Fall Equinox: The Grain Harvest

Breath and spark of life, Sun born in darkness,

Who brought light and fire to the land;

Who warmed the Maiden and danced with Her,

Leading Her to Motherhood of all;

The King we crowned on a summer’s day

As he rose to his throne in the sky;

All that He gave Her, she brings forth many-fold.

That we and our children and our children’s children

May take their gifts and go forward, beyond the farthest hill, across the farthest sea,

Even to the stars.

Now His fires are burning low and what light He has grows feeble.

There is more power in the bread than there is in Him,

And when we have eaten of it, He will be gone.

The fields are bare, it is almost time for Him to go.

Together They celebrate the Gift of Life, one last time.

from Dyffd ap Tower

Harvest Moon

"All the moons are beautiful, but this one is a little older, a little wiser..."

The Moon is the mirror of the Great Mother, and like her, at this season, the moon gives and takes.

She gives light for the harvest; I remember once driving over Altamont Pass at the time of the August Moon, at dusk, with the moon and the sun both shining in the sky, and all the windmills turning. She takes the fatigue at day's done, and transforms it to wisdom.

The moon is full. Mrs. Drinkwalter did not ignore this, but didn't have time to write about it. Flew back to California last week, went back to work right away, classes started this Monday. More later.

New Mosque on Park Place: Another No-Brainer

Traveling broadens one's perspectives in more ways than one. It's when traveling that I end up watching random bits of FoxNews, and find out they are currently talking about over in right field.

This morning, over breakfast with my niece at a Holiday Inn in Manchester, New Hampshire, I learned that “controversy rages” over a Muslim congregation's plans to build a new mosque a few blocks from Ground Zero. What's more, Obama is “under fire” for observing that they have a right to do so.

If indeed there is actually some kind of controversy over this project, Obama, being an expert in constitutional law, probably felt called upon to provide some sort reality check.

There is no point wasting effort on a “raging controversy” or putting Obama “under fire” over this. People who want to prevent a congregation from building a place of worship should be saving their energies for the far more challenging project of amending the Bill of Rights.

Lammas Tide

Lammas marks the time when the ebbing air tide turns, and the water tide flows in.
The ebbing air tide has been a time of waiting, patience and paying attention.

When the water tide flows, it will bring a time of ripeness, of completion; a time to gather the fruits of your labor, and a time for truths to be known. This is the first of the three harvests, the harvest of fruit. With the Fall Equinox comes the harvest of grain, and with Samhain, the harvest of blood.

This, like the planting time from the Spring Equinox to Beltane, is a period of intense hard work. It is a time of intense activity, both work and play.

The Mother at this time is at the height of Her power, her breasts flowing with milk at the very sound of a child's cry. Honor Her with works of healing and compassion, and by with a portion of each thing you earn or reap. The Mother of All Living tells us that she demands no sacrifice; she says this because she needs to make no such demand; a portion of every labor and every love returns to Her by the law of Nature. When that return is brought to Her consciously and with gratitude, she rewards Her children by opening to them the storehouse of Her wisdom; the truth which lies there is our own, which She has saved for us from our gifts of past seasons. The first fruits of harvest are come, and stores saved from the last harvest may now be safely eaten since we are now assured that they will soon be replentished. Thus, at this season we eat new fruit and old meat, celebrating new achievements and old wisdom.

Love and labor are one in the Mother at this season. Seek to perform all your work with love, and work to sustain your love for others.

Like the Planting Time this is a season which, in the old days, required the give-and-take of community effort, as large teams harvested one farm after another. Look carefully at the patterns of reciprocity in your relationships with those love and care about, ask yourself whether they are balanced and fair, and what you can do to improve their equilibrium.

Try to float to the surface of the Tide, to take a long and broad view of things so as to maintain your perspective. Take time from your full and busy days to study and contemplate the huge expanses of space and time--astrophysics, karma, your past lives. This is the most productive Tide for trance divination, for travelling in trance and dream the roads that lead to the future and the past.

The Lammas Queen

Come to me now, in the first hour of harvest,
Hour of falling wind and sun,
And the sweet rushing in of the salt sea tide.
Now I am fruit, moist and heavy before it falls.
Mine is the milk that lets down and flows
To the sound of a hungry cry.
I claim as sacrifice the first fruit of your labor,
And return to you from my golden store,
The fruit of your labors in seasons past.
I bare my breast and the world spills forth;
Joy and loss and flame and shadow.
Drink and be whole, for the joy will last

Thunder Moon

The hot, humid days jostle and bump up against each other until, every few days, there is a small eruption of thunder, lightning and rain. The weather seers always predict a wilder storm than ever occurs. We hope for the storm to break the heat, but it doesn't much, or for long.

The old idea was to pray to the Thunder God for mercy and safety in the storm.

But at the moment I'm praying rather for a great breaking storm to relieve the tedium and lighten the heavy air.