Is It August Already?
Yes, I know I’ve been kind of falling behind on posting this summer. Well, it’s Summer. And, the Energy Work has been kind of All-Consuming for the past month or better. I knew this year’s Summer’s Solstice (Second Quarter on the Wheel of the Year. Should have done a post–wasn’t able.) was going to bring in some intense and huge change for the Earth as well as myself. We’ve been being hit by one wave of transformative energy after another since, and I’ve been functioning largely on automatic pilot. My oldest daughter was in England during the Solstice and visited Stonehenge shortly after on June 24th. Big things are happening.
In the meanwhile, we are beginning a new month and Celebrating the first of the three Autumn Festivals. Even though Summer doesn’t officially end for some time, the Harvest season has begun and the days are growing steadily shorter. In its various forms (Lughnasadh, Lughnasa, Lammas, and Lunasa to name a few of its appellations) this Cross-Quarter has been observed in one form or another since time immemorial.
It is a time to give thanks to the spirits and deities for the beginning of the harvest season, and to propitiate them with offerings and prayers so as to encourage a successful outcome for the crops yet to be harvested. Corn or grain are most often served in the form of ceremonial breads, as well as apples, berries, squash and other food items abundant from Summer’s bounty.
The Wiccans see it, along with Beltane, as the most auspicious times for Handfasting. It is the time to make Brooms, as the broom corn is being harvested, and to Jump over the Broom, a pagan wedding ceremony with Welsh roots.
Blessings! Enjoy…
