Solar Rhythm: Lughnasadh 2024
Lughnasadh is traditionally celebrated on August 1. The exact point falls when the sun is at 15 degrees Leo, August 6, 2024, Eastern time. The new moon falls on August 4.
The three-day window of the Lughnasadh exact point of August 6 is Aug 5-7, and the new moon in Leo's three-day window will be Aug 3-5, with the 5th being a day connected to both. That makes August 5 this year a super powerful point to work with your creations.
Lughnasadh (also spelled - Lughnasad or Lughnasa and pronounced loo-na-sah), is named after the sun god Lugh, and is the cross-quarter Wheel of the Year point following the Summer Solstice. Also known as Lammas, it marks the starting point of the turn toward autumn. 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 the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox (15 degrees Leo).
Lughnasadh 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 the community through the harsher days of winter expressed a heartfelt appreciation for the core of nature that sustains life.
The relationship between the abundant Earth Mother and the Solar Fire God is vital to the survival of the species. Those who honor 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. During the week of Lughnasadh, 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.
Choose the one or two ideas you need most to work with, then focus on those. Intentions function best when there are only one or two to concentrate on in any cycle.
Personal Action Suggestions for Lughnasadh:
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.
Business/Professional Action Suggestions for Lughnasadh:
Pay attention to what is being harvested or coming into fruition in your business at this time. Give thanks.
Tune into what your business creations need now in order to continue to produce an abundant harvest in the months ahead.
Connect to your financial growth. What do your finances need from each of the elements for a more abundant harvest this year?
Lughnasad begins the turn toward autumn. Ask yourself what needs to fall away or be released in your business in order to streamline, simplify, and create more success.
Notice what needs to be transformed in your business or finances.
Make a plan for the changes that need to occur in the next few months.
Take the time to sit on the ground outside and ask the Earth Mother what additional pieces you need to create in your business in order to produce your desired results.
Elemental Guidance:
If you have an Elemental Forces of Creation Oracle, you may want to draw cards for additional guidance from each element and/or add insight from other decks. Give thanks to... Give thanks to Earth and ask "What do my creations need in order to produce a good harvest?”
Give thanks to Water and ask “What do my creations need in order to produce a good harvest?” Give thanks to Air and ask “ What do my creations need in order to produce a good harvest?”
Give thanks to Fire and ask
“What do my creations need in order to produce a good harvest?”
Give thanks to Spirit and ask “What do my creations need in order to produce a good harvest?”
Now ask the unified field of all of the elements and Spirit for a unified message for what your creations need to produce a good harvest. Blessings dear one, Lisa Excerpt from LunaSol by Lisa Michaels
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