The Feeling of August

Tips to engage with this moment on the Wheel of the Year.

Dry hillsides and fennel flowers represent this moment in coastal California.

August has a very special liminal feeling.

There is a bit of a countdown to "the school year starting," which I put in quotes because not everyone is in school, or has this moment shift their schedule, yet the shift is here for all of us.

In part, because we are all connected. In another part, because most of us share the collective experience of early mornings, school starting again in the fall, and lastly in part because of our ancientness.

How do I mean? We are in Late Summer, which encompasses the short, fifth season of the Chinese calendar. Also August 1 is the pagan holiday of Lughnasadh, also known by the name of Lammas.

Lammas is known as "the first harvest" ~ it's yet again a short season of the end of summer play, with a flush of flowers, as the hight of summer dies back, and the ushering in of early fall fruits like melons, apples and seeds.

Yet, I urge you not to worry that you have missed your moment. I'd encourage you to think of the whole month of August as a re-set period.

Vibrant pink flowers, Naked Ladies (Amaryllis belladonna) serve as a reminder of the liminality of August.

After we have had our reveling of long days, relishing in the sun, and easy-going summer vibes, it's time to start to think about how we want to enter the fall, in short (and I know you hate hearing this, so pardon my being the messenger) how you will prepare for winter.

This might look like a few things, perhaps it's:

a new work-out routine
an earlier bed time
taking a new set of herbs (wink wink immune support)
a re-commitment to an act of self-care (journaling, tarot, art, prayer, meditation)
cleaning/decluttering

The honoring of time and seasons is ancient, and it does not need to be a grand celebration. I celebrated last week's turning of the Wheel of the Year by making a lamb stew, sharing it with my friend with a new baby, and reaching out to loved ones to check in on them.

Perhaps I would have done these things anyway. One might say, "well, I eat dinner every night, how is this one lamb stew different?"

As a modern, urban paganish-person, perhaps it's merely the intention that this dinner is imbued with the witnessing of seasons changing, and in honor of all the thousands of ancestors who have done the same before us.

How will you celebrate this season of the first harvest? What are you harvesting?

To learn more about this holiday and how to honor it, read more from Mabon House, Alexis J. Cunningfolk of Worts & Cunning or check out Melanie Marquis' book from your local library.

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