Demeter and Persephone in the Season of Lammas

We are currently in the season of Lammas, which this year fell on August 7th.  Lammas is one of the more subtle moments in the wheel of the year, at least for those of us who are not living a life based on agricultural rhythms.  Its meaning is not always understood and carries some complexity.  This is the last ritual moment before the true Fall harvest, the time when the first grains and corn would be cut and prepared into food to share and seeds to ensure that there will be harvests to come.  The first seeds collected are often the most potent, which means that steps to plan for future needs must be taken now, even as we celebrate the abundance that begins this month and carries us through the Fall.  Here, at the end of Summer, we look ahead to the coming Winter, to think about what we will need to store, so that we can be nourished, and to the coming Spring, so that we have the seeds we will need to plant for the nourishment to continue.  And it flows this way, on and on, in a circle.

This circular way of thinking is embedded within us, even if as a culture we have come to look at things in a more linear manner.  Inside of us, we hold not only the memories of this alternate worldview, but the biological reality that underlies it.  When a woman becomes pregnant, for example, she carries within her the seeds of future generations, quite literally in the case of carrying a female child, who will already hold in her ovaries all the eggs that will be released when she is of age.  

The process of harvest and seed is illustrated metaphorically in the myth of Demeter and Persephone.  Just as the harvest goddess Demeter is in late Summer’s full bloom, her daughter Persephone, as the embodiment of the seed, prepares to down to the depths of the earth, the underworld, where our dreams, unconscious impulses, and all of life begins, in deep sleep and slow unfurling.  With her abundant gifts given, and her daughter swept away beyond her sight, Demeter grieves, and the plants wither to become the more barren landscape of Winter.  But, in Spring, the seed will sprout and bloom again.  Persephone will return, more powerful than before, and join her mother again for the joy of Spring, the abundance of Summer, and the harvests to come.  The Lord of the Underworld, known as Hades to the ancient Greeks, was named Pluto by the Romans, a name which literally means “riches.”  This deep, unseen territory is not hell, but the place where life and death meet and create the alchemy of creation, rebirth, renewal, and growth on all levels.

So, here we are at the threshold of harvest.  There is still a little time to tend what will be harvested this coming Fall.  And it is the exact time to carefully collect the seeds that we will need to plant during the Winter and early Spring.  What will each of us take with us from this Summer and plant deeply in the quiet months?  What will we need to grow a nourishing harvest next year?  

We continue to face uncomfortable realities and uncertainty ahead, especially in terms of our changing climate, and the threats of illness and fire that have accompanied it.  It is an important time for us to think about our health and well being, and to care for our families.  It is also an important time for us to re-engage our cyclical thinking.  We need to stand together collectively, and look outside of our individual needs towards the steps we might be able to take to tend to our collective well being.  Many of the ways we depend on each other and on the cycles of the earth are invisible, but it is becoming more obvious as we face multiple safety concerns and social strife.  When fear takes the form of blame and anger, violence is often just one step behind.  Let’s be careful about what we carry and plant, from the harvest of this Summer.  Let’s ground now, be grateful for the abundance we do have, and begin to think of how to hold our communities with care through what may continue to be a dry Fall and Winter.  Even when what individuals see as the most important steps to take differ, we can agree that planting more fear, blame, rage, or violence won’t help anything.  What are the ways we can plant care, social responsibility, loving kindness, awareness, and preparation for future needs?  These earth based cycles live within us both physically and psychologically.  How can you tend to the coming harvest and plan to bless a future that nourishes?

Draw a card, as a tool for deep listening, or engage another method of inner guidance and divination.  The important thing is to stop and listen within, and send an intention ahead of you, one that is less a reaction to fear or other influences, and more an act of deep magic from the core of who you are.

In the old practices for this time of year, a doll was often made from the last stalks of corn or grain.  It was kept inside during the Winter, as a symbol of this harvest, whatever it brought, and offered to the earth with the next planting as an offering. This is a symbol of the dual magic of the God of the grains, who offers himself to be cut each year, and the Goddess who blesses us with the abundance of growth.  Perhaps it is a good time to make something as a gesture of what inside you is being harvested, and the new growth it will allow in the coming times.  This can happen in many ways, from creating your own corn dolly, to expressions of art, poetry, song, or the creation of a ritual image that will remind you of what you have inside, what you are growing, and what you want to plant into our collective consciousness at this time.

May it be blessed.

Ometeotl

-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez, originally for publication with the eleventh house.