Northumberland Mystical Gatherings Newsletter

Lughnasadh – August 2004

Northumberland Mystical Gatherings Newsletter

Volume 2, Issue 7

Lammas: Celebrating Harvests

by Ben Gruagach

Lammas in the Canadian and northern U.S. climates is the time of year when we’re in the height of summer. We’ve gotten past what is usually the cool, rainy, and changeable weather of spring, past the first real stretch of summer, and usually into the heatwave and thunderstorm time of year. It can be the sweltering “dog days” or perhaps just a welcome stretch of sunny days and lazy nights. It’s definitely a time of abundance.

In the Celtic cultures this was also the time of year when people would start gathering to show off their best produce and compete with neighbors in local fairs. The best cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs were shown off and awarded prizes. Pies, cakes, and other goodies were also compared and judged. Everyone got in on the act: there were races, challenges, and competitions of all types for young and old. Lammas, or Lughnasadh as it is sometimes known, really is a wonderful way to honour the Celtic god Lugh, who was known as a multi-talented champion.

Lammas was also a traditional time for visiting holy sites such as wells, rivers, lakes and ponds, and also the places where the dead lay sleeping. The last Sunday in July was known in some places in Ireland as “Garland Sunday,” and was considered the start of the Lammas celebrations. Young women and girls would make garlands of flowers, take them to the local church, and then take them to the local graveyards where they would dance around in honour of the dead.

The most obvious commonly recognized significance of Lammas is the grain harvest though. The celebration was a way to honour the Divine in the form of the first harvested grain crops, personified sometimes as “John Barleycorn,” and the first loaves of bread baked with the season’s harvest. Special care was always taken to thank the Divine for the harvest, and a portion of the grain or bread was offered back to the Divine.

Now is a good time to celebrate the good things that we have done in the past season, to brag about what we’ve done and share our abundance with others. Show off your talents! Let laughter and good times fill your life and overflow to share with others. Get out of the house and enjoy the warm weather, the lush plant growth, the first hints of autumn colours on the way. Taste the local produce, the fruits and vegetables and wines and breads and cheeses. If you can, try to get out to the fairs that are starting to happen in your area and check out the competitions. See what other people are bragging about too!

To find out about fairs, try these websites:

http://www.ontariofairs.com/ (Fairs around Ontario, Canada.)

http://www.expocentral.com/agriculture/us_fairs/US_Fairs.html (Fairs around the US.)

http://www.marketsandfairs.com.au/ (Fairs, markets, and expos in Australia.)

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/festivals.htm (Festivals in Japan.)

http://www.wereallneighbours.co.uk/events/ (Events, including fairs, in the UK.)

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Mystical Gatherings News

by Saffronmane

Ahhh, summer… reputedly the time for rest and relaxation, but not so for most of us in Mystical Gatherings! Summer is a busy time for all of us as we spend time with kids off school for the summer and/or organize vacations with our families. Some of us are in the process of moving, or hunting for somewhere to move, while others are away at various summer fests. All this activity has resulted in a bit of a hiatus for the group, which means there is not a lot of news to report!

Three of us attended the Interfaith Coalition picnic on June 19th, which was a fun afternoon on the Cobourg beach with good food and company!

As summertime wends its busy way onward, we have some tentative plans for future meetings. Our recent meetings have been taking place outside with no particular theme, but when cooler weather returns and we start gathering in our regular meeting place again, we’re hoping to begin some exercises in raising energy. Also in the works are presentations on flower remedies and dyeing fabrics with herbs. We’re hoping to get a drumming circle going as well.

As Mystical Gatherings evolves, we hope to find ways to make it a more vibrant and fulfilling Pagan organization to be a part of. This could include more involvement with other Pagan groups in the area, along with ongoing efforts to expand our membership and be more community oriented.

That’s pretty much it for now - see you at Mabon!

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Dragonflies – Air Spirits of Summer

by Amberlight

This is the first in a series of articles about some of the seasonal animals, birds and insects we share the Wheel of the Year with, and what we can learn from them.

Dragonflies are a common sight in high summer. You often see them, singly or in groups, dipping and darting over a stream, pond, wetland or meadow. Their flight may seem aimless to the casual eye, but they’re actually busy feeding as they flit about, doing us a huge service by consuming thousands of mosquitoes, deer flies, blackflies, midges and all those other biting insects that plague us during the summer months. In fact, dragonflies are among the most voracious predators of mosquitoes, and do a lot to help control populations of this annoying bug. Some people even call them “mosquito hawks.”

Among the most ancient of insects, dragonflies have been around for nearly 300 million years, although prehistoric species were much larger than those we see now, with wingspans of well over two feet! Today, there are about 5,000 species of dragonfly and damselfly worldwide, and 150 of those live in Ontario alone.

Dragonflies are true creatures of the air and are totally at home in this element. They can reach flying speeds of up to 30 kilometres an hour – pretty amazing for such a relatively small creature! Their four wings have evolved to move independently, allowing them to maneuver through the air with perfect precision, change directly almost instantaneously in pursuit of prey, and even fly backwards. Not only do dragonflies feed on the wing, but the males, which can be quite aggressive and territorial, also fight while airborne. Dragonflies even mate in the air! Although they often alight on vegetation, you won’t see them moving over the ground for the simple reason that their legs are designed less for walking than for holding onto prey while in flight.

