The Month of Completion
September is a gleaming month of ripeness, when the red apples are ready for picking, branches bending under the weight of their fruit. We collect blackberries and elderberries in the hedgerows, hands sticky with purple juice. The grapes are ripening on the vine. Mushrooms sprout and fruit under the harvest moon. It’s a busy month of picking and nutting, preserving and storing, making cider and brewing beer. For the Anglo-Saxons this was haefest monath (harvest month); in Gaelic an sultuine, the month of plenty180; in Welsh medi, the month of reaping.181
In the modern calendar, September is usually considered to be the first month of autumn, a word that comes from the Latin autumnus, which signified the passing of the year. In Germanic countries the season was usually referred to by the term “harvest” (Dutch herfst, German Herbst). In America it is often called “fall,” probably referring to the falling of the leaves at this time of year or a contraction of the Middle English expression “fall of the year.”182 The message is clear: the agricultural work of the year, and the harvest, is almost completed; the days are getting shorter; and the weather is getting colder. The year is in decline.
In modern times at the beginning of September, the last of the grain is usually cut, though of course this depends on the weather and latitude. The invention of farm machinery means that the harvest is often gathered in before the end of August, but in earlier times it extended into mid-September in England and even later in Scotland and northern areas. If the harvest had been good, the Harvest Home festival was one of thankfulness, relief, and great joy in all that had been accomplished, as well as looking forward to a period of rest and release. It was a time to celebrate with festivities and feasts and was marked with rituals and customs to ensure that the stored harvest would be safe and that life would return to the fields in the spring.
The last sheaf to be cut obviously marked the successful completion of the work, so it was treated with special attention. The corn spirit was considered “beheaded” when the last sheaf was cut. The sheaf, accompanied by its cutter and all the reapers, was usually taken to the farmer’s house and made into a figure or doll. These corn dollies were then kept until the following year, when they were ploughed into the earth on Plough Monday (see January), which marked the new start of the agricultural year. In Wales the seed from it was mixed with the seed at planting time “in order to teach it to grow.”183
After the harvest came the Harvest Supper. On a small farm, the feast would have been held in the kitchen or on larger farms in the specially decorated barn. It was viewed as a right by the workers and could be a costly business for the host. In Sussex it was traditional to serve caraway seed cake, which was served to the workers throughout the harvesting because it was believed that the seed not only provided strength for them but also increased their loyalty to their employer. After the meal there was usually dancing to the music of the fiddle, with a plentiful supply of beer and tobacco. Songs were sung and the farmer was toasted.
The church disapproved of the overtly Pagan and raucous nature of the harvest celebrations. Many churches have harvest thanksgiving celebrations now, but these mostly date from Victorian times. In 1843 the Reverend R. S. Hawker decided to have a special service in his Morwenstow, Cornwall, parish. The idea spread, and it became the custom to decorate churches with fruit, vegetables, and flowers brought in from gardens (which are later distributed to the poor or used to raise funds) and to sing special hymns written for the occasion, such as “We plough the fields and scatter.”
In the northern hemisphere, the month of September contains the autumn equinox. Afterwards the hours of darkness progressively become greater than the hours of light, with dawn getting later and sunset getting earlier each day—a process that will continue until the winter solstice. The sun is in decline on its southward course.
Though the autumn equinox can be celebrated as a simple Harvest Home festival, it contains a much deeper mystery, one that speaks to the central core of our Pagan teachings. The festivals of the year teach us about the great cosmic pattern, showing us the ebb and flow of energy in the manifest world and the spiritual truths that underlie them. At the autumn equinox, we experience the death that comes before resurrection—the death of the year that comes before its rebirth in spring, the physical death that comes before rebirth into another life, and the spiritual death and rebirth that comes with initiation. These ideas were at the core of the ancient Rites of Eleusis held at the autumn equinox in Greece.184
The central myth that underlay the mysteries was that of the grain goddess Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, who was stolen away to the underworld at the decline of the year, only to return in spring. According to the story, the mysteries were instituted after Demeter, searching for her missing child, rested at the house of Celeus, king of Eleusis. There she learned from Hecate that Persephone had been abducted by the god of the underworld, Hades, and was held prisoner in his chthonic realm. Demeter asked the people of Eleusis to build a temple for her, then she retreated into it and remained there, brooding on her loss. The following year no crops grew. The trees refused to yield fruit, and the buds withered on the vine. An endless winter descended on the earth. Zeus realised that the whole of creation was doomed unless Demeter lifted her curse, so he sent Hermes into the underworld to fetch her. However, Hades was unwilling to lose his lovely bride and cunningly offered her a sweet pomegranate as she readied herself to leave. He knew full well that anyone who eats the fruit of the underworld is doomed to remain there. Thus it fell that though Persephone was allowed to visit her mother, she was now bound to return. Persephone could spend two-thirds of the year with Demeter, but the remaining third of the year must be spent with her husband, Hades. With Persephone’s return, spring came and the frozen buds blossomed; the earth became green and fertile once more. But when Persephone goes back to the underworld, Demeter decrees that barren winter shall cover the earth. At Eleusis (“advent”), Demeter taught the human Triptolemus the principles of agriculture, which he taught others in turn, and this was how humankind learned how to farm.
