Putting the Sun Goddess Back into Lughnasadh

Thank you for being here! If you find value here and would like to support me to keep writing and offering this blog as a free resource, you can buy me a coffee here. If you are low on funds too, you can support this blog with a like, share or comment. Either way, please accept my sincere thanks and gratitude.

In this post, you will find:

.The Irish sun goddess Aine and her connections to Lughnasadh

.A fairy protection ritual and tips

.Journalling prompts for the season

.Writing and publishing news and book recommendations

Most neopagans today know Aine as the Irish sun goddess and fairy queen, celebrated and honoured at Midsummer. But as I discuss in my book about her, in some areas in Ireland, such as her local areas of Munster, Aine was also honored at Lughnasadh.

Lughnasadh was a distinctly Irish festival, although it coincides with the more Anglo-Saxon Lammas, and other festivals to celebrate the first harvest of the grain. Like the other Irish cross-quarter festivals of Imbolc, Beltane and Samhain, it is generally regarded as an agricultural festival. Although it gets its name from the god Lugh, it was actually held in honour of his foster-mother, Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion in order to clear wild land for farming, according to the medieval mythological texts. It’s a tale generally interpreted as symbolising the transition to farming and agriculture, and the human cost in back-breaking labour that entailed. Tailtiu is the land itself.

As well as the land, the sun is also needed for a good harvest. Aine was honored at Lughnasadh or the weekend after until pre-modern times in her traditional area of Knockainey, as a sort of spirit of the land/harvest or fairy queen. As an embodiment of the sun, it is she who gives life to the land and nurtures the grain, so it makes intuitive sense to me that this would be one of her festivals.

Also known as ‘First Fruits,’ it was often custom at Lughnasadh to offer the first grain to Aine or the land. It might also have been used to make wreaths or corn dollies1. Fires were lit, as at Midsummer, and there have been suggestions of cow or bull sacrifice surviving into the nineteenth century (cattle were often associated with her.) The corn dollies may echo back to an earlier time of human sacrifice as may the piling of ‘stone heads’ that took place according to some folklorists2. Lughnasadh has often been presented by early neopagans, drawing on the work of people such as James Fraser and Robert Graves, who wrote The Golden Bough and The White Goddess respectively, as having once been a widespread time of human sacrifice. A young man, representing the king or a god of the land or grain, would be sacrificed and his blood sprinkled over the fields, the blood symbolic of giving back life to the land in gratitude for the harvest and in expectation of the next year. Scholars have debated whether Graves’ or Fraser’s work can be considered at all reliable, but the myth itself has persisted and is often reenacted in Wiccan and some neo-Druid celebrations.

It seems odd that there isn’t any widespread neopagan association with Aine at Lughnasadh, in spite of the evidence that she was honored at this time in at least some areas of Ireland. So perhaps it is beyond time that we bring her back into having a place at the harvest feast?

Rather than focusing on grim metaphors such as blood on the fields, we can focus on her as the sun, ripening and gifting us the grain or other crops. Lughnasadh can be a good time for gratitude rituals, perhaps offering bread (or potatoes or bilberries, who also have their harvest at this time) to her on the altar, having a picnic with family or friends, and making gratitude lists for all the things you have ‘harvested’ this year. An appropriate ‘sacrifice’ in reciprocity for her bounty could also be to make donations to food banks of whatever you can afford or spare. Food poverty is sadly on the rise in many areas in the West, even though this is now more due to mismanagement and lack of support by our governments than actual shortages. You could also or alternatively donate to areas in the world where drought and famine are happening, whether through war or climate.

Protection

Although I don’t believe in the literal existence of fairies myself, it’s nevertheless worth remembering that Aine is indeed a fairy queen, and Irish folklore urges a great deal of caution when dealing with other-than-human beings, whatever you think they represent. Traditionally it has always been considered wise to seek protection from the fairies, not to work with them. Even if you are a polytheist and see fairies like Aine as gods who were forced into the si, and as therefore having a different quality to other denizens of the Otherworld, it is important to examine your intentions and motives carefully and research as much about Aine (or any other fairy figure) as you can. Even though I don’t have a literal belief in the existence of fairies (and indeed think such literalism is often dangerous), when practicing in areas of ritual and folk magic we should respect the wealth of folklore and the living tradition that urges cautionary measures. I could be wrong, after all.

Some traditional folkloric tips for ‘working with’ fairies.

• Say ‘I appreciate’ or ‘I am grateful for’ rather than ‘thank you.’

• Give offerings, especially in exchange for anything you have asked their aid with; flowers, milk, food etc

• Be careful and precise in what you ask for

• In both Irish Traveller and Irish Romani folklore, the color red is believed to ward against fairy mischief, malicious spirits and the ‘Evil Eye’

There is plenty of traditional folklore about the importance of protecting oneself from fairies at the Fire Festivals, from offerings of food and drink to carrying iron and blackthorn. Everyone was at least nominally Christian at these times, and so holy water blessed by a priest could be sprinkled around the house, on people and on livestock. Wearing your coat turned inside out was also believed to ward them off. People were cautioned to stay well away from hawthorn trees and ring forts; in fact, it may simply be wiser to stay inside!

