Lammas/ Lughnasadh
August 1st
First Harvest
Lammas marks the first harvest festival in a succession of three. It is the halfway point between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox. The word Lammas comes from a word meaning “loaf-mass”. The Goddess as Grain Mother is celebrated. The seeds from harvest time will bring rebirth in the next year. The earth is abundant with nourishing foods. There is warmth around our homes as we enjoy these final days of summer and sun with our family and friends.
Get yourself outside for harvest season. The days of warm sunshine are soon ending. No matter how bountiful it may or may not appear, you have access to harvesting something today. It might be a few wild flowers along your favorite trail, some backyard tomatoes or a whole crop of vegetables! Get your body moving and your hands into the dirt! I encourage you to find out if you have a community garden nearby, we have several around us and it is so much fun to lend a hand. This year for Lammas we decided to go to one of the larger gardens available to the community. We gathered green beans, tomatoes, carrots and onions. Baskets of peppers and corn lined the garden paths. We brought in pounds of food. It felt so good to work in the sun, talk to strangers and do the laborious and rewarding work that my ancestors did, not long ago. If your lucky you may even come home with some ingredients for a delicious harvest dinner.
Lammas Goddess Ritual
To continue our small festivities we also bake a bread Goddess in honor of the harvest and the Earth Mother. To be honest I really don’t enjoy baking or cooking as much as I wish I did. I love eating good food but hate the dishes. It’s still something I’m trying to integrate into a sacred practice. Creating beautiful meals in accordance with the cyclical nature of the earth helps keep me inspired and interested. Harvesting our own food and taking part in the growing process brings us into deeper relationship with the food we eat. It’s a practice that is often waning and waxing for me, I have yet to find my balance. Making my Lammas bread Goddess is something I really enjoy. I gather my kitchen tools and my ingredients and then I thank the farmers who grew my food. I offer gratitude to the plants, the earth, the sun, the moon and the rains that nourished my food into being. As I knead my bread, I meditate on the harvest season and welcome the trance like state that always seems to take over when our hands are moving in repetition.
While the bread bakes and fills the house with its warm sweet scent, gather your harvest symbols of yellow candles, wheat and summer corn or vegetables. Sit in front of your altar and shuffle your tarot deck, getting connected to your deck in preparation for your reading.
Lammas Tarot Spread
- What can you harvest in your life?
- What needs to ripen more within you?
- How can you share in the abundance that surrounds you in your life right now?
- As the darkness builds, what do you need to prepare for?
About the Wheel of The Year
The wheel of the year is a round of festivals that celebrate the cyclical nature of the Earth. The wheel of the year integrates festivals from many ancient cultures. Living your life in accordance with the seasons and rhythms of nature will help bring you into balance and leave you feeling in tune with your non linear, cyclical self. Learn about all the other festivals on the wheel of the year in the Learning Center.
