Lughnasadh blessings to my friends in the southern hemisphere… This cross-quarter day falls on February 4 this year, but you can check out the time for your region here…
As the Wheel turns from summer to autumn (although it’s taking its sweet time – summer in Australia is getting longer, hotter, and far more dangerous), what are you grateful for? This is the time of the first harvest, traditionally a day of feasting and thanksgiving for the life-giving properties of the grain, and a recognition of the cycle of sowing and reaping of the crops – and, perhaps most importantly today, it’s a celebration of the symbolic things you grow and create in your life.
What did you sow the seeds of in the spring? What have you been working on over the past month, the past season, the past year?
Since I published Into the Air in November, I’ve been to Adelaide for a writers conference, and have been working on a few projects, from the hardcover edition of the Into the Storm Trilogy, to a couple of new books… More details soon!
On this day of gratitude and thanksgiving, I am grateful for my love-filled life, and all the blessings I have – a sweet and loving hubby, close family and supportive friends, clean water, good food, good health, a cute little apartment with a huge park across the road, with an adorable swan family, enough savings that I’m still managing to eke out time to write from home, the right to choose, the right to vote, the right to an education, access to health care and (for the most part) equality…
Globally life is a little crazy right now, but I am grateful that people are standing up and speaking out on what is important to them, and what must be cherished and valued and fought for. And I am grateful that, for all the destruction in the world, there are people working so hard to help, in so many ways.
In the spirit of Lughnasadh, I’ve made a donation to Oz Harvest, the first perishable food rescue organisation in Australia. Their volunteers collect quality excess food from commercial outlets and deliver it, free of charge, to homeless shelters, women’s and men’s refuges, youth groups, indigenous centres and more. I love that it helps people in need while also cutting down on wastage – the amount of good food thrown out while people go hungry makes me cry in frustration. Just $10 will allow twenty meals to be delivered to hungry Australians, and $20 will provide three meals a day to a person in need for up to two weeks.
I also made my thirty-fifth loan via Kiva, to an eco-friendly business in Guatemala. Kiva allows us to make loans to people in developing nations so they can start their own business – a food stall, an internet cafe, a recycled clothing store, a taxi, sewing or farming business – and become self sufficient, breaking the cycle of aid dependence and empowering them to take control of their own lives…
Here are a few Lughnasadh recipes – there are many more in Witchy Magic…
And to my friends in the north, a magical Imbolc to you, as the Wheel turns from the cold and dark and snow of winter to the first signs of spring. Energetically it’s a time of awakening, rebirth and re-emergence. Nature fills with life force and begins to quiver with the energy to grow again, and we start to emerge from the chill of winter, shaking off our lack of motivation and re-engaging with the world, making it a great day to sow the seeds of what you want to achieve in the coming year. Meditate on your goals and what you hope to achieve, and get clear on the steps you’ll need to take to get there. Imbolc is about new beginnings, and in some magical traditions it is the day chosen for initiations and rededications, so if you want to make a pledge to a new path or a new goal, or a personal vow of any kind, you will be supported by the energy of the season.
Physically it’s a time of purification and cleansing after the long dark of winter, so clean your house and clear your space, sweeping out old energy and thoughts so the new can thrive. And you may like to ignite a candle to represent the coming back of the light and do some candle magic. Stare into the flame as you concentrate on what you want, then blow it out, sending your desire out to the universe. Making a wish as you blow out the candles on your birthday cake is a magic that has survived from pagan times, and is a potent way to manifest your wishes into reality, whatever day it is. Just don’t forget you have to work to make your dreams come true…
And here are a few Imbolc recipes for you 🙂 xx
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