First Harvest Festival--Lughnsadh/Lammas

Happy Lammas

Today marks the first harvest of the year, the beginning of the harvest season. This season of harvest can be expressed in the things you harvest from the land; such as fruits and vegetables. This can also be a time you take measure of the ideas, thoughts and practices which are coming to fruition in your life.  The most common names for this first day of harvest are Lughnsadh or Lammas. Keep in mind there are many names for this harvest and it’s not the name that defines the harvest.

Here in the southwest this is the beginning of the mating season for rattlesnakes, it is also the midpoint of the monsoon season.  As I sit here writing this, I hear the thunder rolling in and feel the power of the storm coming… It is a feeling of belonging…. 

I often work with snake medicine and feel a great connection to them…. I’ve worked with this energy for a long time… this is a feminine energy one of instinctual wisdom… one that moves through monthly changes, in the shedding of out grown skin… similar to Woman’s monthly shedding of unused uterine lining...

A search of the internet will take you too many pages filled with celebration ideas for this day. There will be corn dollies, bread baking, spells of gratitude, and much more…

First Harvest Altar

I am spending the day reflecting on all that I set into motion this last spring…. There are many things to be thankful for in my life and there are things that haven’t grown in the way I had anticipated. These are areas I will look at and decide how I could have supported and encouraged growth in these areas. I will also be celebrating the summer storm season (monsoons)… hopefully it will rain enough that I can gather some for my altar…. I will also bake today… It will be a new recipe…  Magic Cake!

May your First Harvest be one of bounty and blessing…

Have a Wicked Good Day!
Molly