About Us
Our background and aims
Gylden Community is a magickal and spiritual group. We support, promote and organise pagan events within the Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex and Berkshire areas. It's a place for all those who feel drawn to nature-based beliefs and for meeting like-minded folk. You’ll find us at spiritual events throughout Southern England, celebrating sabbats, publishing regular magickal help and having lots of laughter at gigs, picnics and socials too.
Gylden Community is not a traditional pagan group. We link to our friends in Basingstoke, Portsmouth, Bracknell, Farnham and anywhere else that hosts magickal or spiritual groups. We visit to share fellowship – and they can visit us too.
As a pagan library, we share knowledge and experience with others, not only via monthly publications or online files, but also at themed discussions or fayres where we can put aside time to show others what each of us can do or have learned along our specific pathways.
Gylden Community works with Guildford & Godalming Interfaith Forum, Woking Action for Peace and other Interfaith bodies to promote spiritual tolerance. We raise funds for charity whenever possible via our presence at public fayres, including Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice and Step By Step charities.
Gylden Magick magazine
Our regular monthly magazine is also on: www.facebook.com/groups/gyldenpaganfellowship/
Our Alban Elfed (Mabon) 2024 issue includes the following features:
- Alban Elfed celebrations and blessings
- nature: beavers in Sussex
- science: lunar standstill
- crystals: amber
- science: the atomic clock
- magick for Mabon
- corn dollies and harvest festivals
- nature: Mammal Photographer of the Year
- archaeogemmology: the St Albans jewels
- celestial forecasts for September (also published in full on Facebook)
- folklore: fairy darts.
Visit our Gylden Magick magazine archives for past issues.
Working with others
Pagan/ spiritual groups in the Gylden Community area - all are listed on meet-up or Facebook.
Arun Traditional Witchcraft (Arundel)
Association of Sussex Pagans
Basingstoke Pagan Circle
Basingstoke Pagan Moots
Berkshire Witches & Wiccans
Blackthorn Witchcraft UK (Havant)
The Circle of Ankerwycke (Staines)
CoA Southampton Witches
Colours of the Oak Moot (Bracknell)
Crawley and Horsham Pagan Moot
Godalming and Villages Moot
Guildford Mantra Meditation
Guardians of the Grove (Chichester)
Hampshire Pagans for Environmental Change (Southampton)
Horndean Positive Living Group
Horsham and West Sussex Pagans
Moon Rituals Portsmouth
North Surrey Pagan Circle (Weybridge)
Pagan Federation South Central
Reading Berkshire Pagans
Rollright Circle of Friends (Chipping Norton)
Rowan & Thorn Druid Grove (Alton)
Seasons of Albion Moot (Farnham)
The Witches' Inn (Redhill)
University of Portsmouth Pagan and Spiritual Society
University of Southampton Pagan & Witchcraft Society
Worthing Pagan Moot
Lughnasadh/ Lammas/ Lúnasa 2024 ©
This is a Celtic fire festival, named for the Commemoration of Lugh in Irish Gaelic. As the Celtic day started with sunset, the celebration of Lughnasadh starts on the Wednesday eve before Thursday 1 August 2024.
Lugh was a member of the Irish pantheon, the Tuatha De Danann. His father was Cian (son of Danu) and his foster-mother was Tailtiu. Lugh was linked to skills, crafts, arts and war - his name means "many skilled" or "the shining one" and he was thought to be a sun god, recognised generally by the Celts, rather than located in a specific region. The Gaulish Lugos is connected to the Irish Lugh, who is sometimes linked with the Welsh hero, Lleu Llaw Gyffes.
Much of the early history of Ireland is recorded in the Book of Invasions, namely the times when Ireland was conquered by foreign enemies. This record says that Lugh came to be associated with grain in Celtic legends after he held a harvest fair in honour of his foster mother. So, Lugh is symbolised by corn, grains, bread and other harvest fruits. In Irish Gaelic, the word for August is lúnasa and this festival was called Lughnasadh.
Later, Christians renamed the festival as Lammas, derived from the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) word of hlaef-mass. This refers to the loaf mass, when the first loaf of bread from the new harvest is consecrated – in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Lammas was described as the Feast of the First Fruits. Julius Caesar listed the popular deities of the Gauls and referred to them by what he saw as a corresponding Roman name. Thus, references made to Lugh (or Lugos) were attributed to the Roman god, Mercury. The central city for the worship of Mercury was Lugundum, which later became Lyon in France. Mercury’s festival on 1 August was chosen as the day of the Feast of Augustus, by Caesar's successor, Octavian Augustus Caesar, and it became the most important holiday in Gaul. However, 1 August tied in with the first grain harvest in most rural societies in Europe.
In real terms, Lughnasadh shows the beginning of the descent of the sun into winter darkness, but it’s also about celebrating the first harvest of the year. Much of the harvest is collected and stored and winter is not far away. So, both the Celts and the Saxons cut the grain for bread, but also stored some away as seeds for the next crop in the following spring.
This is Lughnasadh – a time to give thanks for the first harvest and to reflect upon our blessings. Are there any ways in which we can improve our lives and can we learn from our surroundings? In the days ahead, take a walk and look for evidence of the ripening harvest – in fields of grain, in orchards and in the hedges.
The harvest fruits include corn, forest fruits and seeds, fruits of the sea, herbs and flowers, but it is the seed that is the ancient symbol of life growing up to the point of harvest. Each of you, turn outward and consider the circle of life, take a moment to ground yourself and count the positive things in your lives that have grown from tiny seeds. And we too can reflect upon the meanings of transformation, death and rebirth at this sabbat. In practical terms, a Lughnasadh celebration might include.
• Using grain sheaves to create figures.
• Decorating a tree or natural feature with flowers.
• Baking something with flour.
• Holding a picnic with lots of laughter and song.
• Sharing songs, dances, stories and communal joy.
• Discussing new projects or seeds to be sown in spring.
• Collecting seed heads for sowing in the spring.
© 2024, Written by Gylden Fellowship
Blessings for Lughnasadh