Lughnasadh 2025

Merry Meet and Welcome to you magickal souls!!!!

Lughnasadh is almost upon us!! This means that the harvest season is almost here as this is the first of three harvest celebrations within the modern Wheel of the Year. It is celebrated around 1st August in the Northern Hemisphere (or the 1st February in the Southern Hemisphere).

While it is still summer-time, this celebration marks the turning of the seasons towards autumn and the colder months. Lughnasadh celebrates the first harvest, which is usually wheat or a winter barley that is planted before winter, and the first fruits of it are usually offered up to the various harvest deities in return for abundance through the rest of the year.

There is a tradition of the Lughnasadh loaf which is also known as the Lammas loaf. It was traditionally made from the last sheaf of corn tat was cut down and it was regarded as particularly sacred to early agricultural societies. This sheaf of corn was also believed to contain the spirit of the corn, and made from different elements of the deities or spirits: the barley that had been fermented at the previous autumn equinox was seen as the blood of the Corn God who in a popular golk song was known as John Barleycorn. As well as this, the last sheaf would not be cut down by one person, and instead it would be cut down by a group of people wielding sickles at te same time so that no one would know who killed the Corn God. This was done so that there would be future abundant harvests as the Corn God willingly sacrificed himself.

This last sheaf wouldn't just be used for the harvest loaf as some of the corn would also be woven into corn dollies, a symbol of the Earth Mother, and decorated with scarlet ribbons which are a symbol of the Norse Mother Goddess, Frigg. These dollies would then be hung above the domestic hearth over the winter months. Despite being called "dollies", they could also be cornucopias rather than humanoid.

Lughnasadh was also the time of year when debts would be collected and any contracts arranged. Even trial marriages would be entered into and last for a year and a day, with the couple joining hands through a stone with a hole in it (like a really big hag-stone), and the couple could renew this marriage contract every year if they wanted to.

Over time, Lughnasadh has evolved into the time of craft fairs and festivals, with craftspeople travelling many miles to sell their products. Some places will have parades, and host hiring fairs, especially in agricultural areas where more workers were needed during the summer.

My personal celebration of this time may be delayed as it is dependent on the weather being cool enough for me to cook my Feast which is a gammon roast dinner (complete with stuffing, vegetables, gravy, and roast potatoes). I don't think anyone likes to cook when it's too warm but I know it's okay if I can't celebrate precisely on 1st August.

If you want to celebrate this time, there are a variety of ways you can do so:

• By making a corn dolly or cornucopia to hang in your kitchen or living room

• By baking your own harvest loaf with newly bought flour and whole-grains

• By buying a freshly made loaf of bread

• By decorating your home with orange and yellow items, anything made of straw, bread, anything corn-related

• By taking up a new hobby or learning a new craft

With all of this in mind, here's a collective look at how we can use the energy of Lughnasadh to move towards the future. I put together the spread myself and used th Druid Plant Oracle deck by Philip & Stephanie Carr-Gomm.

What is ready to be harvested in our lives right now?

Poppy Reversed

This card comes to say that while there is an abundance that needs to be harvested in our lives right now, we should be careful that we aren't being seduced by an indifference to life's difficulties right now.

Denial can be helpful to protect ourselves for a time against the harshness and pain of being in the world, but we still need to find some kind of comfort, well-being and protection within whatever faith we have.

Perhaps this card is saying that temperance or moderation is what we should be harvesting. Either being the distinction between a valid use of something for a good reason and addictive self-medication.

How can we celebrate this abundance in our lives?

Garlic

So Garlic comes to tell us that we can celebrate by releasing and purifying ourselves of the burdens and challenges we have faced in order to achieve this abundance right now. This is the only way we can truly find any kind of real joy in our lives.

Garlic is also saying that we don't have to do the same old things to celebrate anything that happens. We can always try something new to bring a bit of extra flavour and a sense of the exotic to our lives and parties.

Wild Garlic, the variety shown in this card, grows in little pockets, so perhaps we should think smaller when it comes to our abundant celebrations.

What do we need to do about our financial situation right now?

Primrose

Primrose comes to tell us to love and care for our finances so that they can love and care for us. The energy and respect go both ways.

Primrose is also associated with rebirth and new energy as it is one of the earliest spring flowers in southern Europe and Britain. So perhaps the message is that we need to inject some new ideas into how we approach and deal with our finances - there's nothing wrong with trying something new if the old things haven't been working in our favour.

Primrose also asks us to be creative when it comes to how to bring more money in as well as how we can spend it but we should remember to stay within the law.

How can we bring more creativity into our lives as we move towards winter?

Mugwort Reversed

Mugwort comes to tell us that we should be careful against indecisiveness as this will be an obstacle against creativity. Taking time to think our options through is fine but doing it for too long will make this endeavour turn into indecisiveness.

While being confused at times is normal, it is also important that we take the time to sort out the direction we wish to move towards.

Creativity can be stifled by negativity and this is something else that Mugwort comes to warn us against. Even when it seems as if absolutely nothing can go right for us, there is always something that we can find to be positive about, even if it's just that we have the opportunity to be patient.

So Lughnasadh is telling us that we need to be careful as we turn towards winter. Whether the potential issue is indecisiveness, indifference, releasing and purifying our lives, taking care of our finances or doing our best to improve our creativity, they are all things that we can work on and improve during the next few months. But it won't all be serious work as there will be opportunities to have fun and rest too, although they may be disguised as other events.

I hope this has been informative and helpful. If you'd like a more personal look at how you can make the most of the energies of Lughnasadh, my inbox and diary are open.

Peace and love to all!!!!