Magic In The Hat

Theres a little witch in every woman… ~ Practical Magic

Tag Archives: pagan

Herbalicious Lammas Loaf Biscuits: Celebrating The Tradition of Common Ground

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Saving this recipe for the next Lammas Day!

Gather Victoria

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This herbaceous and cheesy biscuit loaf is my tribute to the traditional start of the harvest calendar, Lammas Day or Lughnasa. And it features the cornucopia of savoury and aromatic herbs growing right now in the heart of Victoria’s neighbourhood “common ground” gardens.

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Lammas Day means “loaf-mass” and on August 1st, (or roundabout) bread made from the season’s first grains were taken to the church to be blessed. Afterwards, it was also used in a little old world food magic to ensure a prosperous harvest. A book of Anglo-Saxon Charms advises the Lammas bread should be broken into four bits placed at the four corners of the barn, to protect the grain.

But Lammas Day served another forgotten function, it marked the occasion when “Lamas Rights” were granted. This allowed “commoners” the right to hunt, pasture and forage on crown land, church or other lands they did not have legal rights to. This…

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Happy Lughnasadh / Lammas – 2017

Happy Lammas!

It’s August 1st!  This day marks the end of those long hot summer days and the coming of autumn with days beginning to give way to longer nights.

Lammas is the first of the three Harvest Festivals in the Wheel of the Year, with the other two being Mabon, and Samhain.

Today’s Focus:  To give thanks and be grateful for our blessings, to share your blessings with others (people you know, strangers, animals, or the earth).

Everyone celebrates this day differently, of course but here are some easily adaptable ways to incorporate celebration this Harvest Festival.

Celebrate:

  • Bake bread and enjoy it.
  • Cut up the leftover bread to leave out the birds.
  • Enjoy local crops in season (berry pies, apple crisp, corn on the cob!).
  • Give a neighbor or elderly baked goods.
  • Beer & wine (fruit juice or cider if you must) – Hey it’s grains and fruit too!
  • Light a candle of harvest colours (yellows, oranges, browns, purples).
  • Take a handful of wildflower seeds and give them to the wind – fate will decide where they go.
  • Offer a handful of grains / oats to the earth.


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My Very First Blog Post

Well Hello

Greetings to anyone that happens to have stumbled upon my magical little corner!  As stated in my “About Me Page“, my beautiful latched, gold lined Book of Shadows is being neglected in the shelf with only a few pages complete for the simple reason that I just prefer to type rather than to handwrite.

I plan to use this blog to work out my thoughts and learn more on magical topics, record spells, store recipes and keep my witchy contacts organized such as:

  • Blogs I like to visit
  • YouTube Channels I frequent
  • Supply Shops
  • Whatever else I find to be super important 🙂

Why “Magic In The Hat”?

One might assume that I am making reference to a witches hat, but actually it is a hint to my location.  I live in sunny Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada which is a small-ish sized city with a population of just over 63,000 residents.  We do have a very cool and gigantic teepee, however I have yet to hear of a local coven.  Of course just because I haven’t heard of one, doesn’t mean it’s not there!

Photo by Ken Eckert