What’s Your First Harvest?

Lammas, Lughnassadh, First Harvest, call it what you will, it’s here!

We have made it to the third cross-quarter day on the Wheel, can you believe it? The next one is Samhain, which seems like forever away. Well, it’s not. We have survived 3/4 of this solar year. Whaddayaknow. Next stop, Autumnal Equinox. Uh huh.

Lughnassadh is a celebration of first harvests, but it was created, according to legend, by the Irish god Lugh, as the funeral games to honor his foster mother, Tailte. All Renaissance faires are echoes of this festival, with their jousting, foot races, ax throwing, games, singing, dancing, and oh, the partying. And food food food, of course, no Celtic celebration was ever complete without food. Loaves are baked to celebrate the wheat harvest, and all the first fruits are arrayed like a vast cornucopia.

For many of us Earth/Gaia oriented folk, Lammas marks the beginning of Autumn. The growing season is pretty much over, and now the ripening, and the slow decay, begins. Leaves start to take on a papery, spiky quality. Plants put their energies into their fruits instead of reaching for the sky.

My first harvests are underway. Tomatoes. Dear god, the tomato-ity. Until now I’ve been able to keep up by eating a few for lunch every day, but no longer. Of course, my partner is out for two weeks, not helping me eat these things at all, but I’m dealing as best I can. Herbs, too, I’m beginning to bring more herbs into the house to dry and preserve; even making some herbed olive oil, which is lovely to cook with.

The big one, of course, is that I recently completed [Ed. as of July 2018] all my requirements to be certified as a sound healing practitioner – a seed which was planted about a year ago. I’ll have my certification soon, and there will be much celebrating. I’ve spent this week doing a lot of resting up and relaxing, recovering from the writing and writing and writing required for the class. It’s been fantastic, but I’m so grateful to be done!

All of the changes that have come with learning this new craft are also a kind of harvest. I’m taking much better care of myself, eating even better than ever before, no alcohol at all, no coffee, no animal-based foods at all. In fact, I’m cutting way down on the amount I eat, and feeling way better for it.

[2021 update: SoundWorks has moved into a new bigger space, and we’re very very nearly done with everything we set out to do to make the space magical, welcoming, and healing. Business was starting to boom when the pandemic hit, and we shuttered, and it was hard and every kind of disappointing, but I have every faith that we will be busy as bees again toot sweet. I spent 3 days in a recording studio putting down rhythm section tracks for a new digital release, hopefully ready to be released by December, and boy does it feel good to be musicing again!]

[2022 update: I have been reimagining the traditional binary-agrarian Pagan holidays as more non-binary events that are not based in agricultural symbolism and have written numerous posts about them, which has led to a drive to start communicating with the spirits of the land where I am, who are largely lonely and eager for companionship from “their two-legged children” again since we are so very interesting; this has led to a personal renaissance of magic in my life, both feeling/observing and actively doing. It’s getting stronger every day. I have not reimagined Lammas because it seems to be one of the few that actually don’t require pulling your brain out and putting it back in upside down to understand.]

So what are you harvesting? 

Take a moment to look around at your life, and take note of things that are coming into completion, into fullness. What’s ripe? What’s bursting with goodness and richness and bounty? Your garden? Your business? Your job? Your kids?

Celebrate it. No matter how small. It’s all a big deal, believe me. We have to celebrate the little things because they are what make up a life. The big stuff doesn’t matter nearly as much as the little stuff. The big stuff is out there, the little stuff is right here. The big stuff is periodic, the little stuff is every day. We have to celebrate the little stuff so we can keep going on to get to the big stuff.

So put on some festive music, rustle up some fresh fruits and veggies, bake some cornbread, throw on a tiara and dance until your feet are silly, or sing until your voice is hoarse. Celebrate with gratitude in your heart and on your lips. Thank you, Multiverse, whatever the hell you are, for everything that sustains me. Thank you for my resourcefulness, and my dedication to doing good work. Thank you for bringing into my life the ideas I need to become the best version of me I possibly can be.

In all love, all light, and through the holiest of sounds, I bid you Faire Well! And enjoy! Bright blessings of the harvest!

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