Lammas Blessings and a Happy Lughnasadh!

 

Demeter, Lady of Fruit and Grains,

of ripening suns and harvest rains.

I call to you, Mother, hear my plea,

Bestow your Blessing here on me.

Lughnasadh Art is by Bonny Hut

Time Whirls by.

 I put the last stitches into the goddess Morrigan embroidery piece. I put off stitching her for nearly 2 weeks because I only had two strands of the wool floss I used for the wings left and didn't think I had enough, I ordered more and it came Friday so I finished stitching it yesterday and guess what? I had just enough to finish the piece without using the new stuff. I guess I should have kept stitching instead of waiting believing I didn't have enough floss and it would have been finished. Next time that happens I will use up the last bits I have on hand then go from there. Here she is before I iron it.

Apparently the L4 has moved out of alignment and is causing all the pain, and I have quite a arthritis in the spine as well. An MRI is scheduled for Tuesday the 27th, in the meantime it's a round of steroids to hopefully reduce the swelling and relieve some of the pain. Anyway it has a fancy name spondylolisthesis.

If the doctor would have listened better a few months ago when I saw him for my knee pain and I described everything that was going on he could have addressed this much sooner and I could have had less pain filled days. I had already told him about a previous back surgery for the L5 for the same reason and this is a pattern with the condition.

On the up side the steroids have helped with the pain and I am hoping that possibly physical therapy could be an option before another surgery, but I know I have been suffering with this for over 2 years so that may not be an option.

It has been a long hot July with some high points, I turned 68 on the 1st of the month and had a lovely lunch out with my son and daughter in law, my sister found a house back in PA and is moving at the beginning of August, since she lost her husband a year ago in June she has been so miserable, she has family and friends and when she was there in March it just felt like home to her.  I will miss her and my niece Tessa and wish them all the best, we had lunch last weekend to say our goodbyes.

Lammas Ritual For Gathering In Abundance.

 Lammas begins on Monday at sunset, perform this ritual anytime over the next few days.

You will need:

A Broom or Besom

Don't worry if it isn't a traditional besom, any broom will do as it is always intent that is important. The besom/broom is a potent symbol of hearth and home. It is a traditional magical tool useful for everyday charms as it has the imprint of its owner firmly on it. Sweeping is a natural gathering gesture.

Ribbons

A piece of green ribbon (for abundance), a piece of gold ribbon (for prosperity and gathering)'

A Sprig of Mint.

Take your broom and tie your ribbon around the top. Tie in your sprig of mint. Take your broom outside, place both hands on the stave and focus on your intention - gathering in your harvest for winter. Turn slowly three times in a clockwise direction then start to sweep towards your door saying:

"By one, two, three and four, sweep Lammas gifts to my door. May abundance be a constant friend, by my hearth till Winter's end."

Repeat this three times, then take your besom/broom back into your house and put it in its usual place. You can leave the ribbon on for as long as want to, for a lunar month, or until winter is done. The mint can be returned to the earth with thanks.

If you do not have an outside space you can sweep from your front door inwards to either your kitchen or hearth using the same ritual.

Image: Lane Brown art

Time Gets Away From Me

 It's days after the Summer Solstice and weeks since I have added a proper post, time has a way of moving so rapidly I can barely keep up at times.

The tree service actually showed up on June 10th to take down the dead tree in the backyard and to trim some limbs dangerously close to the roof. They did start off cutting down the wrong tree which felt like my heart being cut out. The holly tree along the driveway that I was observing as part of my wheel of the year observations is nothing more than a stump.

I at first thought one of the workers was trimming the overgrowth at the bottom then to my horror the tree fell forward, when he removed his ear muffs I told him that wasn’t the tree to be cut down. 

They apologized several times as I walked them around the yard pointing to the tree with the orange ribbon to be cut down, the nearly dead tree, showed them the trees that need the limbs trimmed and went inside while they set to work.

  

At the beginning of June I began a little summer solstice stitchery project to make mini goddess wall hangings. I used an enlarged plain bellied goddess sticker from the ones Molly Remer of Brigid’s Grove provides with other resources for the 30 Days of Goddess practice.  

I traced the goddess onto yellow felt added a spiral sun to her belly and proceeded to embroider the piece. The 2 goddesses look identical but they aren’t I used a different embroidery stitch on each of the goddesses.

Last Saturday we had very heavy rain which continued for several hours so I cancelled my plans for a day at the beach with my sister and great niece and began another little goddess stitchery.

Once again using the enlarged goddess sticker this time I traced it onto muslin fabric and began hand embroidering it. The following photos show my progress as I moved my hoop around and stitched. She will eventually be a prayer flag.

The definition of a prayer flag, in this context, is a piece of cloth that is decorated with an image(s) and/or text that has special meaning to the maker. Making and hanging the flags is a way of speaking an intention out loud and expressing it visually, tangibly—a way to keep the important things in life within view. The flags hang outside for a period of time, and I love how they fade and tatter as they are affected by the wind and rain.

Most of the time I have an objective before I start a flag. Other times it develops as I stitch. I find making these flags almost meditative.

I have made many prayer flags over the decades, most of my flags were for specific people who were going through a difficult time. Other flags were for a trait that I wished to embody. Still others were for far-reaching hopes: a starving country, or a universal wish such as peace, hope, and love. These flags have become sort of a journal of my life, and they all share the common theme of leaving the world a better place. I’d like to believe that the wishes/intentions on my prayer flags are carried by the wind to be shared with the person receiving it.

