“On a Saturday, my father Frank took my sister Alison and I to fields well known for mushrooms. When we got there, not a mushroom could be seen. With baskets and hearts empty, we started to make our way back to the car and along the route the hedgerows were bursting with blackberries. We picked so many, our baskets were not big enough and on the Sunday we ventured back for more. Parking the car at a new place as we made our way back to blackberry heaven, we saw in the fields to the side some mushrooms. Now in the field, more and more revealed themselves close and afar. Once again our baskets were not big enough”. While John’s story is over 40 years old, it has a timeless humorous teaching for this time of year.
Lughnasadh is the time equidistant between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox and it heralds harvesting and the beginning of Autumn. One of the great Irish cross quarter days along with Imbolg, Bealtine and Samhain, Lughnasadh is traditionally communally celebrated on the last Sunday of July or August 1st or the first weekend of August. For those who know the Earth’s circle dance with the Sun intimately, they will know that the precise time of Lughnasadh 2020 will be August 7th at 01.04am (GMT).
Please enjoy our community ceremony in the video below. We share some ideas on how to welcome abundance into your home and garden at this time of year.
