Saturday night we led the Lammas ritual at church. Traditionally, this is the corn and grain harvest. In South Florida the August harvest is guava. There was jelly for the bread that night.
We actually burned a Wicker man. I have never seen the movie. So, as I wrote the festivities, the Wicker man was used to burn away that which no longer serves us.
Using the agricultural harvest as a metaphor of the Spiritual harvest of blessings we look at our "storehouse" aka heart and make room for the bounty available. This bounty comes from the "seeds" we have planted in the Spring at Imbolc. We have nutured them through Ostara and seen them ripen at Litha. Now at Lammas they are ready to reap. The idea of reaping what you have sown should never be frightening. If it is you need to make better choices.
And so our Wicker man acted as the conduit we used to clean out our "storehouse". He took our old habits, old ideas, and old ways of thinking of things and released that energy back to the Mother. Now then, can it be transformed and sent back to us as further blessings still.
Check out this link to find out what Dahm the Bard has to say about this growing movement...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-lZ9H-v_bo&t=23s
Ours was not that big lol. But we sang the song and honored the olde Gods.
And he burned up real good
Then use the following meditation did together to clean out that storehouse. May the void be filled with rich blessings.
Blessed Be.
Lammas Guided Meditation
Making room for the Blessings
Get in a comfortable position, feet flat on the floor. Place your hands in your lap, palms up, ready to receive. Feel your breath moving in and out , as you relax...
Picture yourself walking through your garden. You know this is your garden because you recognize the things you have planted. There are flowers in your favorite colors. Your favorite fruits hang from the trees. Everything in this Garden is there because you planted the seeds to make them possible. Nothing in this Garden is there by accident. You were very careful back in the Spring to decide which seeds you would plant. You took great care to be sure which direction and form this Garden would take. You can feel very proud of yourself. Look around and enjoy seeing the fruits of your labor.
Everything is ripe and ready to be picked and put to use. As you're walking along surveying the abundance of your garden you begin to think about where you will store all these blessings. Do you have a place in your heart for this Harvest? Still pondering this question you come across a barn. It's old but well-cared-for. It shows some sign of age but no need for major repairs. Maybe this will be the place where you can store these blessings. You walk up to the big barn door and you pull on the handle and despite its size it moves quite easily and opens to you without much effort. You peer into the darkness of this barn and you're greeted with a smell of decay. Lighting a candle, you walk further into the barn and as you hold up your candle and shed light in the corners you see things that no longer serve you. Old habits, old fears, old ways of thinking about things. These are not the things you planted this past Spring. These things have been left here for quite a while.
It was probably easier to leave these things in the dark corners. After all there is still room in the middle of the floor for your harvest. But there was so much that you saw in your garden. So many blessings available. You need all the room you can get to store it all. Roll up your sleeves and light a few more candles. Dig deep into those corners and drag out all the things which no longer serve you. Pile it up outside of that barn and throw a candle on top. Watch as those old habits, fears, and ways of thinking go up in smoke. Let all that energy return to the Mother because She can transform it into more blessings still. Send it off with Thanksgiving for Gratitude creates Abundance. Blessed Be.
As you follow that smoke as it drifts up over the barn you notice the sigil drawn on the door. A heart, your heart, clean and clear and ready to receive every good thing in your garden.
Breath deeply, and stretch your arms to bring awareness to your physical body.
You're becoming more aware of the sounds around you..... the sense of the floor under you..... the people next to you...... breathe..... Slowly open your eyes .....and return to us.
"On the table before you there are paper stones on strings. Please write down what you have found no longer serves you on the stone and hang it around your neck. Please do so in silence. Focus on the thing you want banished. Imagine how great it will be to be rid of this weight. Feel the weight…"
After this meditation we all wrote down that which we removed from our storehouse on a paper rock on a string. We hung the rock around our necks and carried the wieght to the Wickerman. One by one people took their burdens from their own necks and hung them on the Wickerman. When he went up in flames it was glorious.
TO THE OLDE GODS!!!