Here are a few tips if you want to make a prayer flag of your own:

• Use a piece of light-weight fabric so it will blow in a breeze. (An old pillowcase can be cut into six or eight flag shapes).
• Leave the edges unfinished, to catch the breeze.
• Leave a space at the top so the flag can be attached to a string or rope.
• Use any markers, art supplies, ribbon, yarn, etc., that are handy. Enjoy the work!
• The flag may be silent or include words.
• Don’t worry about the flag wearing out or raveling. The earliest prayer flag makers hoped that was a sign that the prayers were lofting toward the Universe!

I am making slow progress on the Greenman but I finally moved the hoop up which is a sign of progress.  

I don't know why I'm taking so long stitching this piece, I did put it aside for other projects and then forgot about him for months.  I started this in April of last year along with the Moon Flow piece by Cozy Blue, which I am happy to say was finished earlier this month and sent off to it's new owner just in time for Litha.

This morning while walking the yard for my Walking the wheel of the year journey I noticed a new bloom on the gardenia shrub.  I don't know if it was all the heavy rain we had for the past 2 weeks but seeing the flower brought such joy to my heart.

There are several more buds on the shrub which makes me hopeful and happy, in the winter I noticed the roots were coming up out of the garden bed but it wasn't a good time to move the shrub so I covered the roots with potting soil and the stones in the bed, then all the rain came and washed away the soil and stones.  I imagine all the rain was enough to feed the roots for the flowers to bloom again. I want to either transplant it in the autumn or dig her a deeper hole to keep this from happening again.  When I first moved in June 2019 she was full of blooms and this year she had a few flowers in April and nothing by mid May.

I am slowly getting myself back into the garden, since moving here injury or illness has kept me from putting in the garden I want, nothing elaborate just something I can tend to through the seasons, herbs vegetables and a few flowers. So I began to propagate a few herbs and a pineapple top, 2 avocado pits and to my surprise somethings are showing promise.

Above is the pineapple top, basil and avocado pit all showing the start of some roots.

Litha Blessings

 Wishing you all a very happy Summer Solstice

Happy May Day and Beltane Blessing to All! and What Happened to my other posts?

 I am stumped, it appears several of my post for 2023 are gone, I had written at 3 posts in February, one was for Imbolc, one was mid month with updates of what I had be doing, and the end of the month Walking the Wheel of the Year post.

In March I posted 3 post, on the 1st it was a welcome March and my Walking the Wheel of the Year journey post, and a post on the Spring Equinox/Ostara post and an end of the month update. All are gone nothing in my blog post listings, yet I had seen them when they were 1st posted and My April post welcoming a new month and an Easter post, again gone.  

So I am going to try again and hope this one stays put cause I have better things to do than type a post add photos and then have it disappear.

Happy May Day and Beltane Blessing to All!

I walked around my yard this morning for my Wheel of the Year observations, the palm tree in the front of the house is shedding more fronds soon there will be berries handing from the tree.

After weeks of no rain we finally had some heavy rains last week especially over the weekend, not much grass growth and sadly enough even the weeds are struggling. It’s nice to see some green sprouting among the soil.

Some weeds are growing on the other side of the house but mostly it looks barren, if all works out the way I want after the dead tree is cut down and some branches trimmed this is the area I want to put in a labyrinth.
  

The boulders standing along the driveway always makes me feel grounded to this space, I often see them as sentinels keeping watch over the garden along with the ever vigilant Greenman planter waiting for a new plant.

On Beltane Eve the Waxing Gibbous shines brightly in the evening sky, and a rare sighting of a cardinal at the feeder at 8:10 in the evening.

Well that's all I am going to write about today.  I surely hope this stays put.  Again Beltane Blessings and Happy May Day.

Garden Planning and Simon Moon Shadow Settles In.

Imbolc is just around the bend with Spring not too far behind, here in Florida the weather has been up and down and temps are expected to be n the 40's again this weekend, which isn't too bad considering we had temps in the mid 20's Christmas and New Years weekend.  Today it was 82, a typical Florida winter. I have been thinking about my garden this year and I would love to actual have something more substantial then a few containers.

Over the next two weeks I will be clearing out the dead plants and debris around the yard to prepare the area for my Spring garden. This year will be a turning point for me as far as gardening since I first moved into this house in 2019 I actually feel well enough to get into the garden and not just plant a few pots. Over the weekend I plan to look over my seeds and seed catalogs to get an idea of what I would like to plant in my garden this spring.

I will most likely use some kind of raised beds and for my herb garden I would like to do something like this again, I have a few new ideas for plant markers.

Before moving here my garden did quite well, I used cinder blocks to make a raised bed and planted quite a variety of vegetables which did very well. It was the first time I grew corn in Florida I was so thrilled to see the cobs forming and couldn’t wait to harvest them, unfortunately we were hit by a week of rain which wiped out the entire bed except the weeds.

My sweet Simon Moonshadow has settled into life as a contented house cat, in early December he was neutered and had a microchip inserted. 

He loves just about any paper that crinkles and is delighted when I lay down a few pieces for him to play with.

Peeking about when he thinks no one is looking, he also has a habit of coming up behind me without a sound.

He loves to sleep touching a part of my body, though in the morning when he is swiping my face at 5 it not much appreciated. 

Yule morning looking into his stocking, and a few hours later as after rigorous play with his favorite toy Purple Kitty.

We lost it a few hours later and it didn't show up again until new year's eve.  I now have 3 as backups.

He even helps me choose fabric for my newest project and he hasn't found a box he doesn't like, yet.

Well he thought he was helping mainly he just wanted to play with the fabric and the scissors. One of the bins I have for his toys gets the Simon seal of sleep,

I never thought after 30 plus years that I would have a pet again, now I can't imagine my life without him.  Life is Good.