Our Whole Lughnasa

A lot has passed this season from summer to autumn.
We have been through a lot and it is still not over,
but we take each day as best we can,
keeping on keeping on.

Lughnasa started with us struggling for normal,
trying to pretend that we were ok, that we could deal,
that life was fine.
Catching up on meetings and work
in between medicine and doctors appointments
and keeping everyone informed.
Not really cooking or cleaning,
just wandering through the days.
Waiting for Lughnasa and the turning of the wheel.
 

                           Grateful for simply us,
                                    normal, 
                   very personal ritual in our own time.

Eating magical food lovingly prepared and gifted by a friend who shared her ingredient list that reads like poetry 
with complex and delicate flavors to match.

Normally we share tasks, at that time I was just all too happy to be strong enough to gather sticks and wood, to build a fire, to set up for ritual, to have him here,
and to gather together as family in sacred space and time.

Notes from Lughnasa:
Everything you need is just at your feet, the woods dark,
the waterfall a trickle.

Smudging the house from bottom to top,
lighting the fire of love
in the east & the south & the west & the north
clearing our space with smoke and honoring with gratitude
all positive energies
clearing the air
moving quicker as the house filled with smoke,
though no alarms went off
then the outside of the house
and the sage busting into full flame outside the root cellar
(may that be the only open fire to ever be near there)
blessing our energy source and backup energy,
garbage and mail,
and our house shrine- secret grove
and our gardens and fruiting plants and trees
and the flowers
and laying the shell of smudge finally on the earth.

Ready at the fire and just us
getting together quietly,
getting a glass of water,
getting comfortable if possible
within ourselves and with ourselves

3 gongs each different

the house shrine candle set a piece of wood alight
and with that our ritual
begun with the smudge without beginning
began on its own
this wood was lighter for the crown flame
and the central fire.
 

 
Let this fire be a good fire 


Let our prayers be heard
Prayers for Peace with the world
shared with the moon

Flower petals and whiskey and garlic stalks
and chocolate chip cookies
Our tincture for the Earth Mother
teas and herbs
and the last of last year’s sweet grass for final sacrifice

  
   

    Family holding hands and om together around the fire
3 sets of omens
plus 3 virtues

Endless gratitude and tears
It is a gift to pray

Feel yourself be you            Joy/Truth, Direction & Balance/Prayer, Attention& Defense/
Sacred Enclosure5 of Cups/The Magician/10 of Pentacles/
9 of Cups
Acknowledgement of our remaining strength
Catalyst using all the tools
Root energy of stability with all you need
Satisfaction & appropriate movement 
Ur or the Heather/Saille or the Willow/Fearn or the Alder/
Onn or Gorse
sweetness, bending, defensive & protective,
shield for that which is precious
       

Mid Summer Solstice past

this season started full and fruitful and on schedule
and then everything changed.
we participated in the greening, the summer, early dawns, the endless cycle of blooming and tending
with no time to write about ritual
being so much in the present of each day.
And then everything changed.

Not everything-just us, our lives, our daily rituals,
replaced with the ritual of hospital trips,
the checking of vital signs,
coordination and advocacy and endless fruitless tests.

At one point I dreamed we were walking
and the leaves were turning and it was so beautiful,
but I wondered where summer had gone.
And now we can walk together once again
on our gentle Earth Mother,
we can walk together to offer prayers and gratitude
to our dear Bridget,
we can sit together like normal
in the new normal.
Notes from our solstice ritual:

everything on schedule, setting up and eating and cleaning.
as always people cancel and others show up
4 full families holding ritual
and additional ones before and after.
Kids and babies and snacks and water.
 

my often disaffected teenager tells me:
”I just know this is going to be a great ritual”

So much color and light.

Discussion of the nemeton before ritual,
the Order of Ritual especially shared for those folks who have never been here,
detailing the sacred space,
and detailed discussion after ritual
of the lore of the sacred center.

processing as family
across the land into the woods, over the moss to our center.





more than enough offerings
never enough gratitude
birds, crickets, stream & a plane. 
Listen.

standing on the Earth grounded
& then
standing on the Earth letting go.

gratitude of yogurt, then birch tea, then water
and more clean water.
 
endless handfuls of flower petals
rose petals heart shaped
love.
 
pinnacle and what is not the pinnacle
remove the false pinnacle.

flaming ball of chocolate.
siren call at some important time
dollar bill sacrifice.
”hear and answer us-give us a sign”
flame extinguished immediately
and then just as quickly re-alived.

our omens:

from our Ancestors: need
from the Spirits: Ing
from the Gods & Goddesses:year
for the Season: fee
Need-Ing the Yearly Fee-what we need, what we do, our annual harvesting, and what things cost

women by the fire at night
summer vacation begins

summer time hey hey hey hey
laughing in the summer time
loving in the summer time.