Lammas Blessings

On the Precipice of Change

Here we are on the precipice of change as Lammas, also known as Lughnasadh (Loaf Mass), will occur on Monday, August 1. This ancient Gaelic festival of "First Fruits," is celebrated in the northern hemisphere at the cross-quarter point between summer solstice (June 21 this year) and fall equinox (Sept. 22 this year). According to tradition, this day marks one of the yearly turning points on the Great Wheel. It commemorates the first harvest and also celebrates hard work and artistry.

Instead of celebrating Lammas, our friends in the southern hemisphere will be marking the Imbolc cross-quarter point. This is the pre-spring celebration of growing light when Mother Earth begins to stir after the harshest days of winter.

August 1 this year is also the day of the occurrence of the epochal conjunction of Mars, Uranus, and Rahu. They are coming together now and will “perfect” (be in exact conjunction) at 24 degrees in the blistering sign of sidereal Aries (and Bharani nakshatra/Scorpio Navamsa). This is truly a significant astrological aspect about which I wrote previously.

This conjunction can reflect irritability, tension, vulnerability, apprehension; and aggression; potential for warlike threats and events; air travel disasters; seismic events, accidents, fires, severe storms, floods, and so on; it reflects a “disturbance in the force,” as in a marked lack of balance and harmony in the world. It may or may not represent events occurring in the days around August 1, and certainly, such events could occur after August 1, and ongoing into late October, but especially in the first ten days of August.

Ultimately this fiery conjunction points to disintegrating and revolutionary forces, and the breaking down of old structures. In its higher expression, the conjunction may also suggest the blossoming of some new enlightened awareness, which I discussed in my previous post. This is what I am tuned into today and as we appoach the sacred festival of Lammas.

Traditionally on Lammas, revelers bake loaves of bread as a holy offering to the Grain Mother "Ker" who is said to unfurl her golden cloak across the land to bring an abundant early harvest. Ker refers to a Proto-Indo-European root word which means "to grow."

Ker is similar to Ceres, the Roman Goddess of agriculture, and is also known as Mother of Grain, the Lady of Corn, and Goddess of the Harvest. She is a nurturing archetype whose totem animals are horned mammals like sheep, antelope, goats, moose, deer, cows, and so on.

Lammas is also the great festival of Lugh, or Lug, the ancient Celtic Sun King who is a God of Light. Celebrations in the month of August were made in honor of his mother Tailtiu (Talti) according to Irish mythology.

Lammas is a time when we should stop and smell the roses. As it occurs halfway between the fiery summer season and the watery autumn season, it is an opportune time to swim in natural waters, and/or to soak in hot springs which I plan to do!

Of course there is a deeper meaning in Lammas as described so beautifully by Eilthireach in an article titled Deeper Into Lughnasad:

The meaning of Lughnasadh on the inner planes is the start of the harvest of the fruits that we have sown in spring. Which things or projects are reaping in us in the moment? What would we like to finish, what to start anew? Do we have the insight that to every harvest there is a necessity of preparation?

The essence of Lughnasadh is the joy of life under the knowledge that darker times are moving in. We take in the warming rays of the Sun and store their power for the times coming. At the time we celebrate the next festival, Alban Elfed [Autumnal Equinox], it will be fall and the warm summer days will already be a memory.

...Lughnasadh is a very good time to express gratitude to the Gods and the Earth Spirits for their blessings and gifts that we are now receiving..."(Deeper into Lughnasadh, Order of the Bards and Druids: https://www.druidry.org/.../lughnasadh/deeper-lughnasadh)

Most importantly, cultivating and expressing gratitude is the best practice to empower us at this time. May the Divine Mother rain down peaceful healing vibrations as she lays her golden cloak across the land! May we all receive Her nurturing compassion and supreme comfort. May Divine Father illuminate us with heartfelt warmth and clarity, truth, and understanding. Om shanti shanti shanti. Peace peace peace!

Love, light, and peace,

Juliana