First Harvest & Full Moon

 

First Harvest Full Moon Celebration

The first harvest point on the Wheel of the Year is the cross-quarter day of Lughnasad, also known as Lammas. The cross-quarter days fall between the solstices and equinoxes, beginning the turn toward the next season. This first harvest falls on the full moon in Aquarius.

This timing marks the starting point toward autumn and the harvest phase of the year.

 

Please join me, Lisa Michaels online August 1st at 7pm Eastern to honor the first harvest and full moon.

• Discover more about how to utilize this rhythm to boost your creation energy.
• Uncover what your creations need now from each element in order to thrive.
• Infuse your creations with vitalizing life force for a more abundant harvest.

 

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First Harvest Lughnasad/Lammas

Celebrated on August 1

Lughnasad, named after the sun god Lugh, is the cross-quarter Wheel of the Year point following Summer Solstice. Also known as Lammas, it marks the starting point of the turn toward autumn. To understand the cross-quarter days more fully, download your the free starter kit and read Chapter 2 of Natural Rhythms™ by Lisa Michaels.

Lughnasad is the first of three harvest festivals celebrated each year as the growing season begins to produce bountiful crops. Celebrating the harvest was an extremely important part of life that was deeply connected to the land and the growing cycle. Gratitude for the blessings of fruit and grain that would carry your community through the harsher days of winter expressed a heartfelt appreciation for the core of nature that sustains life.

The cross quarter days which fall between the solstices and equinoxes signal the turn toward the next season. For ease of timing, the day of the celebration became more focalized on a certain day, say August 1, when the energy of the cross-quarter day might vary by as much as a week. Astrologically, Lughnasad falls exactly between Summer Solstice and Autumnal Equinox. This year, that will be August 8 but with the full moon on the first you may want to work with them together.

And the beauty of this wider window is that you have an entire week to choose a time in which to honor Lughnasad.

The relationship between the abundant Earth Mother and the Solar Fire God is vital to the survival of the species. Those who honor of the Wheel of the Year connect to this primal understanding, showing their gratitude and giving blessings back to the land. Just as any other being appreciates your gratitude when they have bestowed you with a gift, Nature also loves receiving your power prayers of thanks.

 Lammas actually means “loaf mass” and was named from a Christian mass for honoring the grain that we grind into flour and then transform into food for our bodies. This process of transformation provides you with a wonderful example of how you can integrate all of your experiences, regardless of how they felt at the time, into food for the soul, food that wisdom rises from in order to nourish your life.

This year during the week of Lughnasad and the full moon, take a look around your life and notice where integration and the blessings of transformation may be showing up for you. Be sure to give thanks, celebrate the bounty of your harvest, and work with this powerful window to enhance your creations.

Personal Creation Ceremonial Ideas to Activate Lughnasad

Choose one or perhaps two depending on your available time. For more information on calling in Sacred Space, see p. 215-223 of Natural Rhythms ™.

~ Ask yourself what you have to be thankful for in life and in relation to your creations. List all those things in your journal. Also ask yourself what desires have come into form that are now ripe and ready for picking.  
~ Notice if there is a place in life where you are releasing the grain from the chaff or pounding your creations down so they rise again in a fuller form.
~ Lammas serves as a good time of year to pay attention to which part of the transformational cycle your creations may be in and perhaps honor them in ceremony.
~ Honor the abundant Earth Mother in some way. Thank the Corn Goddess for her fertility. Create an altar with corn, bread, flowers that bloom this time of year, grapes, and seasonal produce.
~ Create a ceremonial meal with seasonal vegetables, grains, and fruit. Serve it with corn bread or freshly baked bread. Finish it off with blackberry cobbler. Be sure to set a beautiful table and express your gratitude fully before and during your ceremonial meal.
~ After working with each element around your harvest, create an art piece to represent their messages from this point on the Wheel.

~ Elemental Journaling: Take the time to listen to each element and their message to you about producing a good harvest.

Give thanks to Earth and ask “What do my creations need from you at this time to produce a good harvest?”
Give thanks to Water and ask “What do my creations need from you at this time to produce a good harvest?”
Give thanks to Air and ask “What do my creations need from you at this time to produce a good harvest?”
Give thanks to Fire and ask “What do my creations need from you at this time to produce a good harvest?”
Give thanks to Spirit and ask “What do my creations need from you at this time to produce a good harvest?”

