Lugnasa and the Harvest Moon
Friday gratefuls: CBE. Tara. Jamie. Luke. Rebecca. Joanne. Alan. Marilyn and Irv. 50th year Jubilee. Celebration tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday. Diane in Indiana and Michigan. And Ohio. Cousins. Mark and Mary. Fall. This surprising election year. Hope, that battered refuge. The United States of the Americas. Our regional and political differences. Ruth in college. Gabe a junior. All you Virgos out there. Including you, Mary.
Sparks of Joy and Awe: Tarot
Kavanah: THANKFULNESS הוֹד Hod Thankfulness, acknowledgement, distinction; related to הוֹדָיָה/הוֹדָאָה confession. Eighth Sefirah = splendour, literally “glow/brightness”; concession & submission; left leg (opposite Netzach/Victory) (הַכָּרָת הטוֹב Hakarat Hatov: Gratitude, appreciation; literally “recognition of the good”)
One brief shining: Calmed my breathing, cast a mental net for the question that mattered most today-Is my final harvest beginning to take shape?-and drew a card from my Jessica Roux Woodland Guardian’s deck, 46 the Butterfly and Snowdrops, then one from my Wildwood Tarot deck, the Ace of Arrows, went over to the chair and read what they portended, rejoicing.
I sent this question to the Ancient Brothers for this Sunday mornings reflection:
“Fellow travelers on the Great Wheel. We are in the Celtic season of Lugnasa, the first fruits of the harvest. It is the first of three harvest festivals, following it is Mabon or the Fall Equinox, then Samain, or Summer’s End.
I invite you to place yourself on the Great Wheel of your life. What might you consider its first fruits, its main harvest, its final harvest before the fallow time?”
My own reflections on it prompted the question in one brief shining: Is my final harvest beginning to take shape?
Got to this today because my first fruits harvest and my main harvest seemed apparent to me. First fruits were the various justice and Great Work initiatives I worked on in my late 20’s, 30’s, and early 40’s. They were a direct link to the preparation for leadership and for a sensitivity to issues of justice that had dominated my life in high school, college, and directly after college.
My main harvest happened in the Years of Abundance, from 1994 to 2014, when Kate and I gardened, growing vegetables and flowers, had an orchard, cared for bees and many, many dogs. Novel writing. Caring for Joe and Jon. A lived expression of our mutual commitment to and love for Mother Earth. What a time!
The harvest of my final years, still underway of course, seems more difficult to define. I see three or four main threads, but can’t yet see the common one. There is a thread of death, disease, loss and grief. There is a thread of living into what is here: the Mountains, the Trees, the Wild Neighbors, Congregation Beth Evergreen, Mountain living, Evergreen and Conifer, Colorado and the West. There is a thread of relationships as life giving, life affirming treasures. Since Kate’s death, there is, too, a modified Hermit’s life thread which includes the mystical matters of Tarot, Astrology, and Kabbalah.
So my question. Is that common thread becoming visible? Is there another turn that might happen, needs to happen? Will happen? I don’t know. The cards I pulled today offer the possibility that its appearance might not be far off. May it be so.
