Its Our Time... Issue 1... LAMMAS

Gather your Inner Goddess this Harvest Season

with Elaina at Verbena Therapies.

I love the changing seasons that I am grateful to witness living here in Scotland, a place world renowned for its history and folklore. For many the seasons come and go without even a blink of acknowledgement to the Universal life force that is our Mother Earth. Throughout the 365 days she softly spins in our galaxy allowing the Sun to shine over her beautiful surface and for the moon to wax and wane above her moving the tides to support life here on our little expanse of magnificence.

It is in the honour of these amazing, continuously changing days, here on our beautiful Earth that we should celebrate our existence on this revolving rock, for it is an amazing accomplishment to just simply live. It is with this thought that I am honoured to take you on a journey with a Celtic Sabbats - seasonal celebrations, to honour life and to honour the beautiful Goddess that you are.

The first of three Festivals surrounding the Harvest Season that we are entering is called Lammas or Lughnasadh. In the Celtic calendar it is celebrated on and around the 1st of August welcoming in the beginning of the Harvest season here in the Northern hemisphere where people would traditionally come together to gather in the crops from the fields and to connect with each other in gratitude of the beautiful abundant bounty that the Earth has provided for us. The first Harvest festival, a Fire Festival, involves bringing in the first of the year’s wheat and corn crops, where then bread and corn dolls were made. Corn dolls represent the spirit of the corn and the Mother Spirit herself and were created to show the appreciation for the harvest. For those who follow the wheel of life it is interesting to know that the first steam of the crop to be cut was known as the “Maiden” and the last steam (usually left out in the field to give thanks back to the soil) was titled the “Old Woman” otherwise known as the “Crone”.

Even though in some parts of the world these traditions have fallen away it doesn’t mean that we can’t revive them back into our lives in a smaller scale in our own homes whether that is in a chocolate box country cottage, an elegant suburban town house or our mesmerising city flats, we can easily celebrate the abundant life we lead. So, invite your nearest and dearest to come celebrate with you this season, create a feast that sparks joy, shows gratitude and fills us with Love. Ignite that spark that lies within ourselves and encourage those flames to burn bigger and brighter. We are worth it so why not?

Invoke that Harvest Goddess…

We are all Goddesses. We all should honour ourselves and Love ourselves. We are the magical creations of the Universe so we owe it to ourselves, our bodies, our ancestors, our family and our children to show up and be grateful to the wonderful creation that we are. And what a perfect time to start here on the Eve of Harvest where it is all about gratitude, oneness and love.

Before we can set the scene for our Harvest Feast, we first must honour ourselves and we can begin this be turning the mundane routines into memorable rituals. A ritual is simply a fancy word for a collection of tasks executed in a particular way. So, begin your day with a new Morning Ritual to seduce that inner Goddess. You are worth it, so tend to yourself like you would tend to a delicate and beautiful flower. Speak kind positive words as you stir your morning coffee something like “Today is going to be a great day”, stir your cup slowly and with purpose in a clockwise direction to make your affirmation more prosperous. Your morning shower, to ready you for your day, is another way you can add ritual too. Rather than rushing in and rushing out, get up 5 mins earlier and enjoy the experience. Be present, and actually feel the warm droplets of water as they dance their way down your skin. Massage the shampoo into your hair and the body wash into your body, allow your fingers to awaken your skin and show it love and devotion. Feel the fragrant bubbles pop and burst all over your body giving it little kisses as it passes and allow any negative thoughts to be washed away down the drain to be go and be forgotten. Be caring and show your body love, fill your cup up with love so that it over flows with it and fills others in its wake. Your inner Goddess will thank you for it.

The Anam Cara Card of Grandmother Moon shines on you and encourages you to invoke your inner Goddess, let her speak her truth and love her, respect her and honour her. This will allow you to Love, respect and honour yourself in the process.