The core message of the rites was rebirth after death, as symbolised by the cycle of vegetation. For two thousand years, large crowds of worshippers made the pilgrimage to the rites of Eleusis from all over Greece, and later from all over the Roman Empire. Initiation was open to all—Greeks and foreigners, men and women, freemen and slaves—on the condition that they had not committed the sin of murder.
In the coven we acknowledge that at the autumn equinox, light and darkness stand in balance once more, but the darkness is gaining, day by day, as we move towards winter. We watch the dying fire of the sun and lament the fallen God of the Grain as he travels to the land of the west. The expansive, active part of the year is over, and it is time to turn inwards. Each festival of the year, in its eternal spiral, can be viewed as an initiation into a new mode of consciousness. At the autumn equinox we experience the mystery of the death of the God who enters the underworld, where he will rule as the Lord of the Dead until his rebirth at Yule. Through that death comes transformation, regeneration, and rebirth. The sun’s power is waning, but deprived of the external light, we encounter inner illumination. For this is the mystery you must know: for every beginning there is an end; for every end, a beginning. The God’s tomb is but the earth-womb of the Mother, and as the wheel turns, the Lord of Death will return to us as the Lord of Life.
Early September
As we slip gently into autumn, we look to finish off the business of summer and prepare for winter, knowing that from the equinox, the darkness and cold will grow. Even at the beginning of September there is a nip in the morning air, and the luscious blooms of summer are starting to go to seed.
This is the time of abundance for me, with a profusion of fresh garden produce and foraged food available. I’m harvesting main crop potatoes, carrots, swedes, turnips, and beetroot, as well as cauliflowers, broccoli, beans, the last of the fresh salads, tomatoes, bell peppers, apples, and pears. This is one of my favourite months for foraging, too, and the hedgerows are bountiful with hazelnuts and sweet chestnuts, berries such as rosehips, elderberries, blackberries, rowan, and hawthorn berries, and mushrooms spring up in the woods and meadows. There are still fresh herbs around, and I preserve them by hanging them in bunches in a well-ventilated space to dry or by freezing them in water in ice cube trays (a cube can then be dropped into a soup or a stew). This is a very busy month. The harvest must be gathered in before the first frosts, and food must be prepared, stored, and preserved for the dead time of winter to come, with freezing, drying, canning, making jam and chutney, brewing wines, beers, and apple and pear brandy, and making my yearly batch of cider vinegar.
Naturally, I also use September’s bounty for making herb simples like blackberry vinegar and elderberry glycerite, as well as mulled hedgerow punch.
3 cups mixed autumn berries (such as blackberries, elderberries, and hawthorn berries)
2 litres apple juice
2 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
3 cloves
3 centimetres fresh ginger, grated
Put all the ingredients into a pan, bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain into mugs and serve hot. Sweeten with honey, if desired.
This is very good for coughs, so take a teaspoon whenever you feel the need. Quantities can easily be increased, allowing 1 pound blackberries to 1 pint vinegar.
2 pounds blackberries (Rubus spp.)
2 pints malt vinegar
Place the washed blackberries in a bowl and break them up slightly with a wooden spoon. Pour the malt vinegar on top and cover the bowl with a cloth. Let stand for 3–4 days, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a saucepan and boil for 10 minutes. Cool, strain, and bottle the resulting liquid.
