclair Wood, can be read here, I thought it would be appropriate to share some information about the Goddess to whom Lynne was a devoted priestess to, that being the Celtic Goddess Brighid.

The following has been compiled from various sources of the years.

Ancient Goddess of the Celts

In ancient Europe the major deity was the Great Earth Mother.  The first works of art were female figures and images of a fertility nature representing female genitals or breasts.  Women represented sensuality, the erotic, regeneration and fertility.  She was the relatedness of all life forms.  In later agricultural societies, a fertile pregnant woman symbolised the source of all life.

With the coming of warrior people from Europe, a male dominated hierarchical culture had an impact on the lands of the Earth Mother.  Tribes, such as the Celts, mixed with the existing Goddess people, absorbing the Goddess knowledge balancing the Earth Mother with the Sky Father concept, and producing a culture which existed on hunting and agriculture.  Men and women were represented as equals.