Lammas, or Lughnasadh, the festival of the first harvest, falls around the midway point of the Sun’s journey through Leo. The sign of fixed fire, this is often the season of highest summer although right now we have rain and wind here in the UK. The first stirrings of autumn that we often feel around this time have perhaps been with us for a while this year. Whilst elsewhere, the sun blazes brighter and hotter than usual. “Usual” is fast becoming utterly irrelevant, wherever we are.
The inner flame
Leo energy has been around for a while, and Venus retrograde especially gives us plenty of time to explore this energy of fixed fire. How are we tending our inner flame? Are we fuelling it with creative nourishment and soul fuel? Or is it threatening to flicker out? This is the season for celebrating our harvest. For honoring what we have generated, both inner and outer. The seeds sparked into being at Winter Solstice or Imbolc have come into manifestation. Perhaps we have achieved what we planned, or perhaps something completely different.
Either way, Lammas is a time to honor what we have actually done and to take pride in it – classic Leo energy. We can also honor and celebrate the challenges we’ve faced, and the mistakes or missteps we’ve learned from. All of it helps us to reach for our most authentic selves, which is the key quest of Leo season.
Gathering and sharing
As well as the harvest energy of gathering, Lammas was traditionally a time to gather for fairs and games. A time for sharing skills and gifts, and for being recognized by others. Again, good Leo energy. In the Irish tradition, Lammas is known as Lughnasadh and is associated with Lugh, the many-skilled. He is the warrior king who both tests and inspires those around him.
It was Lugh who declared that the Lughnasadh games would be held each year in honor of his mother Tailtiu. The earth goddess brought agriculture to Ireland but lost her own life in the process. And here again, is Leo energy – we need to celebrate and nourish our creative powers and talents, otherwise they fade and become barren.
The sacrifice of the king
In modern pagan tradition, we often associate Lammas with the sacrifice of the divine king, who is cut down in the form of John Barleycorn. This symbolic cutting of proactive, “masculine” energy reflects the shift toward autumn and the more internally focused seasons of the year. And here again, is the Mars in Leo archetype of the divine king, understood psychologically as the need to sacrifice the superficial “ego” and the need for external validation. Then we can connect with our true authentic self, perhaps the most important Leo Lammas harvest of all.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In