The same method can be used to make elderberry vinegar. Many people find this very good for colds. Drink a tablespoon of blackberry or elderberry vinegar in hot water with a little honey.
ripe elderberries (Sambucus nigra)
vegetable glycerine (food grade)
Using a fork, strip the berries from the stem. To make a glycerite, put the berries into a clean jar and pour on slightly warmed glycerine until they are completely covered. Seal and keep in a warm place for 2–4 weeks, shaking daily. Strain through muslin and store in a dark bottle in a cool place for up to 2 years. Take a spoonful four times a day for colds and flu.
September 1: Autumn Sowing
The end of one harvest or cycle is the beginning of another. Soon the farmers will be making their autumn sowings in the grain fields. The Greek Orthodox Church celebrates New Year on September 1. The culmination and completion of each year comes with the harvest, so the autumn sowing of the seeds was considered New Year. The church prays for good weather, seasonable rains, and an abundance of the fruits of the earth. Greek farmers take seeds to church to be blessed before the autumn sowing, and people make wreaths of greenery and fruit to represent abundance in the coming year. Before dawn the old wreaths are thrown in the sea and the new ones dipped in the water for luck. When the wreaths are hung up, the sowing begins.
To mark the season, I’m making an autumn wreath. For this you will need:
wire wreath frame
florist’s wire
seasonal greenery and hard berries
such as hawthorn and rosehip
Wreaths are really easy to make. Simply start adding your leaves to the wire frame, secured by twisted florist’s wire, gradually working your way around the frame until you are back where you started. Put plenty of leaves on; you don’t want your wreath to look sparse. Now wire on the sprigs of berries where you would like them. You can put this on your altar or hang it on your door. The leaves represent the season that is passing away; the berries, as they contain seeds, are the promise of what is to come.
September 2: Hop Harvesting
In Kent, Herefordshire, Shropshire, and parts of Worcestershire, England, hops were a vital crop. Picking was done by seasonal workers, generally people who worked in other industries during the rest of the year and made a kind of family holiday of it. Though the work was extremely hard, many remembered the experience fondly. As with other harvests, there were peculiar customs related to hop picking such as “cribbing,” when male strangers were seized by the women and thrown into the cribs, the wooden frames that contained the picked hops. In order to be released, he would have to kiss all the women present. Unmarried female pickers were also cribbed at the end of the season. A king and queen of the pickers were chosen, with the man wearing women’s clothing and the woman, male clothing. Gaily bedecked with ribbons and sprays of hops, they were led in procession by the head pole-puller in front of the last load. In 1956 the Worcester Journal reported:
On some farms, the last day of picking had its age-old ceremony of hoisting the last and best pole of hops, saved specially for the occasion. The pullers’ caps and hats were decorated with rosettes, dahlias, asters and sprays of hops. Then a procession was formed, making its way to the farmhouse, headed by the busheller beading his metal measure to a drum, and followed by the pole-pullers, sack-holders and the pickers. At the farmhouse a feast was prepared and the farmer and his wife were toasted.185
Unfortunately, the growing of hops in the UK has declined as a consequence of cheaper imports and the cost of harvesting, and the traditional customs have passed away into history. However, there are still several festivals that celebrate the hop harvest. On the first Saturday of September at Canterbury Cathedral there is a procession around and into the cathedral led by the Hop Queen in a hop bower, followed by country dancers and Morris men with two hooden horses.
yeast
2 pints hops
2 gallons water
1 pound sugar
1 pound malt
Activate the yeast according to the instructions on the packet. Put the hops in a large pan and add just enough of the 2 gallons of water to cover. Boil for 15 minutes, then strain the liquid into a brewing bin. Add the sugar and malt and stir to dissolve. Add the rest of the water. When the mixture has cooled to 20o C, add the yeast, cover, and stand for 5 days. Bottle in screw-topped bottles and leave for 7 days before drinking.
Mid-September
Most plants are now completing their life cycle, and this is my time for collecting seeds. Some are edible, like poppy, nigella, sunflower, and pumpkin. Others, like vegetable and annual flower seeds, I collect to sow next spring. They have to be collected on a dry day as soon as the seed heads have ripened (they usually change colour to brown or black), but before they open and drop the seeds. I put them in paper bags and hang them up in the kitchen until the seeds drop out, though some pods have to be crushed to encourage this. Afterwards, they are put in small paper envelopes, labelled, and stored in an airtight container.
This is a traditional seed cake that was often served at harvest festival suppers, partly because caraway was thought to be a charm to faithfulness and loyalty, and the farmer wanted to keep his workers!
