Lughnasa Spellbook
Blossom to fruit, cosmic paths show the way
A Spell for Lughnasa
From Imbolc seeds stirring within
The blossoms unfurled, beauty to tend
Light to its peak, now on the wane
Blossom to fruit, cosmic paths show the way
Turning to Lughnasa, harvesting what was sown
Honoring the sacrifice, honoring what was grown
Darkness beckons and we turn again
Dancing at Lughnasa, with fire and moon
We spin, we spin
In Ireland, festivals mark the turnings into each of the Celtic cross-quarter agricultural days and the origin of the festival of Lughnasa was a funereal celebration, begun by Lugh, a god of the Tuatha de Danaan to honor the death of his beloved foster-mother Tailtiu. Each year at the beginning of Lughnasa I love to share the story, in my own words, of Tailtiu. These stories offer an interweaving from the past into our current lives. They have been told around bone fires through the mists of time. And I continue that tradition by sharing the stories here, over the interwebs and via Zoom and too on the land and at my hearth fire. These stories are evergreen and gives us pause to consider where we find ourselves, as each year something new is revealed. Just as the wheel turns, so does our spiralic essence.
In the story of Lughnasa, Tailiu reminds us of the sacrifice of the harvest that goes along with the abundance. Our ancestors would have known the essentiality of the sacrifice as a counterbalance to the abundance of the harvest: we have forgotten this in our modern, consumptive, comfortable, complacent lives.
And so, let us dance around the Lughnasa fire, spinning with the cosmos and with the stories, barefoot on the earth, golden grains in fresh-baked loaves, apples ripening, laughter a lullaby in harmony with the keen.
With love and overflowing gratitude for sharing this journey with me,
Tonja x
Recommendations for this Lughnasa season:
Watch: The Woman in the Wall (Netflix series about the Magdalene Laundries)
Feel: The rain on your face or even better on your whole body: dance in her pouring au naturale or in a vintage slip
Listen: Star, Star by Glen Hansard (Who tragically died a few days and leaves a legacy of his passion for music and a hole in our hearts)
Read: Land by Maggie O’Farrell
Taste: Fresh plant meadowsweet tea (leaf and flower)
Lughnasa in the Irish Wisdom Tradition
Agricultural/ seasonal celebration: into the harvest
Autumn season in Ireland (August, September, October) and the name of August as Gaeilge
One of four fire festivals of the Celtic Wheel of the Year
Named from Lugh, a God of the Tuatha de Danaan, known as the many skilled one and one of many gifts. He honored his gifts and shared them freely. He began the Lughnasa gatherings as a funeral celebration for his beloved foster mother Tailtiu, who died clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture
A time of fairs, competitions and markets
A period of time versus a set time… the energy into the season meanders over a few week period, keeping in mind that the calendar we use commonly now is only about 500 years old and we, as Irish people, have been honoring this turning for thousands of years.
A time of pilgrimages (Crough Patrick, St Brigid well at Liscannor)
Lammas is the Christianized/ Angelicized version of Lughnasa and mean first loaf- loaf mass. A loaf of bread was baked with the first grains and left on the altar as an offering of gratitude. This likely comes from an older tradition where bread would be baked from the first grains and left as an offering to the land.
Lughnasa is a time to:
Consider what is coming to fruition (Lughnasa) from that you have dreamedin Samhain, then tended seeds of Imbolc, and planted into Bealtaine blossom
Consider what you can reap and harvest, with gratitude and reverence
Consider what you can give back to the Earth or leave with her for compost for what will grow next.
Honor the gifts from the Earth
Honor your own gifts
Included in this Lughnasa Spellbook:
Tailtiu: Death as Harvest
Pilgrimage to Sacred Waters
Herbcrafting at Lughnasa
Dancing with the Moon
