Leo New Moon: Learning with Lugh & Tailtiu
- Leo New Moon / Partial Solar Eclipse
- August 11, 2018 @ 2:58am PT
- elemental focus: fire
- body focus: spirit
Wow. What a week! We are here fully in the harvest season, having passed through the Lughnasadh portal (7/27-8/7/18) and the Lion’s Gate on 8/8/18. Lughnasadh is the cross quarter holy day, marking the midway point between Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox, and the threshold of Autumn. The Lion’s Gate is a star portal, opening us up to Crystalline Consciousness (of the Christ and Magdalene) and deep cellular-stellar activation.
During this New Moon on August 11, the Sun is at home in the sign of Leo, and the Moon is also in Leo. So we have the solar and lunar heavenly aspects together in the sky, along with a partial eclipse.
Leo is the bright shining lion-hearted sign of courage, celebration, singularity and joy. There’s a wild freedom in Leo that goes after life with a passionate exuberance, fiery mane like the Sun lighting up the path ahead, shining on All. We may be feeling this passion in our own lives. Or, we may be painfully feeling into those areas that are cold, embittered, lost and lonely.
I can’t help but note the similarity in sound of Leo and Lugh - Lugh is the root to Lughnasadh, which is celebrated around the first of August. The modern Irish Gaelic name for the month of August is Lúnasa. So, you see…there are layers of meaning and magic to explore and experience! (I’ve been consciously celebrating the cross quarter holy days for 6 years now - not long, but long enough to begin experiencing the magic personally.)
Lugh is a Celtic Sun god, Brilliant and Light. He exemplifies the characteristics of Leo, bold and many-skilled. His spear pierces the Darkness. He demonstrates how to skillfully channel our anger, transmuting destruction and demonstrating right use of power and strength.
He is the foster son of Tailtiu, goddess of the Shining Land, the Great One of the Earth, She who Endures. She is one of three creation goddesses, along with Anu (the source) and Danu (the flowing).
Legend has it that Tailtiu gave Her last breath to clear the wild woods so that Her people could plant grains of nourishment. She sacrificed Herself, and in a way, made the Land into a living sacrament. At Her death, Lugh initiated an annual gathering over Her burial mound where the tribes would showcase their wares and skills. So, Lughnasadh is not only a harvest festival, but also a funerary rite.
We have moved through Lughnasadh and the Sun is further along in its journey of descent. At this time, I ask myself, you, our world: What are you grieving? What are you celebrating? How are you ritualizing - making sacred - this life, so that you can hold both grief and praise together?
Perhaps you can find a moment to pause, create, reset and refresh. Meditation. Movement. Flowers. Candies. Community. Food. Conversation. Play. Call forth what you long to experience. Choose it. It’s all here, all around and within, all the time.
These celestial events and archetypal powers inform our personal life experiences, whether we are conscious of them or not - whether we believe in them or not, their magic influences our own. Personally, I’ve been through periods of skepticism and disbelief, and ultimately, I’d rather believe in magic! I’d rather lead with heart than mind most (if not all) of the time.
The essence of this time of year is joy grounded in a foundational understanding that all things come to an end, so let’s in-joy the moment here and now. Let this time support you in clearing away the weeds and brambles that are choking the life force and tangling you up in confusion, distraction, and overwhelm. Step into the golden light of late summer and feel yourself in connection to the Land and All That Is.
Today, and every day, may we each and all see the Land as Sacred. May we feel gratitude for the fruits of this Earth and our golden Sun. May we walk in Beauty, in the poignant balance of grief and praise-prayer.
Blessed Be.
Jennifer Marie
A Meditation to connect with this Heart-full Golden Leo-Lugh time of the year is available for Patrons! We’ll sit with a couple mudras - Hasta Mudra (open hands, open heart) and Svabhava Mudra (essence of the heart) - opening to the Golden Light of the Heart and offering our tensions and resistances to that Sacred Heart Fire.
