It’s the 1st August: Lammas, Lughnasadh. The first harvest festival, it comes as a welcome respite for me. I’ve been away in Canada visiting family, and the 35 to 38C temperatures were horrendous. To come back to the UK and step outside Heathrow airport to feel the cool, rainy air on my skin was pure bliss, despite the jet fumes and cigarette smoke that floated on it.
Now home in Suffolk, I can look out over my garden and see that the grass that had burned in the hot summer sunshine is now coming back to green. We’ve had rain since I’ve been away, and the drought has abated. But still the crops were being taken in even as I drove to the airport, the fields of wheat being cut on the 6th July, for they had grown to their stunted height and already dried out in the blazing sun. Now the scent of onions is in the air, as the first root vegetable crops are being taken in. Everything is a month ahead of schedule because of the lack of rain this winter, spring, and early summer.
What this harvest will bring for local farmers I can’t really say, but I’m pretty certain the yield will be much less than usual, or rather, we are reaching a new normal. If climate change continues, what is grown in this region of East Anglia will most likely need to change. The plants in my garden survived, thanks to vigorous watering, even as the water butts ran out at the end of May. We have saved as much water as we could, whenever we could, to give back to the parched land. My neighbour and I have been taking turns watering the deer, as on one side of the heath where there is a large herd they are fenced in and the little ones aren’t able to jump over to reach water. To see the ground on the heath cracked and dry already in May was heartbreaking.
But we carry on, because there is nothing else we can do. The sunshine has kept our batteries for the home topped up nicely over the summer via our solar panels, and all our electricity as well as water heating has been taken care of with ease. We’ve sold a bunch of electricity back to the grid, and made a decent profit. At one point we were even paid to take energy from the grid to top up our batteries, as for a few days with the wind there was a surplus of energy in the grid, and in the wee hours of the morning we were being paid to take electricity from the energy providers, as they do not have enough storage. What a strange world we are living in!
The harvest continues in the land around me, and I ponder my own harvest, both materialistically and spiritually. It’s been a wonderful year for me with the release of my new fiction series, Witches of the New Forest. The books have been a great success, and at the moment are providing me with an actual living wage; the first time my writing has ever done so! The dream of a 13-year old girl in her bedroom, pounding away at a manual typewriter in the hope of becoming a fantasy fiction author have been realised.
Spiritually, things have been incredibly busy, and so I’ve had to adapt my routines, daily prayers, and offerings. There was a bit of disconnection this summer, as everything in my life seemed to ramp up, but now things have settled and I am finding a new home in my own practice, dedicated to the goddess, Freya, and working with the spirits of this land where I live.
As such, today I will take some time out to do some baking: to offer it back to the land, the gods, the spirits. Even as the thunderclouds roll in from the north, I will honour the gifts of sunshine and rain, of earth and sky, of nourishment and sustenance. For this is what Lammas is all about: giving back. For many Pagans, they might feel a bit adrift during this festival, not entirely sure what it’s all about, especially if one is living in an urban environment. The wheat and barley harvest seems so very far away, as do other harvests. But the food that we eat still reaches our tables (hopefully) and to this cycle of growing, reaping, and transformation we pay homage at this time of year with a celebration of the first harvests. It was important to our ancestors, and even if we are not ourselves out in the fields cutting down the golden stalks under the sun, we can still honour where it is that we came from, and what had great meaning to those who have gone before.
Being thankful for what we have received is a large part of all the harvest festivals. Early this morning, before sunrise, I gave thanks to Freya in her aspect of Gefn, The Giver, for all the bounty that I have received. In the giving of thanks, we come to truly know and feel gratitude, and in feeling gratitude, we understand the nature of blessings, and of being blessed. We no longer take so many things for granted and instead, see the gifts that lie all around us, if we only open our eyes to see them.
In deep relationship, we weave our way through our lives, becoming part of the tapestry of life that flows in and out of time, one thread upon the other, bringing beauty, inspiration, and love.
May your Lammas and harvest be plentiful, and may you know the joy and blessings of gratitude. As a beautiful friend just messaged me on WhatsApp, As the grain turns golden in the fields, may the moments of your life turn into golden memories.
Visiting Mont Tremblant
I did manage to visit an old friend, Mont Trembant National Park, while I was back in Quebec, Canada, where we had a three-day respite from the heat throughout the month of July. Some of these photos are taken on the trails just outside the park, and some within.
It does my heart good to return to this sacred land, and the mountain that was once known as Manitonga Soutana, the mountain of the spirits, which designates the highest summit in the region and an important place of passage where ceremonies were held. According to legend, the Algonquians (Anishinabe) believed that the Spirit made the mountain tremble when people disturbed nature. It might also refer to the water coursing down the slopes of the mountain which caused this impression of trembling for the people lying on the ground. The name Mont Tremblant reflects this legend.
A six-hour hike took us to the top of Nez d’Indian (Indian’s nose – this mountain desperately needs to be renamed or given its original Indigenous toponym. There is also Chutes Diables (Devil’s Falls, again, let’s rename this, please!)
To see more short videos from my stay in Quebec, head on over to my YouTube channel HERE!
As I mentioned previously, my fiction series, Witches of the New Forest, is doing really well, and I had just finished writing the manuscript for Book 4 before heading out to Quebec. We are now in full editing mode, and we are on schedule for a 31st October release date! This will be Ryder’s story, whose adventures will certainly match those of her sister in the first three books!
In other news, I’ve had to cancel my appearance at this year’s Witchfest, as upon my return to the UK I received the dates for some surgery that I need (it’s not anything bad, just something that needs to be done before things deteriorate further). I will be in and out of appointments until the end of December, and so I’ve had to wipe my calendar of most things for the rest of this year. I hope that the new venue for Witchfest is a success, and I can’t wait to attend next year!
That’s it for the moment! I wish you all a blessed Lammas/Lughnasadh!
Down the Forest Path 