Lughnasadh

The beginning of August celebrates the first of the three harvests, Lammas. It is a time for celebrations and the playing of traditional games.

I found this little video which illustrates this time of the year very well.

It is taken from the BBC serial, The Victorian Farm in which three intrepid volunteers, all experts in their own field (excuse the pun) live life as the Victorians did.

The business of bees

I took this video of busy bees yesterday. They just epitomise this time of the year, don't they - for those of us in summertime of course!

The smell of the lavender whilst I was taking the picture was just wonderful and I stood there in a happy haze of contentment feeling that all was just right with the world.

I hope that all is just right with your world and if it isn't, just ignore the bad bits.

Star

Four winds and flight

I pray that the wind will speed my flight home tomorrow night and that the light of the moon will keep the path clear.

Dear Goddess of the moon, I still have work to do. Grant me a safe journey through the stars to my English home.

Allow me the chance to work in my beautiful garden again and the time to stroke the black fur of my dear little cat, Patch who waits so patiently for me.

So mote it be

Star

The Summer Solstice

Today is the summer solstice - the peak of the summer and a very special time in the days of a Wiccan. To me it means the shift of power. The Sun King God is once more giving his mantle over to the Oak King. In their eternal struggle for supremacy, first one and then the other is vanquished and 'goes to ground' for a while. However, this is a positive thing, like everything else in Wicca. It is a time of renewal for the Sun King and a time to 'shine' for the Oak King.

The Maiden Goddess gives way to the Mother Goddess for the time of planting and tending is now at an end and it the time of nurture in readiness for the harvest. All things have their beginning and their end.

Are you like me in that just when you are used to a season, suddenly it is ended? I have been enjoying the spring, with all it's hope for the coming summer and now, all of a sudden it seems that summer is coming to an end. We have harvest to prepare for. We must look after the plants we have bought and grown. Already we are planning, saying 'those tomatoes are almost ripe' those beans are getting tall etc.

Tomorrow the day will be very slightly shorter and the night a little bit longer and so it will carry on until the end of the year. We must treasure the daylight. Years ago, before we had electric lights, the daylight must have been even more precious than it is now. We take so much for granted these days.

Let's not lose touch with the bounty that nature offers us in so many ways.

This is the perfect time for family and friends to get together and celebrate with parties and barbecues. It is the time for weddings. The courtship time is over and the more serious time is beginning.

I wish you all a very happy Summer Solstice.

Star

Hawthorn

We are just passing through the Celtic month of Hawthorn, known also as 'May'. This lovely bush has delightfully scented flowers which evoke many memories in me as I used to play near it when I was small. In England we separate our fields with hedges and there is a history attached to that, but I'll keep that for another post. It is possible to tell the age of a hedge by the number of species of tree and shrub that grow amongst it. Some are hundreds of years old.

Many legends are attached to the hawthorn.

" The most famous Christian legend concerning hawthorn is that of the Glastonbury Thorn. This sixteenth century story tells us that as Christianity entered Britatin, the Celtic spirit was moved by the spirituality it expressed and that this was emphasized when Joseph of Arimathea came to Glastonbury. On Wearyall Hill he rested, leaning upon his staff, which during the night rooted into the ground and became a blossoming hawthorn tree. This was taken as a sign that the new religion of Christ was to be founded at Glastonbury and Joseph and his 12 disciples built the first Christian chapel there.

Joseph's staff became known as the Glastonbury Thorn, which ever after blossomed on Christmas Day in honour of the divine birth of Christ.

Hawthorn radiates qualities of growth and health. People have always approached it for healing, especially those trees that grow near wells and springs."

From 'Tree Wisdom' by Jacqueline Memory Paterson.

I like the hawthorn mostly because it reminds me of childhood. I remember looking for birds nests in it when I was barely tall enough to reach the branches. It is very good for keeping animals out and children in and when in the late 1970's I was living in the cathedral city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, we had a large back garden surrounded by the beloved hawthorn.

Because it usually flowers in May, it is a favourite for making the crowns that go atop Maypoles, these representing the female, where the pole itself represents the male in the rituals.

Does the hawthorn play a significant part in your life?