The Cosmic Story: Lammas 2019
The King's Sacrifice
August is here, the long slow ending of summer. When life is good and easy, just waiting to be enjoyed. There's a fullness to August, a ripeness. As if the Sun's glow has sunk into the Earth herself, giving her the glow of life. There are hay rolls in the fields, tomatoes ripening on the vine; there's hot sunlight in the day, but also a slowly growing nighttime.
This is the time of year to go outside at night and live for awhile under the stars. What better way to contemplate our blessings than by looking at the majesty and mystery of the heavens. Harvest time is always a good time to try to see the big picture. And the night sky heavens certainly provide us with one. Interestingly, the only two planets visible in the night sky now are Jupiter and Saturn the archetypal energies that shape societies and world issues, the energies that test us and shape us.
At Lammas, we also tend to look at ourselves and wonder what we've done this year. It's time to look for some of the results of our year's focus and energy. What are you preparing and harvesting? What has your garden grown? We are harvesting our gardens now, seeing the abundance Mother Earth gives us if we give her our respect and care. Just as we have to be good stewards of the Earth we also have to be good stewards our ourselves and our communities. Perhaps our harvest will help with that.
The Wheel of the Year: Lammas The First Harvest
In the Celtic Wheel of the Year, the cross-quarter holiday that stands between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox is Lammas, or Lughnasadh on August 1-8, celebrating the first grain harvest. Lammas is a celebration of life and the bread of life (before Monsanto poisoned it with Roundup). With bread in abundance, we tend to forget how important bread was in sustaining ancient people through the winter months.
Lammas was also a festival to the Celtic god Lugh of the Long Hand, the god of many crafts, the king of his people, god of the Sun. It was a time of gathering, feasting and dancing, when marriages were contracted, goods sold and treaties made. But mostly, it faced and celebrated the fact that the Sun was beginning to wan as it moved South, with shorter days and less light and warmth. You'll notice that as we enter August, the daylight hours decline more swiftly.
With the cutting of the grains, the god of growth offers up his life to feed and sustain the community. It was a symbolic sacrifice of the King, offering the best to the gods and to life. This is both harvest and seed for the new year, offering us the knowledge that all things come to an end. And that there is rebirth awaiting the turn of the Wheel.
What is our harvest this year? What have we grown and is it ready to be harvested? With two other harvests yet to come, at Autumn Equinox for fruit and at Samhain/Halloween for nuts and seeds, there is still plenty of time to gather in our harvest. But it is time to look at what needs taking care of now. And we need to see what sacrifices must be offered to life.
There is a great need for our ideas and visions to manifest in 3-D reality. This is our moment. Since we are the change we've been waiting for. Even more than our outer political reality, it is our inner, soulful reality that will shift the balance. Think of it as a shifting of the balance between light and dark, yin and yang, male and female. We are coming to a new balance, a new harmony and equilibrium. When we bring the tension of opposites into balance, a new, transcendent path appears before us. Ask the goddess Hecate to guide you to your new path. She will meet you at the Crossroads.
Each of us has a gift and talent we can offer the world. What have you spent your life learning? Many of us have developed multiple talents, for we are Renaissance people. We are bringing in a new birth, a new vision for society and for the planet. What are you working on? How can you synthesize what you know? What is the best possible way for you to manifest your gifts? Are you practicing and experimenting? I hope you are!
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