By Janine Nelson

Freshly baked bread. Photo credit: mystuart / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Lughnasadh, or Lammas is a celebration of the first harvest. The early harvest of grains, such as wheat, barley and corn, along with fruits and vegetables were cause for celebration. The name Lammas became popular in the early church when those early harvested grains were baked into loaves and offered during mass.  This festival focuses on life and bounty, harvest and death; a demonstration of the complete cycle.

The Wheel of the Year now shifts from the planting and growing times into this first harvest. We notice the days are warmer and the balance of light and dark shifting to shorter days. Personal reflection and harvest of our actions, deeds, gains and losses influence our next steps. We can benefit from taking stock in what we have accomplished and asking, “What do we want to achieve out of the next few months in order to achieve our goals?”

Another aspect of Lughnasadh are the delights and amusement we add to our lives. Christina Aubin wrote,

“Lughnasadh celebration is associated with John Barleycorn, an anthropomorphized image of the barley grain that goes into making malt beverages that heeds us to the larger life mysteries that play out each year on the stage of the agricultural cycle from which we spin our Wheel of the Year. Although the life mysteries are deep and contemplative, John Barleycorn also reminds us that levity, joy and festivity are as much a part of the Wheel and our lives as Death and Rebirth. It is what makes life worth living and allows us to touch the Joy that is creation.”

Llama. Image taken by Janine Nelson 2013.

Keep in mind that with each harvest we should recognize the love of our Mother who shares her bounty with us. Simply put, find your prosperity.  Webster’s Dictionary defines prosperity as, “a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, especially in financial respects; good fortune.”

How can you use your prosperity, or good fortune, to benefit others; and in doing so, does that increase your fortune?

J. Nelson

Janine Nelson, Writer and photographer.                                                                                                       Current Public Information Officer                                                                                                                       Orange County Local Council of Covenant of the Goddess.