Interestingly, dragonflies start their lives in water, not air. Females lay their eggs in or near ponds or slow-moving streams. The eggs hatch into rather ugly nymphs that lurk around on the bottom of the pond feeding on the larvae of other insects, including mosquitoes (one nymph can consume up to 3,000 mosquito larvae, which kind of makes you wonder how we’d ever manage without dragonflies)! The nymphs may spend the whole winter under the ice before coming to the surface of the water in May and emerging as adult dragonflies.

Among the most common species of dragonfly, and also the largest and fastest, are the green darners. In late summer, some green darners migrate south, often in large groups, so if you see a whole crowd of dragonflies flitting and floating over a meadow or pond in August, they could be green darners! They’re believed to travel as far south as Central America, although because adult dragonflies live just a few months, only their offspring will make the return journey the following year.

Because dragonflies eat so many biting insects, you should be glad to see them around your property! Granted, they do also eat butterflies, but their beneficial qualities still far outweigh their disadvantages. As part of the food chain, dragonflies in turn provide sustenance for red-winged blackbirds, swallows and hawks, while the nymphs feed frogs, fish and turtles.

Tuning into Nature - A Basic Guide

Pagans are highly attuned to the natural world and often turn to the spiritual guidance of totem or power animals. Most Pagans have several totem animals, one or two that stay with them throughout their lives, and others that come and go as they pass through life’s various stages. One of my lifelong totem animals is the cat, for example. Blue jay, little brown bat – and, yes, dragonfly! – are among my current totem animals, although these may be replaced by other creatures as I move forward along my spiritual path and encounter new lessons to learn and obstacles to overcome.

Even if you’re not a Pagan, one of the most effective and profound ways to connect with nature is to pay attention to the birds, animals and insects you see around you, or that seem to approach you, and to learn from them and the messages they bring you. For example, if it seems that you’re noticing more moths, crows, squirrels, or whatever, every place you look and go, then perhaps you need to study those animals more closely and see what your findings, observations and intuition tell you about what they are here to teach you. (You can also do the same with trees, flowers, herbs and other plants – they also have their own energies and spiritual messages!)

This doesn’t mean you should go around looking for signs and meanings in everything you see, of course, but if an animal, bird or insect seems to be intruding itself on your notice more than usual, it’s time to pay attention. This includes not only the live animal, but also images or information that you might keep coming across in books, magazines, newspapers, TV shows, even fabric prints or jewellery. (There’s no such thing as an accident – life is serendipitous!) And yes, this also includes creatures you may fear or dislike, such as spiders or wasps – they too have something to share!

If it seems silly that an animal could possibly be capable of bringing you any sort of a message, consider these two important fundamentals of life in our universe: everything is energy and everything is interconnected. By interacting and learning from the natural world, you are celebrating this interconnection, integrating yourself more fully into the energies and vibrations of existence, realigning yourself with the environment, and helping yourself grow spiritually. In addition, for Pagans, nature is an expression of the Divine, and its creatures are therefore often seen as spiritual messengers as well as living beings in their own right. Viewed from these perspectives, it doesn’t really matter whether or not you believe the animal is consciously trying to tell you something. Communication comes in many forms, including the symbolic!

Dragonfly’s Spiritual Message

Next time you see a dragonfly, take the time to really watch how it moves through the air, dancing, changing direction, rising and falling with effortless ease. Notice also, especially when the dragonfly is at rest and you get a chance to look at it more closely, how its wings, iridescent body, and huge multi-faceted eyes seem to catch, reflect and refract the light, making the insect look almost jewel-like.

Through its mercurial behaviour and ethereal appearance, the dragonfly tells us to lighten up, be more carefree, flexible and adaptable in our own lives, and to accept, even embrace, change. It advises us to discard rigid attitudes, widen our awareness and look at things from different angles. By doing this we can awaken the energy of positive change in our lives, see new ways of doing things or solving problems, and perhaps break through the barriers that have been holding us back.

The dragonfly’s iridescence, the way it can seem to change colour depending on the light and angle, is a reminder that things in life are not always what they seem. It’s a message to try and see beyond illusions and arrive at a clear vision. The dragonfly also encourages us to look for power in the world of dreams, imagination and aspiration, all aspects of the element of Air.

Whether viewed as mosquito hunters or spiritual messengers – or both – dragonflies are amazing and valuable creatures!

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Lammas Crossword Puzzle

by Ben Gruagach (solution on last page)

Page 6

Across

1. Celtic god of light, known for his many talents.

7. Greek mother goddess of vegetation and abundance.

8. These celebrations are held in rural areas at this time of year and into the autumn, with contests, rides, and lots of food.

9. Another word for a group celebration.

10. Fleet footed hoofed animal that people like to ride.

12. The grain most commonly used for flour.

14. This star's rising marks the start of the Dog Days.

15. A large pretty flower with lots of delicious edible seeds and little yellow petals.

17. A generic term for grain used in the UK. In North America, it refers to a specific grain crop.

20. What we do when we gather the crops in.

22. This symbol goes round and round, spinning inwards.

26. Popular Egyptian insect, often associated with the sun and rebirth.

27. In North America we call this corn.

29. Another word for a competition.

30. Ground grains.

31. The part that is separated from the wheat and thrown away.

32. A game where two teams pull a rope to see which side is strongest.

Down

2. The seed crop of grasses.

3. The hollow stalks of some grain crops, used as bedding for animals.