That beautiful Goddess that is you needs your devotion… Allocate yourself time to really show yourself some much needed love and attention prior to your Feast by having a decadent Salt Bath. It is a great way to manifest your intentions for the feast and also to show your inner Goddess that you love and respect her enough to make time for her. Bathing has long been associated with the finer things in life, light some candles, pour a bath of deep warm water and play your favourite inspiring music suitable for that intention you seek. Happy upbeat songs for a happy atmosphere and slow seductive tunes if you are looking for a more romantic encounter. Then add the following salt recipe changing the essential oil blend to encourage the desired outcome.

Lammas Salt Bath Recipe:

3 teaspoons of Epsom Salts

2 Teaspoons of Bicarbonate of Soda

1 Teaspoon of Sea Salt (Rock Salt can work as a substitute here)

3 drops Geranium Essential oil (The oil for Mother Earth)

3 drops of Orange Essential oil (The essence of summer)

1 Tablespoon of Milk (Sunflower oil can work as a substitute here)

Calendula petals

Mint Leaves

(Mix the essential oils into the Milk (Sunflower oil) first before adding the mixture to the bath.)

Lie back and relax whilst you dream of the happy times yet to pass at your Lammas Celebration Feast.

If you have planned for more of a “Hot” harvest evening full of romance I would suggest you add Red and orange rose petals into your bath and a few drops of Ylang Ylang essential oils.

Set the scene… Lammas table décor should shout out and beckon in the beginning of autumn with the lush bright greens of summer mixed with the golden yellows and deep oranges of the coming autumn. Spread a beautiful table cloth and adorn the top with Yellow flowers, sunflower heads and calendula look beautiful against fresh mint leaves from the garden. You can also pick up fresh herbs at your local supermarket. Fruit and vegetable candle holders are a great talking point for your table. Gently cut a hole into apples, peppers, squash etc to set tea lights in being mindful to lace the cut with lemon juice to stop it from tarnishing quickly.

Woven or wooden baskets or animals look beautiful beside the feast of locally sourced food and fresh bread made from the produce of the harvesting. If you have time to make your own bread for the occasion it is well worth it, especially if you make wishes for health, wealth and happiness whilst you knead the dough. For an extra boost score a Sigil (a symbol of your creation that corresponds to your affirmation) on the top before you bake it. It is a stated that those who break bread together manifest the wishes within it whilst they eat it.

Turn this whole feast into a beautiful Ritual in enhance your being. Be present when you lay items onto your table, position them with intent and marry them with other objects or food items to really make the feast a sight to behold. The Amazon Warrior from the Anam Cara deck will help you to bring golden abundance to you so display your Warrior Goddess and own this beautiful space you have created. You could even preform the following blessing ritual before your guests arrive to bring Golden radiance into your home and around your table.

Golden Radiance Blessing Ritual:

Golden candles (white will work too)

Sprigs of Mint and Rosemary

A broom or brush.

Natural string or golden ribbon.

Music. (something that invokes the energy you are looking for at your gathering since we are looking at a happy event I love to use “Here comes the sun” by the Beatles)

Play your music, light your candles slowly and purposefully, if you wish to anoint them with summer essential oils of lemon and orange before lighting them you can. Give a little blessing each time you do to bring the atmosphere to life for example “Health, wealth and happiness to all who reside here.” Attach the herb sprigs to your brush/broom low enough that they can connect with the floor as they are moved around. Begin at your front (main) door and work all the way to the back of the house moving the energy round as you go and open the back door (or the furthest window to the main entrance if you have one door) then work your way back and finish at the main (front) door where you will now open it to tap your broom on the threshold three times whilst saying “come on in!”. The energy should now be sparkling and inviting for your awaited guests.

So whatever Feast you plan on hosting, a family and friends gathering or a romantic date for two Lammas has a way of bringing us together so enjoy the day and the evening. Lay dried herbs onto the burning embers of your Harvest fire to intoxicate the senses one last time as you watch the sun set its last golden shimmers across the sky making a glimmering entrance way for the beautiful Moon.

Always remember to love yourself first, be grateful for what you have and have honour in the fact that you are alive on this wonderful Mother Earth.

Enjoy your Autumn celebrations

Blessed be.