110 grams butter
170 grams castor sugar
3 eggs
2 tablespoons cold milk
225 grams plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
50 grams ground almonds
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
Cream the butter and sugar together. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk, and gradually add this to the creamed butter and sugar. Fold in the flour and baking powder, then add the ground almonds and caraway seeds. Bake in a loaf tin lined with baking parchment for an hour at 160o C/325o F/gas mark 3.
September 14: Rood Day
Rood Day is said to commemorate the rescue of the True Cross by Emperor Heraclius of Constantinople in 614. There were several proverbs referring to the fact this is the time of deer mating: “If the hart and the hind meet dry and part dry on Rood Day fair, for six weeks of rain there’ll be no mair.”186
On this day in 1752 Britain abandoned the Julian calendar of Julius Caesar and adopted the Gregorian calendar, meaning that some days had to be dropped to fall into alignment with the new calendar. It meant that they went to bed on September 2 and woke up on September 14, having “lost” eleven days. Some people really thought that they had been deprived of eleven days of their lives, and there were riots in the streets. It is the reason that many of the feast days and calendar customs are elevens days adrift.
Late September
As the sun nominally moves out of the harvest period of Virgo, it enters the sign of Libra, the scales, where the grain is weighed and measured. The scales of Libra are an obvious symbol of balance and harmony and, by logical extension, justice. In Greek myth they belonged to Dike Astraea (“star maiden”), the goddess who upheld natural law. Astraea was a daughter of Zeus and Themis, a personification of justice. As mankind became wicked, she was the last immortal to leave Earth, taking her place in the constellation Virgo, while the scales of justice she carried became the constellation Libra.
September 21: St. Matthew’s Day
The church took over the autumn equinox for St. Matthew, patron saint of tax collectors and bankers, and fixed this to September 21. In the English Midlands, St. Matthew’s Day is viewed as the first of three windy days, also called “windy days of the barley harvest.” One of the many traditional English sayings associated with the day is:
St. Mathee, shut up the Bee;
St. Mattho, take thy hopper and sow;
St. Mathy, all the year goes by
St. Matthie sends sap into the tree.187
This indicates that it is time to shut up the bee hives and make the autumn sowing of seeds.
The Autumn Equinox
The scales of Libra are a perfect symbol of the autumn equinox,188 when day and night stand at equal length, a point of balance that we acknowledge before the scales tip and the hours of darkness start to outweigh the hours of light. As we withdraw from our outdoor activities and turn towards the warmth of the hearth fire in winter, it is time for us to go deep within, to pursue our own spiritual transformation.
The autumn equinox marks the culmination of all the work of the agricultural cycle. It is a time of plenty and celebration as we give thanks to the gods for all they have given us during the year, but it is also a time of sacrifice—the bright God of the Grain has made his sacrifice so that we may eat. He departs from us to go into the underworld (the seed is returned to the earth in the autumn), where he will rule as the Lord of the Dead until Yule. This riddle of death, transformation, and rebirth is the deepest mystery of our teaching.
In the coven our equinox ritual is threefold. In the daylight we go to the wheat field to thank the agricultural land that gives us our bread. We make offerings of wine, bread, and flowers, and the Year King makes his sacrifice (a drop of blood).189 We circle back inwards to the garden, where seeds ripen, ready to grow next year, and light the brazier and make similar offerings in thanks for what this domestic land has provided. Lastly, we withdraw to the hearth, the centre of domestic and spiritual nourishment, where we offer milk and honey to the household deities because it is by the hearth that we will spend much of the winter.
Autumn Equinox Ritual
The following is a ritual you can do alone or with friends. The altar is decorated with autumn fruits. You will need a single ear of wheat. Place this on a dish, under a cloth. The revealing of this was the central mystery of the Rites of Eleusis and speaks of the mystery of life, death, and rebirth. We like to make a corn dolly, which is placed on the altar and which will play its part in further rituals. You will also need a yellow candle, a brown candle, and some bread and wine.
Say:
The year ebbs and lengthening shadows cloak the land
Cooling the rich earth and the ripened seeds
As day and night stand equal
And the year falls into darkness
As the wheel turns.
Light the brown candle and say:
I honour thee, golden-haired Goddess, Queen of the Harvest
In your right hand the sickle and in your left, the glorious fruits.
