(inspired by the Lughnasadh Season of 2017)
Lughnasadh is the first harvest festival, beckoning us into the fall season. It’s strange because summer still feels like it is in full effect with vacations and staycations. However, if you lift up your noses and take a deep breath, you may pick up on a slight hint of fall in the air, especially here in northern California where the grasses have turned golden brown from the dry summer months.
This Celtic Holy Day is named for the God Lugh. He is the King of the Tuatha de Danann, a supernatural tribe of light beings who conquered Ireland many, many years ago. They took the land away from the dark gods of lack and scarcity. So, this is the time when, as John O’Donohue describes, “health and plenty meet want and decay.”
This meeting of the light and dark may feel like a time of celebration and great joy. It also may be confronting for those who resist seeing their own light and instead choose to hide behind veils of false humility. Where do you stand in this threshold space of the harvest season?
Are you willing to bask in the golden light? Or, do you shy away from acknowledging your inherent beauty, love and magic? You see, how we perceive ourselves and our lives is a choice. Truly, no matter where you are or what you’ve done, there is at least one thing (and i would venture to say many things) to celebrate.
Here’s a start: being alive, having made it here, and being here still is a rare and precious accomplishment.
Remember, you reap what you sow. You have sown life with every breath given and received. Reap the blessings.
Blessings,
Jennifer