It's the Sunday before August 1st, and Lughnasadh, the first harvest of the year is upon us! Lughnasadh, pronounced "Lue-NAW-saw", is also referred to as Lammas (depending on your lineage, and/or comfortability in pronouncing Lughnasadh as best as you can, lol).
The Three Harvests of the year are:
Lughnasadh - the Grain Harvest i.e. "bake that bread!" (Aug. 1st)
Mabon/Autumn Equinox - the Fruit Harvest i.e. "everything's coming up apples" ( Sept. 21st)
Samhain - the Final Harvest of Nuts & Berries i.e. "I see dead people" ( Nov. 1st)
Lughnasadh is the time of year where nature's effects of a diminishing-sun, marking the descent into fall, can first be "felt". It is a time for farmers and land-tenders to reap the first harvest of summer, and to count one's blessings before, like the change of the seasons from summer to fall, we shrivel, wane, and shed that which no longer serves us.
Just as nature sheds it's skin each year as we enter the fall season, so too do WE shed our skins, and arrive naked and vulnerable as our outer and inner environments shift around us. It is a time of honest and inescapable-reflection. And if that sounds a bit grim, rest assured, we're not at fall YET, but we're on our way. Mabon, the Autumn equinox, marks the start of the Fall season, and Lughnasadh is our last "hoorah" before we're confronted with all we did and didn't do this year so far, LOL!
Don't get me wrong, "descents" are GOOD things! Nature is balance, and it is important to embrace each cycle nature offers us to plant, to dance & play, to tend, to harvest, to celebrate, to release, to grieve, to reflect, to rest, to wake, to grow, and to start our cycle all over again!
So take advantage of this week and consider your "own harvest" this Lughnasadh:
Make a list of ALL you are grateful for this year
Build a fire and acknowledge each item on your list, give thanks, and then offer your list to the Fire Element
Journal about all you have achieved thus far in 2023
Journal about any excitements you have on your horizon
Reach out to the people who matter to you, and tell them that you love them
Take a moment to honor the Four directions and the Five Elements, and all the 'life' they've granted you to live
Gives thanks to whomever or whatever you consider to be your Higher Power(s) and/or Your Highest-Self
Take a moment to give thanks for all the food, shelter, and income you have received this year to support your authenticity's presence in the world
Take a moment to contemplate how you have expressed and honored your authenticity this year
And of course, any excuse to feast with friends is time well-spent!
How will YOU be celebrating this Lughnasadh? Please share below!
Artist and Title of work unknown.
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