L is for Lughnasadh

Since I'm so far behind that my L catch up coincides with Lughnasadh that is today's topic.

Lughnasadh (or Lammas) is the first of the three harvest festivals.  It marks the mid point of summer and celebrates the first harvest and the hope for continued fertility throughout the harvest season.  Where I am (California) it is a little difficult to get into the celebration of the mid point of summer.  When it seems that temperatures are only just starting to get ridiculously hot it is difficult to picture an end to the summer months.  But the nights are cool and the crops appear to be in abundance while my plants bring forth new growth once more and it all makes me smile to see the wheel turning. 

Some background: The festival is named after the Celtic god Lugh and the games that took place were dedicated to his foster mother Talitiu - who is said to be a linked to the idea of an earth mother goddess.  This is the time that signals the beginning of the shift to those shorter days (I see this each morning as I now begin to arise before the sun at my regular time) the sun is still strong but we can really begin to notice the length of days becoming shorter.  The general focus of activities at this time of year are on fertility in the coming harvests to ensure a plentiful season and the honoring of the god Lugh.  Corn is one of the main crops for this time of year and as such corn dollies can play a role in your celebrations.

As we move into this 'harvest' season we move towards an time of the year for inward reflection.  It is the perfect time to consider looking back on what we can 'harvest' from the lessons we've learned this year.  It is also a time to reflect on our place in this modern world and the connection that we share with it.  It is so easy in these modern times to loose track of the cycles of the season, and especially the idea of the harvest.  Unless one is fortunate enough to have their own gardens to tend (which sadly I do not) the importance of working with the land, of the teamwork that comes between us and nature to reap the fruits of the earth, is lost to a modern world of grocery stores.  Lughnasadh is a perfect opportunity to take time out and honor the work that goes into producing your food and to try and tune in to the season at hand.

That being said, what are my plans for this Lughnasadh...well my house is currently home to three adult house guests so I've lost all my ritual spaces and I'm also playing hostess, so I think my celebration will be put off  until the weekend when I can finally claim my home back and get it feeling like my sacred space again.

Meditative Monday

Yes, I know - a very long hiatus...life was kicking my butt.  But I'm trying to get back on track now.

Once again - words of wisdom from www.marcandangel.com

Leave enough time for fun. – Sometimes you need to take a few steps back to see things clearly.  Never let your life become so filled with work, your mind become so crammed with worry, or your heart become so jammed with old hurts or anger, that there’s no room left in them for fun, for awe, or for joy.


I've been feeling this one a lot lately - how little time I really leave myself for fun, hell for anything other than work and school.  I'm not living life right now and it frustrates and saddens me, but its also a really hard trap to work yourself out of.  SO that is my goal for the next two weeks.  I have a break from classes for two weeks so my goal is to try and establish some form of routine that incorporates things for me that will also allow study time.  We'll see how it goes.

Daily Draw

"You are changing and showing more of your true self.  These changes will be empowering, often they will at first make us fragile and vulnerable.  Those who are no longer meant to be in your life will quietly, and some loudly, depart.  Do not worry, just keep on becoming.  And be for now in the best company of all, your own."

Daily Draw

"...take back your own gifts and incorporate them into your life, yourself, every day, every breath.  You will be healed when you finally embrace all that you are.  For then, beauiful one, you will be in your true form, and have many abilities.  You will be whole."

Meditative Monday

I'm putting a link here today, I feel that all 12 points are important and should definitely be contemplated.  I do so love these guys work.

12 Habits Standing Between You and What You Want

I am guilty of all of these - sometimes more than one and once.  Perhaps one of my worst acts is (7) Dwelling on things you've lost - or the past in general.  It is hard not to.  I've had to make up a little mantra that I say over and over until my thoughts stop dwelling.  (10) Is another big one, I am so overly critical of myself.  I hold myself up to impossible standards sometimes and I am never satisfied with the outcome that I get, I always feel that I can do better, if only I'd tried more.

Meditative Monday

"Harsh words can hurt a person more than physical pain. – Taste your own words before you spit them out.  Words hurt and scar more than you think, so THINK before you speak.  And remember, what you say about others also says a whole lot about YOU."
(Source: http://www.marcandangel.com/2012/06/13/15-relationship-truths-for-tough-times/ )


True words that come at a time when both sides of the message are needed.

