Lughnasadh Cross Quarter Fire Festival
Posted on: August 7, 2023
𖥞 △ LUGHNASADH △ 𖥞
The Funeral Games + The First Harvest Festival
Lughnasadh aka Lúnasa or Lammas is one of the 4 cross quarter fire festivals in the 8 festivals of the Wheel of the Year. Celebrated on varied dates: 1st-8th Aug: Calendric date 1st Aug/ August Eve, and the Astrological date 15° Leo ♌︎ (7th Aug. 2024 )
🔥🌾🍇🌀🍎🌽🍓🌻🔥
7th Aug 2024 at 01:10 pm (BST / Irish/ Portugal Time) the Sun reaches its peak point of 15°♌︎ the midpoint between Solstice and Equinox.
Today take a moment to align with your Inner Light ☀️💛🌟 (fixed Fire♌️) be proud of the Light you are, the Light that illuminates your path and is a beacon for others too.
ENLIGHTEN YOUR FEARS + HOPES
The symbolism we can utilise from Lughnasadh for our own personal healing work now is – to review the year so far. Take the positive and offer gratitude for what it has given us. AND Take the hardships and honour the value of these lessons.
CELEBRATE AND COMMEMORATE
We can recognise and release our fears and shadows for the coming months (to the flames and fire); and refuel with hopes, courage + internal strength to carry us through these times to come. Utilising the quantities of this peak time in Leo season.
Times are always changing….
If anything, cycling with the Wheel offers us the innerstanding that nothing is permanent- everything is always changing and we are adaptable when we honour these patterns that can teach us quality of life connection.
At this Festival, can we relinquish control, just be the magnet that attracts our desires? Can we enlighten to joy, smile when we see it in others, and bask in the little moments that colour our own days? Do we have courage to face inevitable fears; and be in the Sacred Heart of this time now – of your Soul’s Journey?
There is always a visible and matching invisible force. That is the world we live in.
𖥞 △ LUGHNASADH △ 𖥞
It is a time of Harvest, Celebration + Honour.
A time of deep Gratitude.
Preparation for the Dark.
Reaping the bounty of your years’ efforts.
Releasing Fears that weigh you down and Connecting to your Hopes to carry you through the months to come.
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This festival’s name Lughnasadh/Lúnasa is also the Irish word for the month of August. It is named after the renowned Cetic God King Lugh (Lú/Lug). The entire month of August was both a celebration + a mourning time.
Celebration of the abundant harvest from the Summer just gone; of the congregation + strength of the tribe coming together to share their skills to reap the harvest in preparation for the dark winter ahead; and to honour the abundant joy that is disseminated to fuel the courage 💛 to keep the metaphoric light (spirit) burning into the upcoming dark half of the year.
Also a mourning time that honours the sacrifices needed to be taken for sustenance + survival of life. Taking symbolism of the harvest time: culling of the crops + sweet fruits that cannot be eaten right away but must be prepared for the stark, darker times that are part of the Cycle of the Wheel of Life.
Equally, Lugh mourned the Goddess Tailtiu, his foster mother, (an Earth Goddess, Mother Deity – akin to Danu, Gaia or Ceres) commemorating her death (earth is scorched) giving land + harvest for Her people to continue to live. She is symbolic of the death of vegetation that fertilises the fields for the next year. Her supposed burial site is the land upon which the Games are had in her honour. The alchemy of Mourning turned to Joy.
The Lúnasa Festival 🌾 by day saw the crops + fruits gathered, harvested + prepared for storage to sustain over the winter.
Fires lit to scorch the crops + clear the land in preparation for winter + the following Spring’s planting of seeds.
🔥By evening, these fires served as part of the celebration of everyone’s efforts, feasting + trading, music and poetry lit by the glow of the fires. These fires are said to have also lit the torch for the games to commence…. These athletic games apparently predate the Olympics!
8:8 AND SIRIUS
The scorching of the land to fertilise and clear the fields is also done in many countries, particularly where the summer sun can cause bushfires upon the dry straw of the land.
The Scorcher is also a nod to Sirius and its link to the 8:8 Lion’s Gate energy.
The 8:8 Lion’s Gate is numerologically a powerful date, the number of renewal, alchemy and infinity. It is also linked with the date close to the heliacal rising of Sirius (This year around the 20th Aug if viewing from ) The Return of Sirius (as it has been “hidden” in the Light of our Sun Sol Star) Symbolising the Rise of our Spiritual Consciousness.
For 2024, the following table, based on astronomer Jean Meeus’ equations, shows the predicted heliacal rising for Sirius for selected northern hemisphere latitudes.
For quick reference Dublin is 53ºN and Loule, Algarve is 37ºN, Giza, Egypt 30ºN
| Latitude (North) | Date |
| 10° | July 17 |
| 20° | July 24 |
| 30° | August 1 |
| 40° | August 10 |
| 50° | August 20 |
| 60° | September 2 |
The Sirius Star Consciousness has been noted to have a scorching effect (thanks to the teachings from The Blue Rose School of Astrology founder and my teacher Andrew Smith on those who become aware of this level of consciousness – it can remove that which is not serving you and you cannot unsee what you now see, aiding you on moving forward along your path of living in alignment with your Heart Light.
The Blue Flames that form auras around the Sirius Star Beings attribute to their Avian feathered features and Lion Manes a glow around them. Calling on their energy can assist great ego purification and healing, awakening us to our sovereignty.
THE DARK SOPHIA WISDOM
Development from this is similar to the Inner Light that is taken in to purify the body and it’s ego attachments to attain a level of awakened perception that can now hold the Light/Fire within (Fixed Fire Leo) Co-Create in this life with pride and virtue, with leadership and love.
This also ties in with the Black Madonna symbolism, the Shekhinah, the Death of Evening Star Venus and other stories that have similar connections. The Tailtiu commemorations, honours the Dark Sophia Wisdom, She teaches us that the Light exists within. Her body is scorched, it has given all she can, Releasing the attachment but now holding the Light within and Be a Sovereign Container of purification and Enlightenment.
So these themes can be included in our Lughnasadh Festivities and personal ceremony, or reflections.
At the Lughnasadh Games, the strong competed to show off their strength, horses raced, and the skilled swordsmen batted in honour of the flaming spear of Lugh – that is said to have won every battle and succeeded in every strike.
The sweetness of the ripest fruits were eaten at these funeral feasts to the delight of the young + old as they all danced around the fires in commemoration + celebration.
As night fell, stories and poems were told + music filled the air to accompany the tales of the bountiful past + their successes. They also lamented + honoured the courageous warriors and mothers who gave their life for their kin’s protection + survival. These tales told over the glow of embers, lit a spark in their hearts, but also heeded warnings of what they were to prepare for over the coming months.
As with all cross quarter festivals (Imbolg, Bealtaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain) it is a time of inner reflection and strengthening of the kin lines that have held us until now and the efforts we emit for the kin lines to follow us)
This is a review of the ley lines that hold our collective consciousness in its unfolding, that weave the collective fibres of dimensional consciousness through our inner worlds perspectives so we continue to remain true to our inner flame and hold us in joy for the experience of the outer projected reality.
Blessings and Love
Danielle