Lovely Lammas

Friday, Freya's day, will be the first day of August, with both the sun and the new moon in Leo - we will also have the auspiciousness of a total solar eclipse! Eclipses always bring a quickening, a transformational invitation, a burgeoning. The new moon adds to the magic;  we empty out as the moon wanes to make room physically, emotionally, and energetically for that which we invite into our lives with gratitude, and then plant into the darkness of the new moon, our deepest, fiery longing for what we invoke.

August 2 is Lammas, an ancient Celtic holy day that heralds the beginning of harvest time. Crops ripen, life abounds, and our hearts and homes are full, and we head deeper into the dark half of the year. Lammas means "loaf-mass" and is both a fire festival and a harvest celebration of the the first grain harvest. For many of us that honor the wheel of the year, Lammas is the first of three harvest festivals, a time to bake bread and offer thanks.

You can bake corn bread, scones, loaves of bread, or make preserves and share them. Take some time to contemplate and say goodbye to what is passing in your life, what you are letting go of. Throw regrets into the fire. Think about what your harvest has brought forth, what you are reaping.

May our hearts dance in exuberant fulfillment to celebrate the last days of summertime! May we live each moment to the fullest, and savor the miraculousness and preciousness of this embodied experience.

Let us sing praises to Nature in all her Glory! Let us seek the magic of this new moon, while we roar our gratitude with beautiful ferocity like Leo.  

Blessed Lammas, lovely kula.     

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Sunshine is awesome and sweet

Happy Midsummer! We have reached another turn of the wheel of the year; Solstice occurs (in the Northern hemisphere) this week when the sun enters the 0 degree of Cancer. This is the longest day of the year, when the sun reaches its peak, its purna (fullness). After Solstice, the days will slowly begin to shorten once again as we head toward  the dark time of the year. Solstice is a time of sun and celebration of life, fresh fruit, vegetables, and flowers, bright fires, and feeling grateful for what fills your life. Let your yoga be bright and blissful. Make a feast for the eve before, and then on Solstice morning awaken before dawn so that you can greet the Solstice sun as it rises. Make offerings and prayers.

Venus moves into Cancer and the full moon will be in Sagittarius on Wednesday. Mercury goes direct on Thursday morning, but plan for its shadow period for about a week before things start to get back on track.

At this full moon and solstice, meditate on your own purna (fullness). Contemplate what you are grateful for, what you are filled with, how all that you need already lives inside you. Feel your heart as a moon, full of bliss and overflowing. Let luminescent moonbeams of gratitude and bliss stream from your heart in an offering back to the universe.

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Birthdays and Gratitude

Here are some cute photos I wanted to share with you of me with my teacher. More cute photos to come. These remind me of devotion and adhikara (studentship) and delight. The first one is from the level 3 intensive in February 2001 in Scottsdale, the second one is from the advanced intensive in Tucson in February 2004, and the third one from February 2003. Yay advanced yoga intensives!

 

John's birthday is this week, and so is my mom's. I send them both so much love and appreciation.

Who are your greatest teachers? They may be brilliant souls who floated into your life for a short time to teach you something amazing. Or maybe you have a committed relationship of study with a specific teacher. Who has sparked something glorious within you, or helped you to recover the grandness of you being?

Offerings and gratitude to all our teachers, to our mothers and fathers, our ancestors, our guides, our deepest wisdom that speaks in whispers through our intuition. long-nights