Lammas

As much as summer is still with us for some time yet, autumn is starting to make an appearance, quietly seeping in, allowing a gentle shift to take hold. I’ve been noticing blackberries in the hedgerows, some are green tight clusters, others ripe and ready to be picked. Fields are golden, the wheat and barley harvest are almost upon us. The patient wait begins as farmers consider the right window of weather to gather in the grain. 

This week the festival of Lammas is celebrated on 1st August in the Northern Hemisphere. Lammas is the first of three harvest festivals which form part of Celtic Wheel of the Year. A festival marking the beginning of the end of summer, early autumn arriving, and a midpoint between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox. It’s a time of celebrating the harvest and the collection of the first grain and seeds. The festival is marked in a few different ways and most commonly by baking loves of bread from the first grain of the harvest.

I haven’t baked today but instead I connect to this festival by thinking about both celebration and gathering. Celebrating the achievements of the year and gathering the seeds of wisdom from the year so far. I like to make space to reflect and will do this when feels good during the week of Lammas. I don’t put the pressure on myself to do this on the day if I’m unable to make the space. I look back at the seeds of intentions I set at Imbolc in February, noticing which ones have been progressed, which ones I want to discard, and which ones I want to move forwards with into Autumn. Using these festivals as a moment of pause adds an intentionality to the year and more moments to reflect than I may do without acknowledging them. 

I like to spend time recapping on the months gone by, looking at my experiences, personal plan, and the intentions I set for the year. I like to briefly spend some time with my journal and gather my thoughts.

Here are a few journaling questions you may like to use to help connect to the celebration of Lammas.

What moments are you wanting to celebrate from the year so far?

What do you want to harvest?

What wisdom can you gather?

What intentions are you leaving to ripen until later in the year?

What can you do to rest after a period of growth?

How would you summarise the year to date? What seeds (of ideas or learnings) are you gathering?

What do you want to let go of? Think about intentions which no longer are of interest, experiences had, which you wish to let go of?