Lugh @ MindSay

I have to say that we are coming upon my most favorite times of the Wheel, although I am so glad when Ostara/Spring comes around,especially if Winter has been long and hard and cold,  I have to say I resinate more with the Fall and Early winter times. I don't like extremes Cold or Hot, but I can put more clothes on  to get warm than I can take off to be  cool and comfortable.

I tend to like to reflect on the seasons and their energies, and don't go in for the 'Myths' associated with them, they make for a good read, but I like the practical applications that I can do for the seasons and the moons, myths just don't cut it for me. Being a double Taurus, practicallity is my middle name!

here is some  more wonderful insights about our up coming Turn of the Wheel.

The Earth, like all living things, has Her own rhythms and cycles.  The changing seasons of the Wheel of the Year hold a foundational rhythm for life on planet Earth.  The Wheel flows through an 8-point cycle:

stillness and anticipation of deep Winter, 
quickening and first stirring of Life, 
springing of Life, 
passionate flowering,
ripening, 
ebb of the growing impulse, 
harvest, 
storing & preparation for Winter. 

8 holidays honor these sacred rhythms of the Wheel of Year. These sacred days are traditionally celebrated through sacred rites and festivals.  When we celebrate these holidays, we  join in partnership with the Earth, lending our energies to the turning of the Wheel.  

The cycle of these 8 stages of the Wheel of the Year are found again and again in the many rhythms of our lives:

• in our journey from birth to death

• in the process of any endeavor from start to finish

• in the 8 phases of the waxing and waning moon

• in the daily movement of the sun

• in inhalation and exhalation of each breath

By consciously tuning to the Wheel of the Year, we can tune deeply to this foundational cycle of life, and learn to work with the energies of Nature, rather than struggling against the natural currents of life on Mother Earth. 

Below is some basic information about the 8 holidays. ( It is my hope that this info will provide a useful resource for tuning to these powerful Earth rhythms.  However, the full meaning of these sacred power days can only be truly understood through personal observance & attunement to the Earth's rhythms.  

Note: These sacred days bear different names in cultures all over the World.  I have chosen the names that have the most resonance for me personally.  I encourage you to explore other sources & traditions regarding these holidays. 

 

Lammas/Lughnasadh July 31 (beginning at sundown) Theme:  Celebrating the First Harvest and our Skills & Talents Type:   Seasonal Holiday ~ 1st Harvest Festival Lammas celebrates the first harvesting of crops, the first of three harvest festivals.  The Earth yields up Her first gifts to us ... a blessing from the Mother and the product of our human hands.  It is a time to celebrate the fruitfulness of the Earth and fruits of our labors.  We have sown and nurtured, and now we are reaping the benefits in rhythm with the Earth.  Corn and grains are of particular significance at this holiday.  Traditionally, the newly harvested grain is made into bread to be shared with all in celebration.  (The word ‘Lammas’ is an Old English word meaning ‘Loaf Mass’).   Fruits and vegetables are ripe and ready for canning and preserving.  We celebrate and partake in the fullness of the Earth while beginning to make provision for the cold months ahead.  The Irish name for this festival is Lughnasadh; it is a holiday sacred to the Irish God Lugh.  Lugh is associated with the power of sun and light, and so fires were burned in honor of Him on this day.  In addition to His associations with light, Lugh is a  God of Skill and Craft, a master of all human skills.  On this His feast day, it is particularly appropriate that we celebrate our own abilities and skills.  It is a time to ask ourselves:  “What are my talents?  What are my skills?   How do I express my creativity?  How do I use my abilities to recraft my world ... to add beauty .... color ... richness?  Our skills may include woodworking, needlecraft, art, music, dance, sports or communication, organizing, healing, parenting, problem solving etc.  Whatever our talents or abilities, this is a time to recognize them and honor them, and to share our recognition of the talents and abilities of others around us.  If you have had an interest or urge to develop a particular skill or creative outlet, now might be the time to make a pledge or commitment to yourself to pursue your interest.  By offering the fruits of our labors back to the Universe we enrich both ourselves and our world.

Praise be to Lugh on this first of August.

Let me celebrate with my hands.

May my fingers dance.

May your light fill me with visions.

Let the dreams come!

Let the dreams manifest!

Let these dreams sing!

Thank you, dear Lord, for these my skills and talents. 

May what I create please the world.

May what I do be testiment to you.

May who I am be a blessing to all who love and support me.

Let your love shine down from the heavens into the world through my hands.

Help me to let out the songs that have gone far too long unsung and hidden in my blood.

May I become who I am meant to be today.

In your name,

In love,

By all the heavens and stars above,

Blessed and beloved,

Amen.

