This week (in the Northern Hemisphere) is the celebration of Lughnasadh or Lammas, depending upon your particular flavor of Wicca. And it is a cross-quarter day between the Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox.
Ok, we’ll do a quick tangent here for folks who may not
know the difference:
Lughnasadh is the Gaelic holy day. Typically considered to be a celebration of
the God Lugh (hence Lughnasadh), it was actually a day of games and
celebrations for the first harvest in honor of his mother, Tailtu.
Lammas has its origins in more Anglo-Saxon tradition, and
is also a celebration of the first harvest.
Loaves of bread were baked and used in blessings or charms.
It is also one of the cross-quarter days, a day that
marks the exact middle point between a Solstice and Equinox (and as such
actually floats a little year to year).
Regardless of the name, the overall theme of this holy
day is the Harvest, and is the first of three harvest festivals. For the ancient Pagans, it marked the time of
the first Harvest, the first reaping. It
is a recognition of the hard work of the growing season, the sacrifice of
feeding the tribe, and of gratitude.
Most of us aren’t involved in growing and feeding a tribe
anymore, and our seasons vary drastically from the lands of our ancestors. Yet, there is still something that seems to
beat at the core of our experience and seeks to align with these ancient cycles,
thus we can relate on some meta or archetypal level.
For me, the period of the First Harvest often brings some
regret. The prime planting and growing
season is done and it’s time to reap what we have sown. (Am I the only one that
always cringes a little and thinks “oh, sh*t” at that statement?) I think about all the things I didn’t get
around to “planting”. The projects and
plans I started to think about and never got around to implementing. I think of my big dreams and goals for my
life, and then mourn another year passing by in which I didn’t accomplish All
The Things.
Then I think of the things I did accomplish. And remember that I actually did a lot of
amazing things. Some of them I had
planned, some of them I didn’t. Some of
them consciously moved me towards my goals, some were a shift initiated by a
Goddess. All of them have been another
step on my journey.
People that want to make a difference in the world tend
to get so bogged down and overcommitted, don’t we? We forget that every little step moves us;
sometimes forward, sometimes backward or sideways, but always movement and always toward our true purpose.
I’ll do another post on goal setting, which is really
just intention setting in a buzzword jacket. But for now, I offer this exercise to celebrate the Harvest in your
life:
Celebrating Your Personal Harvest
List the goals you set for yourself this Spring (or
throughout the year).
List what you accomplished, whether you set it as a
goal or not.
Take a look at your two lists. Which of your goals did
you accomplish? Write them on another
piece of paper. Place those on your
altar. Flex your muscles and give
yourself a pat on the back. Brag to your
friends. Good job, you!!!
What did you accomplish that you did not set out as a
goal? Were they helpful? Do they offer an opportunity in your
life? Write those opportunities
down to consider further. Then write those accomplishments
on another piece of paper, and also place them on your altar. Offer your gratitude to the Divine for these
gifts. You did a great job by remaining
open to the mystery. Celebrate! Toast
yourself!
Now, take a close look at the remainder of your list of
goals. These are goals that you did not
accomplish. Do they still apply? Are they reasonable? Do you want to continue to work toward
them? If not, now is the time to let
them go, so you are not carrying the additional burden into the dark of the
year. Write the things you want to let
go of on a piece of paper, and magically release them however feels appropriate
to you. I like to offer them to a corn
dolly by placing them inside, and then burning the corn dolly. You could bury them, burn them, compost them,
offer them to the water, whatever works for you and is environmentally friendly.
Write down the goals that you are keeping. Place them on your altar, tape them to your
mirror, tuck them in your journal… just put them somewhere you will see them
regularly. Know that you can continue to
work towards these goals.
Celebrate another toast to yourself, and enjoy the
blessed life that you are co-creating every day!
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