I’m working on the public Lammas ritual that Mother Grove Goddess Temple is hosting on Sunday afternoon in Malvern Hills Park. I rather fell in love with Tailtiu last year and wrote this invocation for her. I may use it again–
Daughter of Mag Mor–
Birthed upon silk–
Then Queen over Ulster.
She longed for oranges and sweet wine
and the love of strong men.
The war of invaders
Mirrored her own war—
To clear the land, to grow the world.
Neither fish nor fowl,
Tailtiu toiled.
She raised the young godling—
Sturdy golden Lugh.
Not merely her foster—
The son of her heart.
Tailtiu toiled, longing for comfort,
praising Eithne’s boy-child,
The son of her heart.
Welcome, dark Queen,
Mother, Daughter.
Welcome, honeyed Queen,
Hair like the crow.
Sing us the song now,
With bells at your fingertips,
Sing us the song now.
We welcome you home.
And here’s a blessing for the feast:
Blessing of the Food
So many hands prepared the feast, tasting and packing and carrying in.
So many feet brought in the crops, cutting and carrying and washing up.
So many good folk gathered in, hands and hearts and dancing feet.
Together we stand to bless the feast.
Blessed be the fruits of the land, blessed be the soil.
Blessed be the seed and the hands that planted it.
Blessed be. Blessed be all we!