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Cast your circle. Clap or ring a bell three times and say:
“I celebrate this day, the First Harvest, the Festival of Bread, and the Marriage of the Sun and Earth.”
Sing or chant; this you may do while dancing around the circle if you feel like doing so:
“Dance, dance, wherever you may be;
When you dance with the Lord, He will dance with thee.
Turn, turn, a circle then you form;
And the Lord of the Dance is the Lord of the Corn!”
Raise your arms at the altar and sing or chant:
“Down, down into the Earth He’ll go;
Giving life to the grain that in the spring we sow.
He rules the Shadowland til Yule;
When His Sun is reborn and He joins us anew!”
Ring bell or clap seven times and say:
“Great is the power of the God of the Sun and the Goddess of the Earth from Whom spring all life!”
Hold your wand over the bread and say:
“The harvest of the corn that sustains us is brought through death and rebirth. The Lord of the Corn leaves the side of the Earth Mother that his power may be passed into the land for His children to live. Blessed be the God of the Corn, Whose love for his children knows no bounds! In the land of the shadows will He abide with the Lady as Crone, awaiting the time of His joyous rebirth.”
Touch the tip of your wand to the bread, saying:
“May the God bless this bread that I eat in honor of the cycle of Life that created it and me.”
Tear off a portion of bread as libation and place in the cauldron; eat a bite of bread and set the rest aside to share.
Hold your arms open, palms up, level over the altar, saying:
“My Lord and my Lady, I am blessed by Your gifts from the soil. These first grains are the promise of the fruits to come. Let the power of the Goddess and the God be in me at this time and throughout the year, that I never forget that I am one with the Absolute, the All, the Two Who Are One. So Mote It Be!”
Read or recite the “Charge of the God.”
Clap or ring bell three times.
Thank your deities. Clear the circle and open your circle.
There are many more ways of doing a Lughnasadh ritual. Buckland has a nice one in his work, Complete Book of Witchcraft. You can find many different rituals for Lughnasadh either in books or online.
You can also quite simply put together your own rituals. By making your rituals more personal to you, your family, or covens, you can increase your personal power and power of the ritual itself. Take the meaning of Lughnasadh and incorporate your own meaningful representations. If you don’t believe in picking flowers, you can decorate with potted ones. Clay pots or earthen-ware can also be used to represent the element of Earth. Let your intuition be your guide. It will take you to the objects that will become personal to you. Go out into nature and get inspired!
Blessed Be!