Wheel of the Year - Lammas

Celebrate the first harvest with LAMMAS (aka Lughnasadh)!

Perhaps not so relevant today with our easy access to food in grocery stores and corner dairies, but back in day, the quality of the harvest determined whether you would have a comfortable time through winter - or scarcity and hunger. Even a generation or so ago, this time of year was when the ‘womenfolk’ would be busy bottling and preserving for the coming months ahead (a tradition that some people have continued, and there may even be a resurgence due to the demand for quality foods without preservative nasties, combined with the blissful notion of living off the produce of the land).

In the mythology of the God and Goddess, Lammas was when the Stag God sat back satisfied that he was able to provide for all around him. He is older and a little past his peak, but it is a time of reflection of how well and full his life has been. The Goddess has conceived a child in Litha (Summer Solstice) and will give birth in Yule (Winter Solstice) so she is showing signs of her fertility! As one of the Major Sabbats in the Wheel of the Year (the other three major sabbats being Samhain, Imbolc and Beltane), tradition has it that on this day great bonfires were lit by the ancient people in celebration of the wheel of the year turning.

Some of the symbols of Lammas include:

Wheat, oats, barley, and corn; gourds, sunflowers and sun wheels; agricultural tools (sickles, scythe); bread

On her beautiful altar, Irah has included the following crystals:

Carnelian – representing stimulation, encouragement and energy
Moonstone – representing emotional balance, intuition and receptivity
Citrine – representing manifestation, healing and revitalisation
Green, the colour of Nature, is represented by Green Aventurine and Malachite

May you be surrounded by the blessings of an abundant harvest!

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