Today is yet another fire festival, the first of May, a time to light the bonfires to welcome home the Sun, to bring prosperity to the crops, and "get it on" with your loved ones.  Yet, poor me, I have no place to light an actual bonfire and, besides, I'm not the kind of Pagan who really likes huge gatherings and I don't have any lovers at this time.  The next best thing is to "nurture the fire within" -- to kick up the sparks of my imagination and draw from my dreams and invite the Gods to speak through the images I create.  I'm an artist, after all, it is my livelihood now, and I'm far from pastoral, but we can take what our ancestors did and create rites customized to our modern lives.  Each holy day brings me closer to the Source while still keeping my feet firmly planted in the reality of Now.

So, today I'm letting my fingers dance around the Maypole that is a pencil.  I'm drawing without a plan, the important thing is to just draw, to write, to make busy buzzing bee-like music (humming) as I merrily pursue the joy of the act of Creation.  The Gods must've felt like this while they were making the world.  That's how we are like them, are a part of them; we create from our dreams.

I took a look back at what I did last Beltaine -- that marked the day I first started making Blog Themes for Mindsay users -- how much of a blessing is that?  Go look at the Pick a Theme page and you'll feel my touch. So, this is sort of an anniversary; one year later and Mindsay is even cooler now that even more people have discovered how to do what I love to do -- CREATE. DESIGN. IMAGINE!

This is also a day I remember to have nice conversations with one of my most important patron Gods, Lugh.  Now, I'm not Irish and I do not practice the Druid ways, but I do revere this Celtic God.  My old friend, Andrew, used to pick on me for my close relationship with this God.  He would say, "Val, since you worship Lugh so much, you should just be a Druid already."  For years he bugged me to become his student, but I refused.  I appreciated his offer, but he just didn't understand what a joy it is to have the freedom to worship as I please.  I don't need to be a Druid to revere a traditionally Celtic God.  Besides, he probably doesn't know Lugh like I do anyway -- not that I'm saying one relationship is better than the other.  That should show you that one Pagan is not always like another; we are all different in the way we relate to the Gods, that's why there are so many religions!

Lugh (earlier Lug, modern Irish Lú, pronounced /luː/) is an Irish deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant past. He is known by the epithets Lámfhada ("long hand"), for his skill with a spear or sling, Samildánach ("multi-talented", "skilled in many arts"), Lonnbeimnech ("fierce striker") and Macnia ("boy hero"), and by the matronymic mac Ethlenn or mac Ethnenn ("son of Ethliu or Ethniu"). He is a reflex of the pan-Celtic god Lugus, and his Welsh counterpart is Lleu Llaw Gyffes.

Now that I've plugged his name in my blog, feel free to look up more about him online.  But, to me, Lugh is more than just some kind of mythic hero; for me he is the lightning flash of ideas, the quick reflex to do something clever that comes to me after practicing and honing a talent into a skill, and he provides me opportunities to masterfully make and create beautiful things.  He is also the feeling of falling in love we all get when we listen to a song that hits us in the heart.  Lugh is the tears we shed when we are moved by any work of art, be it a performance or a painting that does more than just be pretty.  He is the fire I nurture within me.

Thank you, Lugh, for helping me become a better artist.  Help me to develop my talents further.  Help me to create beautiful images that reach beyond even my own expectations.  Help me to know that I am worthy of Your love.  Send blessings of ideas and dreams to my loved ones.  May we all get in touch with the fire that is You shining within us all.  And thank you for the blessings I bring to others through my art.  So mote it be!  

It's not often that I quote someone else on a holy day, but I just had to post this today.  Thank you, Miya!  And blessings to all you this harvest.

"May blessings find each of you and your loved ones on the celebration of the first harvest.
Know that my heart is with you and you will be remembered in my prayers.

"That which we have nurtured
is coming to fruition
time to begin the harvest
time to reap our rewards

"May our lives be as that seed
nurtured with our love
our hearts and spirits growing
the Mother reaping Her rewards.

"In Her loving service --
Miya...

And with that, I wanted to post something else dear to my heart that my friend, Paul had to say recently:

Paul sez: "I would love to see this read out aloud in Stormont Castle where the n.Irish govornment sits..."

Sit down and bargain
All you like grizzled old foxes
We'll wall you up in a splendid palace
With food, wine, good beds and a good fire
Provided that you discuss, negotiate
For our and your children's lives
May all the wisdom of the universe
Converge to bless your minds
And guide you in the maze
But outside in the cold we will be waiting for you
The army of those who died in vain
We of the Marne, of Montecassino
Treblinka, Dresden and Hiroshima
And with us will be
The leprous and the people with trachoma
The disappeared ones of Buenos Aires
Dead Cambodians and dying Ethiopians
The Prague negotiatiors
The bled dry of Calcutta
The innocents slaughtered in Bologna
Heaven help you if you come out disagreeing
You'll be clutched tight in our embrace
We are invincible because we are the conquered
Invulnerable because already dead
We laugh at your missiles
Sit down and bargain
Until your tongues are dry
If the havoc and the shame continue
We'll drown you in our putrefaction

Primo Levi
14th January 1985

"Thanx again for your kind prayers Valentina! Your amigo Paul! ;-)"

Peace be with everyone!!!  Sincerely yours, Valentina