I've begun to celebrate, with gusto, every seasonal holiday, including the cross-quarter ones. Today and tomorrow is when Lammas was/is typically celebrated, among the Celts, and I've shared a bit of information about it from School of the Seasons below.
The famous Fight Club quote, by Chuck Palahniuk, came to mind as I did some journalling about a cleanse I began today. Yes, why not fast or cleanse every six weeks, eh? For me, it's overkill, really, but I'm in such a transition and wanting to create eating habits that stick as I enter my Very Busiest Time of Year this month at this retreat. And because of what's stuck in my body and brain- I don't want what's hanging on from last week's cocktail hour and pesticidy Mexican food birthday party, complete with ice cream-covered buñuelos, running the show here. Did you see the bit on Junk Food Consciousness?
I don't know if it's my personality/constitution, but I have to be somewhat vigilant about care of my body and energy levels. I'm still standing at the counter and scarfing oftener than I'd rather. (I can't believe I admit this stuff.)
The words leapt into my head because what I covet at times, and women in my SouLodge community have recently reported this as well, are IDEAS. Ideas which serve so well in the beginning of a new journey. And symbols that attach themselves to those ideas, and then before you know it, a tidy little picket fence of restricteds and rigidness has formed around a time and place that once smacked of sweet freedom. A fast or cleanse creates a hell of a turnover rate. And who needs the garbage sitting over by the door stinking up the joint, anyway?
I'm building a holiday fire tonight and setting flame to what I'm over and opening the channel for expansion and heartfullness. It has become a ritual for me that I haven't yet grown tired of. I'll share some raw food and juice recipes this week, as well, which I LOVE creating and devouring. I'm not fasting from solids this time, and not practicing deprivation as my mission is to work with Laura Emily, of 10 Day Fast, to unlock a few gates and bring in some more energy. LE is having a 35% sale, so use code LAMMAS if you'd like to join us for the next two weeks.
Food for Thought, from School of the Seasons
Lammas is a festival of regrets and farewells, of harvest and preserves. Reflect on these topics alone in the privacy of your journal or share them with others around a fire. Lughnasad is one of the great Celtic fire-festivals, so if at all possible, have your feast around a bonfire. While you're sitting around the fire, you might want to tell stories. Look up the myths of any of the grain Gods and Goddesses mentioned above and try re-telling them in your own words.
Regrets: Think of the things you meant to do this summer or this year that are not coming to fruition. You can project your regrets onto natural objects like pine cones and throw them into the fire, releasing them. Or you can write them on dried corn husks (as suggested by Nancy Brady Cunningham in Feeding the Spirit) or on a piece of paper and burn them.
Farewells: What is passing from your life? What is over? Say good-bye to it. As with regrets, you can find visual symbols and throw them into the fire, the lake or the ocean. You can also bury them in the ground, perhaps in the form of bulbs which will manifest in a new form in spring.
Harvest: What have you harvested this year? What seeds have you planted that are sprouting? Find a visual way to represent these, perhaps creating a decoration in your house or altar which represents the harvest to you. Or you could make a corn dolly or learn to weave wheat. Look for classes in your area which can teach you how to weave wheat into wall pieces, which were made by early grain farmers as a resting place for the harvest spirits.
My Green Goddess is the juice blend above, from Penni Shelton's Raw Food Cleanse, which I have tweaked a tiny bit and renamed:
The Dancing Machine
Juice 1 small bunch kale or baby spinich (I destem the kale to take some of the bite out), 4 celery stalks, 1 lemon-peeled, 1.5" piece fresh ginger, 2 granny smith apples and 1 cucumber.