While we may not be scared of fairy interference today, Lughnasadh is still a powerful time for protection rituals in general (as well as gratitude and abundance), and I offer an all-purpose one below, drawing on the oral record. Of course, please still take practical precautions from whatever you feel or are threatened by.

Protection Ritual

You can have a piece of blackthorn on your altar, or burn dried blackthorn leaves, and also have something made of iron. A horseshoe shape is popular, but it can be anything. Light a black or white candle rubbed with a suitable essential oil such as lavender, juniper, tea tree or eucalyptus.

Gazing into the candle, repeat ‘I invoke protection from…….’ and repeat as many times as necessary. Then, still meditating on the flame, visualize or sense a bubble of protection growing around you, a soft golden light that will keep you safe from harm. When you are ready, blow out the candle and sit in contemplation for a few moments. Take the blackthorn and iron from your altar and leave an offering of food and drink to Aine, the fairy queen. Cakes and milk are always a good option. Hang up the blackthorn and keep the iron with you (or vice versa)

Journalling prompts for the season

Here are some journaling prompts that fit the mood of Lughnasadh/Lammas. Take your time with them. You don’t need to answer all of them at once, or at all. Pick the ones that speak to you.

• What are you grateful for right now? Make a gratitude list. Say ‘thank you’ out loud for each item to Mother Earth.

• What are the areas of abundance and scarcity in your life right now?

• What sacrifices have you needed to make so far this year? How are you feeling about them right now?

• What consequences of your actions - positive and negative - are you experiencing right now? What further action are they calling you to? Do you need to apologise or take accountability? Or put up boundaries?

• Do you give enough to others? Or too much?

• Do you receive enough from others? Or are you taking too much?

• This is a good time of year to start thinking about your nutritional choices - not in terms of weight or even health but in terms of ethics. Can you eat more locally? More sustainably? And if not, what are the barriers (such as finances or access) and what wider societal action needs to happen to remove them?

• Brainstorm around the word ‘harvest.’ What is it bringing up for you right now? You might want to use this as the basis for a poem, story, personal essay or ritual.

What I’m Reading

I love a good book recommendation personally, so in case you love books too, here’s mine:

I always find late summer and early autumn to be a great time of year for folk horror, and folkloric fantasy, and just this month I stumbled across what is surely a small niche - magic apples - that I’m absolutely loving. Such as:

Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig - follows a very mysterious apple orchard around the seasons, and the lives of the people it touches. Sounds sweet. It’s terrifying.

The Silver Bough by Lisa Tuttle - gentle, eerie fantasy drawing deeply on Celtic mythology. Lisa Tuttle also has a book called The Mysteries that deep dives into Celtic fairylore. She also writes horror, occult detective and fantasy with George R. Martin and really deserves to be better known.

Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirlees - an undeservedly forgotten and beautifully written fantasy classic about a small town that falls for the lure of dangerous ‘fairy fruit.’ It was written in 1926, which means it’s now available to read online for free on Project Gutenberg.

In non-fiction I'm currently reading Natural Connection by Joycelyn London, a book about ‘what indigenous wisdom and marginalised people teach us about environmental action.’ It's fascinating, heartbreaking yet hopeful, and features the perspectives of authors Katherine May, Robert McFarlane and Rebecca Solnit, as well as indigenous activist groups from around the world.

Some promising new releases this month include

Witchland by Marion Gibson. A fresh look, utilising newly recovered sources, at the seventeenth century UK witch hunts.

The Green Soul by Lucinda M. Vardey, about our sacred encounters with Nature.

Seeking Thin Places by Jeff Mount, about rediscovering the sacred art of pilgrimage.

Which leads me nicely into…

Writing and Publishing News

I'm hoping to go on a weekend writing retreat this month, just me, the land, pen and paper at a local pilgrimage site deep in the Oxfordshire countryside. With the intention of getting some clarity about my goals and direction over the next year. I have so many ideas, but rarely the energy or physical ability to fulfil them. However, with some exciting new opportunities potentially coming this way (watch this space) I have a lot to think about. So a period of stillness amidst the bustle and heat of the holidays will be welcome.

My book on the Goddess/fairy Airmid is through copy-editing and will be available in paperback from Moon Books, as part of their bestselling Pagan Portals series, in summer 2027!

Due to taking time for rest, fun and family, I won't be posting on here during August. So let me take this time to wish you all a happy late summer harvest, and I will be back online in September.

Blessed be!

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like these:

Aine, Goddess of the Midsummer Sun

If the Earth is Our Mother, the Sun is Our Grandmother

Thank you for being here! If you would like to, you can buy me a coffee here or you can support this blog with a like, share or comment. Either way, please accept my sincere thanks and gratitude.