We try to brush off the words that others throw at us, to say "oh well", but it is easier said than done.  Words have a way of creeping in under your defenses and eating away at your idea of yourself.  Enough words, and you begin to ponder if the issue isn't the person saying them but yourself.  It is oh so easy to lash back, to get angry and point fingers, to lay blame at the feet of all and none at ones own.  What we hurl at others or what we say of others behind their backs is a reflection of our own issues, and that goes for the way we respond too.  One should not allow someone to walk all over them, but sometimes it is best to simply state your peace and walk away from it all.  There is no point in engaging in verbal warfare.  Take claim of the things you may have said or done to cause pain to others, see that they too have their own to claim and leave it at that.

Someone's opinion of you should not matter.  It does, I know.  We are raised to believe that what others see in us is the standard by which we should judge ourselves.  But I think we have to work on making our own opinion of ourselves the more important one.  Not in an arrogant way, but in a way where we can be comfortable knowing that some people will not like us.  That our priorities are important to us and shouldn't be pushed to the side in favor of another's.  That we are important and worthy of our own time.

K is for Kismet

Kismet

Kismet – meaning roughly fate or destiny.

There are a great many theories out there regarding the idea of fate and destiny.  It isn’t a simple matter of those who believe in it and those who don’t, there are varying degrees of belief too.  It is something I have had numerous discussion with myself over, uncertain where I truly stand on the matter.  Perhaps it is best to start with some definitions.

From dictionary.com
Fate:

1. Something that unavoidably befalls a person
2. The universal principle or ultimate agency by which the order of things is presumably described
3. That which is inevitably predetermined.

Destiny:

1.  Something that is to happen or has happened to a particular person or thing.
2.  The predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible, course of events.
3.  The power or agency that determines the course of events

So, were we to take this from a more literal perspective of definitions 3 and 2 than one would have to say that the idea of Kismet does exist.  There are things in life which are inevitable, death and growing older, for example.  These are things we cannot avoid, they are the natural flow of events and are therefore predetermined to happen.  This literal meaning is usually not what people are referring to when they discuss the idea of Kismet or Fate.

Usually the notion of Kismet is linked to events that people look back on in hindsight and see a pattern that appears to dictate that an event was ‘fated’ to happen.  Is this idea simply viewing the world through a lens that wishes to give greater meaning to events in our lives than actually exists?  Are we trying to make ourselves feel better by not acknowledging that a set of coincidences took place that just happened to work out in our favor in the long run?

If we believe that things are destined to happen then who do we place the burden of those decisions on?  Is there a force beyond our comprehension that has dictated a series of plans for our life  and we are just there for the journey?  If that is that case, then does anything we do impact this path, is it set in concrete that no matter what avenue we appear to be taking we actually have no choice.  Is it a case of a predestined outcome that we will reach no matter the journey?  Are there several key events that ‘have’ to happen in our lives but we get to ‘choose our own adventure’ to get to that point?

Or, as some believe, are we the ones that chose our path for this lifetime?  Did we pick what lessons we wanted to learn this time around and our journey is preordained by ourselves?  This is a hard one for a lot of people to deal with I think because it implies that one chose the crappy things that happen in ones life.  I think many find it far easier to place the blame for all the stuff they don’t like on a greater force so that they don’t have to comprehend the possibility that one might actually choose to suffer and sacrifice for the greater learning to be gained from it.

I personally find it hard to believe that there is some path that has been chosen for us that we are to walk in this lifetime.  While it is all well and good to say ‘but this is obviously what I was meant to learn this time around’ I think our ‘soul/essence’ whatever we wish to call it has a little more say in the process than that.  I cannot see a greater force sitting on high dictating that this lifetime I will learn the importance of patience, perseverance and friendship.  So I tend to lean more towards the idea that we have picked the path before us to an extent (I do not believe we mapped it all out and are simply following that map – there is a disconnect that occurs when our soul is overridden by our physical existence that seems to negate the point of creating a roadmap).  We have chosen certain lessons and experiences that we want to partake in and are birthed with the potential for this course of action to take place.  But, we don’t always get there. 

I think we have to take a certain level of responsibility for the destiny/fate that we have chosen.  As we progress through life our soul is overridden by physical and social experiences that create a being we believe to be ‘us’.  This being is capable of allowing us to lead our lives with little or no relation to the experiences that our soul chose.  It is only if we strive to beomce conscious of the inner voice, the one that tells us where to tread if we but listen, that we can tap into a conscious understanding of what our destiny for this lifetime is meant to be.