Lughnasadh–Harvest Festival

Lugnasadh Or Lammas

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…

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Beltane–Bright Fire

Beltane

Happy May As the year speeds by, it is only natural to stop, take a breath and observe the natural cycles and passages as they arrive. Beltane, also related to May Day, Walpurgis Night or Calan Mai, occurs from sunset on April 30th to sunset on May 1st. It is a fire festival, a cross-quarter of the Eight-fold year marking the half way point of the succession from spring to summer. It is the time of growth and renewal, fertility and abundance. The Goddess, celebrated as May Queen or May Bride, and the Masculine God―the Oak King, Jack-In-The-Green, or the Green Man―fall in love and consummate their marriage, assuring blessings and abundance for the growing season. Beltane is passionate, sexual and fecund. It is a celebration of the principles of pro-creation, the occasion of the Sacred Marriage (or Heiros Gamos) between god and goddess, earth and sky. Handfasting, a traditional…

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