☽Myth & Moon Lammas☾
The new home of Myth & Moon, visions for community creation, meditation for self-love, ancestral embodiment, the summer flower bath challenge, seasonal folklore and song.
Dear Community—
If you are receiving this you subscribed to Myth & Moon, which for the past four years has been delivered very irregularly via my website provider. This year has been really challenging health-wise, again, another series of initiations, but some incredible inspirations are emerging and as we move just past the mid point of the solar year I feel a huge shift.
Here are a few of the transitions happening:
Myth & Moon Letters are now hosted here on Substack. I will continue to share explorations of ancestral animism, along with book reviews, interviews and other resources to enrich your practice. You can update your subscription the Myth & Moon settings. There are many advantages to this platform, one being that you can comment on these letters, ask questions and engage in conversation. If you have enjoyed the resources I’ve provided in the past, please invite your communities to subscribe to Myth & Moon or become a patron of this work on Patreon.
I am planting the seeds to create a physical space for land-based healing and ancestral animist practice, tentatively called the Wild Soul Sanctuary. This is a vision I’ve had for many years but told myself was impossible due to my disability. In the Dark Goddess Project process it has come clear that this is the purpose of my work: connecting people to the earth and each other. I will be sharing more about this and inviting community collaboration/co-creation in the moons ahead. If you would like to support this work from its inception, please consider becoming a Patron and inviting your communities. You can learn more about the Wild Soul Sanctuary here.
Healing has been nonlinear but I feel I am on the right track at last with dedicated antiviral support to treat reactivated EBV. For the past moon I’ve been healing and over the next lunar cycle will begin reconnecting with my communities after some necessary pause. I’ve now had COVID three times, twice this year alone, and with the EBV and my bad vaccine reaction last year I’ve felt fully saturated with viral information. I’ve created some downloadable resources for anyone curious about healing from mold illness or viral reactivation (which is directly linked to long-COVID). You can access them here, along with other free resources for ancestral animist exploration and meditations like the one below:
Meditation for Self-Love and Ancestral Embodiment
All of these transformations have been part of the Dark Goddess Project and its self-initiation process, and affirm, yet again, that by reframing our difficult life transitions (which I call death transitions as they reflect distinct endings) as initiations we may begin to weave meaning from loss, grief and pain. The Dark Goddess Project and the accompanying online Year of Ceremony are nonlinear and may be joined at any time. Learn more here.
Upcoming Events & Opportunities
Lammas Dark Goddess Coven Online Gathering, August 1: All Coven Invisible Patrons are welcome to attend this circle of ceremony and sharing through the ritual year. Learn more about the Coven Invisible and/or become a patron here.
Community Study Groups: In my healing absence a circle of students has formed to study some of the on-demand materials at the Wild Soul School. Calling themselves Weaving Wyrd they are taking this work in a direction I had always hoped—into new/true community. To learn more please click here to visit the free Wild Soul School Community on Mighty Networks.
Summer Flower Bath Challenge: Flower baths are one of my favorite seasonal practices. The alchemy of plant magic, solar energy and water clears both the physical and energetic body in a simple ceremony that is both grounding and healing. I once ran these challenges on social media but now am offering them in the free Wild Soul School Community. The premise is simple: commit to flower baths in some form (these are highly adaptable) for 13 days to transform your energy and root your self care, keep a record of the process and share your reflections in community. I will be engaged in this practice from the full moon August 11th til just before the Dark Moon August 27th. For more information, you can read about flower baths in the Moon Divas Guidebook, or join us in the Wild Soul School Mighty Network Community for the challenge this moon!
Year of Ceremony Lammas Folklore and Ritual Template:
The traditional time of Lammas/Lughnasadh/Autumn Beginning/Harvest Beginning extends from what is now mid-July to mid-August, with Lammas being seen as a “moveable feast”. The season of autumn begins with Lammas and ends with Samhain, the equinox marking the midpoint. Lammas is a “first fruits” festival, the beginning of the harvest.
Each quarter I have been offering ceremonial information about the holy days along with a ritual template for integrating change. Patrons at every level (even $1 a month) have access to these downloads, ritual instruction and seasonal sharing. Traditions in this Lammas missive include the Last Sheaf process, one I continue to follow in the annual round with my ancestral oats from Ukraine.
The Last Sheaf is a pan-European tradition, ancient in origin. It is critically important, representing both ancestors and the spirits of the grain. First, it was also custom to leave some grain in the field. In an animist consciousness you did not want to be greedy or invite famine, so leaving grain for the spirits was essential. The Last Sheaf was not the last of the grain, it was the last of the cut grain—an important distinction. In the Gaelic the Last Sheaf is called the Old Woman or Cailleach, in Poland it is called Old Woman (Baba), Wheat Woman (Pszenna Baba) or Dziad (Old Man).
You can find more information about specific Lammas traditions, including sharing of my Last Sheaf ceremonial harvest (planning with a scythe this year!) on Patreon, along with downloads of practice suggestions and ritual support.
A Song of Blessing and Call to Weaving
As I am planting seeds this moon for a life dream, I am singing with an open heart. Song is an ancient ancestral practice, potently recollective. The Wild Soul Sanctuary and Preserve, a physical space for land-based community, education and healing is a song with many voices. In the months to come I will be inviting support and would love to have you weave with me—to plant, nourish, grow this vision into being together.
This is a combination of a weaving song that I use in ceremony, and the Sigrdrífumál invocation in my translation.
Here are the lyrics:
Weave with me
Weave with me
Weave, weave
Hail Day
Hail sight of Day
Hail Night
And our Kinswomen
Oath Helpers, look on us now
See us forth
And grant us victory
May this time be full of blessings for you and all of your ancestors, forward and back.
May your sacred harvest be plentiful and your larder full of fruit.
I look forward to weaving with you as the year tips to dark.
With all my love—
Lara
Support this Work and Help Create the Wild Soul Sanctuary and Preserve: Become a Patron