Harvest of Grains, the Ripening of Berries

While I have little taste for its magical aspects, I do like the neo pagan movement for many things. One of which is how it reclaims the rhythms of life for those of us more or less uncomfortable with the calendars of “mainstream” religions, drawing instead upon older sources, usually from pre-Christian Europe.

However we choose to mark them, it does seem important to note the shifts and with that the rhythms of life on our planet. I see how in our North American culture it is a tad too easy to insulate ourselves from these changes, from what is going on. And, frankly, I think that easy obliviousness can make us a bit too cavalier, a might too dangerous…

Now, I’m in no rush to let go of this summer.

But, as anyone who has lived for any amount of time knows, in such things it doesn’t really matter whether one is ready for it or not.

I understand that Carl Jung once observed how the things we ignore come back as illness.

And ignoring our connections to the earth can be a fatal illness…

So, bringing it to the front of our minds, to the fullness of our hearts, the 1st of August.

Today is, as so many know, Lammas or Lughnasadh, the feast of the first harvest. And therefore the first intimation of the next turning into Autumn.

Turn, turn, turn…

One old, old song associated with this feast is John Barleycorn Must Die.