Beans
The Lemuria, the festival in honor of the Lemures, the spirits of dead family members who wander the earth on these three spring nights (May 9, 11, and 13).
The Lemuria is held on odd-numbered days because even-numbered days are considered unlucky. It is a festival designed to honor the Lemures, they are regarded as baleful spirits of the dead who died violent or otherwise untimely deaths.
At midnight, the Paterfamilias (head of the household) arises and dresses with no knots, buckles, or other constricting items on his person (thus he is barefoot). He makes the sign of the mano fico with his hands (a fist with the thumb placed between the index and middle fingers; a sign of good luck and fertility) and then washes his hands in pure water. He then walks through the house, spitting out nine black beans, being careful not to look behind him as the lemures accept the beans as a sort of ransom for the living members of the household. As he spits out each one, he says
“With these beans I redeem me and mine.”
Once all nine beans have been accepted by the lemures and the entire house walked through, the Paterfamilias then washes his hands again, clashes two vessels of bronze together, and nine times says
“Ghosts of my fathers, be gone.”
(Manes exite paternae.)
Source: Novaroma
- Themes: Health; Kinship; Change; Opportunity
- Symbols: Beans; Pork
- Presiding Goddess: Carna
About Carna:
Goddess of protection, and of health and well-being of humans, especially small children. She presided over the intestines, heart, and other human organs. Some scholars have described Carna as being a Goddess of good digestion.
When parents appealed to Carna, this Goddess would enter the home and perform certain rites to bar a strix from entering the house. The strix was sort of a supernatural screech owl. If this evil creature could, it would fly in at night and eat a sleeping child’s intestines so the child would not get good nourishment and waste away.
To do today:
Romans traditionally gathered with their family on this day, offering Carna beans and pork to thank her for continued good health. This translates into a meal of pork, beans, and bacon to internalize her well-being! If you’re a vegetarian, just stick with the beans.
To get Carna’s assistance in getting an opportunity to open up, try this bit of sympathetic magic: Take any bean and go to your door. Stand before the door and say:
Carna, help this magic begin;
my future turns on your hinge.
Open the way, starting today!
Open the door as you say “open the way” and put the bean outside in a safe place to draw Carna’s opportunities to you.
To permanently close a chapter in your life, just alter the spell a bit. This time begin with the door open, saying:
Carna, help me leave the past behind;
by this spell this situation bind.
Away it goes, the door is closed!
Put the bean outside the door and close it as you say “the door is closed,” leaving the problem outside your life.
From: 365 Goddess
and The Goddess Dictionary
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