Lammas/ Lughnasadh

I've wrote some information about Lammas, but as always I've also made a video for you to watch, where I share a chant and also a Tarot spread that I have created for this time of the year

We celebrate Lammas or Lughnasadh on August the first.

Lammas is a celebration of the summer and the gathering of the grain harvest. On Lammas eve fires were lit on Lammas mounds such as Sillbury Hill at Avebury, to honour the Corn mother as she gives birth to her harvest child, the grain. 

The regenerative power of the earth is never more manifest than now as the grain harvest is gathered in, and the Sun’s cycle begins to wane. The cauldron of Regeneration was central to the Celtic spiritual understanding. We are renewed by sleep and darkness, through many deaths and rebirths, and by the sacrifice of our outer lives for the inner journey. Here at Lugnasad, the doorway to the inner realm is opening.

After all the manifest energy and activity of the early summer, it is good to make time now to rest and to assimilate all that has happened during the Sun’s active phase. 

Sometimes summer can feel as if it will last forever, but now we begin to see the first signs of change and transformation. In the fields the cereal crops have turned from green to gold and are gathered in. The first fruits, nuts and seeds are ripening and we must think about what we wish to gather in, such as seeds and plant medicines that will see us through the winter. 

In the spring we planted the seeds of our hopes, our dreams and ourselves. Some things may have manifested and some not. The Lammas assessment helps us to have a deeper understanding of our actions and ourselves at this point in time. 

Lugh  was the Celtic God, a Sun King who, according to the Myth, dies now with the waning year. His energy goes into the grain, is cut down and sacrificed back to the land. this is the key to understanding Lughnasad, through the death and transformation upon the Sun. We too, like the sun, must sacrifice ourselves and the active outer energy of the year, and welcome the inner journey. 

As we become more whole and learn to balance both sides of ourselves, the sacrifice of the active outer energy at this time becomes crucial to our well-being. 

Our modern lifestyle has forgotten the power and necessity of the cauldron of regeneration that the Celts understood. Now we can make the necessary adjustments to turn and face our inner journey. We will carry our personal harvest through the darkness of winter, understanding it further on the deeper levels, until it is reborn and becomes manifest again in the spring. 

If possible celebrate this day outside, find a local power spot in nature and see if you can find nuts, or some kind of berries that you can use to decorate your altar, for the rest you could decorate you altar in the colors of orange, red and gold.

You can also celebrate this day with friends and have a feast. 

To honour the grain Mother you could for example make your own corn dollies. 

Another tradition custom for this day, is to bake your own bread, when you make this, focus on how grateful and blessed you are and give thanks. 

And don't forget to offer the faeries a piece of your home made bread as well.

I wish you all a beautiful Lammas festival

Much Love and Blessings