  If you have the Elemental Forces of Creation Oracle, you may want to draw cards for additional guidance from each element and/or add insight from other     decks.

  Now ask the unified field of all of the elements and Spirit for a unified creation message so that your creations may flourish. 


 

Full Moon in Aquarius

Element: Full Moon in Aquarius, Air and Sun in Leo, Fire   

Window: July 31 – August 2

Exact: August 1 – 11:27 pm Eastern

Full Moon in Aquarius with the sun in Leo creates a unique opportunity to connect to the essence of free-spirited innovation and radiant self-love leadership. When you think about this combination of energies, what opens in you? Does the combination stimulate new ways of showing up as an innovative leader in your field?

This duo brings unusual ways to get your message out and be seen, a mighty Air and Fire combination. The trick with Air and Fire is that they require fast action on the innovative ideas they bring. Because fresh Air innovation blows in quickly, you have to move to set in motion the idea gifts they deliver.

If you sit around and ponder the idea too long, you miss the window of opportunity, and the Air gets stale and the Fire grows weak. This dynamic duo loves movement and getting it done so it can go on to the next idea. Leo/Aquarius show up only twice a year in this powerful sun/moon combination, so pay attention to the radical and inventive ways they may bring messages to you about your creations.

A great way to energize your these two is to put on some wild music and shake them out in a free-spirited release dance. Leo and Aquarius love this kind of movement of energy, and in addition to helping you let go of what you no longer need, it will get you fired up for action.

If you need a music suggestion, try any piece on James Asher’s Feet in the Soil album. These are readily available on i-Tunes and if you only want a song or two, I especially love Send in the Drums and Pemulwuy. Nothing you could do during this full moon in this Air and Fire window would help you move the energy better than an intense dance session.

After you dance, ask Aquarius and Leo what messages they are bringing you and write down their suggestions. Take action on the ideas as long as they are safe, no matter how far out they may be to your current way of thinking.

One last piece about Aquarius.  It was the Aquarius new moon that I powerfully worked with to increase my technological capacity. And it worked big time. I honestly am even amazed myself at how much this archetype showed up to help me in an area I felt frustrated with for a long time. Aquarius was great support for allowing me to move into the new. I now think of technology as my friend and know I tackle learning a whole new level of skills much more easily.

If you need help working with technology or learning any new more expanded mental model, call on Aquarius during this window, and open to receive the help given. This energy can open your perspective in all sorts of unique, inventive, progressive, and original ways to help you take a quantum leap in your life.

Personal Action Suggestions:
~ Brainstorm on any creation goal where you feel you need fresh original ideas.
~ Allow yourself to think outside the box on any creation for which you’ve needed more energy to move.
~ Fine-tune your inner listening skills by really tuning in to all the ideas coming through. Take notes, and be prepared to act quickly.
~ Expand your possibilities in all areas of life and open to quantum leaps.
~ Allow some time for Air to bring a renewed vision for your life during this three-day window. Dance. Move. Breathe.  Go out in the moonlight and listen to your inner guidance. Write down any images or impressions you receive.
~ Open for innovative ideas to change or freshen things that are visible in your life, such as your clothes, home, or hair. Anything is a possibility.

Business/Professional Action Suggestions:
~ Learn new technologies and upgrade your skills in ways that help you to be more visible in your market place.
~ Enlarge your perspective on your business and expand your thinking.
~ Tune into your business financial goals and open to the innovative ideas that will help them happen.  Allow for quantum business leaps.
~ Work on expanding your ability to communicate, write, and work with Air modalities in ways that help you show up as a leader in your field.
~ Listen to your thoughts, and adjust your thinking to more fully support your vision and ability to show up center stage in your profession.
~ Align vibrationally with those already successful in the area you are learning.
~ Spend some time in ceremony around your business or professional life, asking internally for assistance from Aquarius and Leo on inventive ideas to take your career to the next level.

There are a couple of slots available for the bonus 40 minute business breakthrough session when you register for “Create A Financially Thriving Divine Feminine Business 2012″. Click Here for the details and to Register!

Mackey and I still have room in Wise Women and Wealth: Claim Your Financial Power at Hope Springs August 16-19. If you register for this program by July 31st I will add “Create A Financially Thriving Divine Feminine Business 2012″ as a bonus! You need to send me an email to say that you have registered. Email me here. Register Here. 

 

I’d love to hear what you are harvesting in your life so leave a comment if you get the chance.

Abundant love and blessings, Lisa