Light the yellow candle and say:
I honour thee, O fallen God of the Corn, King of the Harvest
Marked for sacrifice as the Goddess raises high her sickle
And sends you to the land of the west, which greets you as its lord
As the wheel turns.
Think about what you have harvested this year and what you have learned. Say:
I give thanks to the Lord and Lady for my own harvest this year:
The things that I have achieved—actions grown from the seeds of my thoughts.
Uncover the ear of wheat:
This is the final mystery that we must know:
For every beginning there is an end; for every end, a beginning
The tomb is but the earth-womb of the Mother
And the Lord of Death will return to us as the Son of Light
As the wheel turns.
Reflect on the cycles of life, death, and rebirth.
Take up the wine and place your hand over it to bless it with the words:
We have gathered the grapes
And pressed the wine
We give thanks for its gift
And as we drink, we ask the gods
To bless us with joy and wisdom. Blessed be.
Drink, then take up the bread and place your hand over it in blessing. Say:
We have gathered in the harvest
And give thanks to the Goddess for bearing it
We give thanks to the God whose sacrifice means that we may eat.
Blessed be.
Reflect on this for a while, and when you are ready to finish, say:
The Lord and Lady have given us their blessings and we have given thanks.
May this ritual end with love and blessings. Blessed be.
Corn Dolly
Take five hollow straws about 8 inches (20 cm) long and tie them in the middle. Fold the bunch in half and tie again to make the head. Take four more straws about
4 inches (10 cm) long and tie them together a short distance from the ends; these will form the arms of the figure. Slot this into the straws that form the body. Tie the ends of the longer straws to make the legs. This should give you a figure about 3 inches (7.5 cm) tall.
September 29: Michaelmas
In Christian times Michaelmas (the Feast of Michael and All Angels) absorbed some of the traditional celebrations of the autumn equinox. It falls on September 29 and is one of the legal quarter days in England, the others being Lady Day (March 25), Midsummer (June 24), and Christmas (December 25), which approximate to the solstices and equinoxes. St. Michael was one of the archangels who fought against the devil and his minions, and he is therefore seen as a protector against the forces of darkness and has been honoured as such for centuries. This perhaps makes him a fitting guardian against the dark winter days, when the forces of negativity, cold, bane, and death are stronger. Most of his churches are built on high places—often over Pagan sites—such as Mont St. Michel in Brittany, the church on the Tor at Glastonbury, and the church on the tumulus at Carnac.
It used to be said that harvest had to be completed by Michaelmas. Consequently, it was the date on which agricultural employment contracts ended. Every year on the day after Michaelmas, farm workers would travel to the hirings at the nearest market town to find new employment for the following year, carrying the implements of their particular trade. Thus domestic workers carried a mop, carters carried a whip, shepherds a crook, and so on. It was also the time for rented farms and lands to change hands.
Traditionally a goose, fed on the stubble from the fields after the harvest, was eaten on St. Michael’s Day. More than 20,000 geese from the Lincolnshire Fens would be sold to provide the traditional Michaelmas dish. An old rhyme says: “Whosoever eats goose on Michaelmas Day/Shall never lack money his debts to pay.” After the meal the breastbones were examined, and if they were brown, the winter would be mild, but if they were blue or whitish, the winter would be severe. Breaking the wishbone today and making a wish derives from this custom. The goose is an important bird in European folklore. Wild geese are associated with the sun and sun gods; large flocks pass over in the spring, and the bird was therefore connected with the lengthening of the days. In autumn the birds migrate again, and their departure signifies the onset of winter.
Altar Shrine Light
In our tradition the God is not invoked between the autumn equinox and Yule, as during that time he rules the underworld as the Lord of Death, and we do not summon death. Instead, we remember him with a night light on the altar in a red jar, and this is the day I light it for the first time. It will be burned each night until the winter solstice, when the Lord of Light is reborn.
180. Kightly, The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore.
181. Nilsson, Primitive Time-Reckoning.
182. https://www.etymonline.com/word/harvest, accessed 9.8.19.
183. Owen, Welsh Folk Customs.
184. Cicero, Laws II, xiv, 36.
185. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/home/newspapertitles, accessed 12.10.19
186. “Mair” is Scots dialect for “more.”
187. Blackburn and Holford-Strevens, The Oxford Companion to the Year.
188. Because of precession, Libra no longer rises on the ecliptic at the equinox.
189. The Year King is the man chosen annually to be our sacred king.