{"id":891,"date":"2016-07-29T19:45:31","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T23:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/thezenpagan\/?p=891"},"modified":"2016-07-29T19:45:31","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T23:45:31","slug":"lammas-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thezenpagan\/2016\/07\/lammas-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Lammas Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a little past 8pm and already the sun is down (below the effective horizon of buildings and trees, if not the geographic one). A bit more than a month past the solstice, I can see the days are already getting shorter. Sure, it\u2019s still plenty hot (hotter than June) and a bit of daylight at 8 is still pretty good. But we\u2019re turning the energy here. We\u2019ve gone past the peak of yang, as the Taoists would put it, and now into the time of yin within yang; or in some interpretations of the wu xing<\/i>, the \u201cFive Elements\u201d, moving from the yang of Fire to the balance of Earth. Either way there\u2019s a bit of a contraction now, as natural as inhaling after exhaling.<\/p>\n

\"aug-2-2016\"August 2 was the date for Lammas on that \u201cWheel of the Year\u201d poster I had back around 1990 (just as Imbolc was February 2). And it\u2019s also my mother\u2019s birthday. So I\u2019m not going to argue the date with you \u2014 as far as I\u2019m concerned it\u2019s the 2nd, though other sources say July 31 or August 1 and the actual mid-point between the soltice and the equinox will fall on different dates. Nor will I argue the name; in my little circle of Pagan friends we called it Lammas and so it will always be to me, no offense to those who call it Lughnasadh.<\/p>\n

It is a bit of an orphan holiday. Yule, of course, has a big celebration in Western cultures, and Samhain filters into Halloween a little. Litha, the great solar day, is near Father\u2019s Day and the last day of school. Beltane gets some love in folk culture (\u201cHooray, hooray, the first of May\u2026\u201d), and even Imbolc gets Groundhog Day. The equinoxes at least get a mention by TV meteorologists and science popularizes. But Lammas kind of stands alone.<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s why I\u2019ve found myself drawn to consider it more carefully the past few years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to start gathering in, to prepare for the fall. (Back-to-school sales! Trips to the college bookstore. I kind of miss them.) It\u2019s time to enjoy the bounty of the garden. (I was just gifted with a cucumber large enough to knock someone out with, from a friend\u2019s rooftop garden.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a time when the energy is still high but past its peak, no longer frantic; a good time for a vacation or a stay-cation, to pause and consider. (I may try to make a day trip to the beach next week as I have the past two years around this time, it seems to work well.) If, perhaps, there\u2019s been a summer romance, it\u2019s time to start thinking about whether it\u2019s going to be something you want to continue in the dark cold of the year. (Nothing to report there\u2026though some magic has been worked.)<\/p>\n

So even if you\u2019re not attending a formal celebration of the day, I recommend that take a moment some time over the next few days to consider this. Listen to the lazy drone of the cicadas in the summer heat. Have a beer or a lemonade outside.<\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019ll be presenting at the Lovelight Yoga+Arts Festival<\/a> August 26-28 in Darlington, Maryland.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got a new book! What Does It Mean For The Gods To Exist? and other essays<\/a><\/i> collects my run on the Patheos Agora blog<\/a> plus a few bonus pieces. Great beach reading, if you\u2019re the sort of person who reads philosophy, spirituality, and religion on the beach. (C\u2019mon, I can\u2019t be the only one!)<\/p>\n

You can keep up with \u201cThe Zen Pagan\u201d by subscribing via RSS<\/a> or e-mail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you do Facebook, you might choose to join a group on \u201cZen Paganism\u201d<\/a> I\u2019ve set up there. And don\u2019t forget to \u201clike\u201d Patheos Pagan<\/a> and\/or The Zen Pagan<\/a> over there, too.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is a bit of an orphan holiday. Yule, of course, has a big celebration in Western cultures, and Samhain filters into Halloween a little. Litha, the great solar day, is near Father’s Day and the last day of school. Beltane gets some love in folk culture (“Hooray, hooray, the first of May…”), and even Imbolc gets Groundhog Day. The equinoxes at least get a mention by TV meteorologists and science popularizes. But Lammas kind of stands alone. Maybe that’s why I’ve found myself drawn to consider it more carefully the past few years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1860,"featured_media":905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[36,689,82],"class_list":["post-891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seasonal-musings","tag-lammas","tag-lughnasadh","tag-seasons"],"yoast_head":"\nLammas Reflections<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It is a bit of an orphan holiday. Yule, of course, has a big celebration in Western cultures, and Samhain filters into Halloween a little. Litha, the great solar day, is near Father's Day and the last day of school. Beltane gets some love in folk culture ("Hooray, hooray, the first of May..."), and even Imbolc gets Groundhog Day. The equinoxes at least get a mention by TV meteorologists and science popularizes. 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