Lughnasadh - Fire Festival
Cross-quarter
Half-way point between the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox
Also known as Lammas it represents the first of the Gaelic harvest festivals. Lughnasadh (pronounced LOO-nə-sə) is an ancient Celtic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. It's typically celebrated on August 1st or the closest full moon. The festival honors Lugh, the Celtic god of Sun and Light in Irish mythology, and celebrates the first fruits of the harvest, particularly grains. In modern times, Lughnasadh is observed by some Neopagans and Wiccans as one of the 8 sabbats, or seasonal festivals. It's a time for giving thanks for the abundance of the earth, enjoying the fruits of the harvest, and preparing for the coming autumn.
The meaning of Lughnasadh on the inner planes is the start of the harvest of the fruits that we have sown in spring.
Festival of Gratitude for the abundance Mother Earth provides to us.
Rituals:
Harvesting the first grain and baking bread from it to honor the harvest season.
Go on a nature walk, gather wildflowers to add to your altar, make a wreath, or create a smudge bundle with.
Light a fire to connect to the energy of the Sun at this time of abundance.
Cook a meal with harvested foods from your garden, the Farmers Market, or foraged.
Questions for contemplation:
Which things or projects are you reaping right now?
What would you like to finish, what to start anew?
Harvest requires preparation and forward-thinking in what ways have you supported your harvest season?
What abundance is present in my life right now?
What do I wish to preserve from my harvest? What seeds to store for Fall/Winter
The New Moon
Sunday, August 4th in Leo
Leo themes: Fire element, self-expression, proud, noble, generous, hospitable, caring, warm, authoritative, active, and open, lion, sovereign, dramatic, confident
The New Moon is when the Moon and the Sun are aligned and it is not illuminated by the Sun because the light is all reflected off the backside of the Moon back to the Sun.
The New Moon is the beginning of the Moon phase and as such is the inhalation and a time to call in intention setting practices. During this time manifestation energies are amplified as the Moon shifts into its waxing stage. This beginning is a good time to refresh your dedication to your dreams and desires. Use New Moon energy to start a new project and get working on manifesting your goals. Take the time to reflect upon your goals, set new ones, or allow your goals to transform with the moon phase. Use the darkness of the New Moon to take time for yourself and for quiet contemplation and meditation.
Dark Moon vs New Moon:
In astronomy/almanac New Moon times technically occur during the Dark Moon, usually about 3 days where the Moon is invisible to us.
New Moon is within the Dark Moon time when the Moon catches up with the Sun and is aligned, usually ½ way in the Dark Moon time. The beginning happens in the Void of the Dark Moon, in the Dark, Womb Time, conception. Difference in this vs right before which is more “tomb time.”
Crescent Moon time is different, it’s the pregnancy stage of the Moon, visible, and tangible.
New Moon ritual:
Cleanse your space, house, altar, bedroom, and any other place you spend lots of time.
Set up an altar or sacred space - you can put out crystals, Oracle or Tarot Cards or anything that represents your intentions.
Do a Moon Yoga Flow and meditate to find clarity.
Write down your intentions.
Ask yourself: What do you want? What dreams are you hoping to manifest? What seeds are you planting?
The intentions you set during the New Moon can start to manifest immediately.
Physically plant your intentions in the ground with a seed and watch it grow!
Energetic Hygiene
Opening Sacred Space
Check the energy of the space you are in and ask permission
Offer a gift
Clear the space if needed: smudge, incense, drum, gong
Call in your guides, good-well ancestors, energy team, fill the space with light energy and ground it
Set up your personal practitioner protection if sharing space with others
Neutral Separation
At the close of a session neutrally separate, calling back your own energy and sending anyone else’s energy back to them
Cord cutting
This is a practice of releasing karmic or energetic contracts with others and can show up as recurring patterns, encounters, breakups or fallouts.
Quick Cord Cutting practice for anytime you find yourself taking on energy that isn’t yours. Repeat to yourself “I release your energy back to you and take my own energy back for me.” OR “What is mine is mine and what is yours is yours.”
Cord Cutting Ritual:
Supplies: candle, cord or twine, paper, pencil, smudge stick
Light your candle and smudge yourself and your space.
Call in your guides and energy team.
Tie 2 knots into your cord with space in the middle, one knot representing YOU and the other representing the energy you wish to release (this can be a person, situation, pattern, event, etc).
Hold the cord and offer a message to yourself about why you are releasing this energy, person, or situation.
You may choose to say this aloud or write it down.
Hold the cord at the “YOU” knot over the flame and allow the space between the knots to burn away and all the way through the knot representing what you are releasing. As it burns, repeat to yourself “I release this energy from my field and offer it back to the Earth where it will be reborn to amplify my work and my life.”
If you wrote anything down, burn that now.
Place the YOU knot on our altar as a reminder or bury it in the Earth.
Repeat this practice as often as needed.
Initiation Invitation
Choose one of the Energetic Hygiene Rituals and practice it during your week.
In your journal record how the practice made you feel?
Could you connect to the release of any energy that wasn’t yours?
How would you incorporate this into a class or offering?
Recording