The Flowers & Fruits of Lughnasadh

My observances for Lughnasadh were pretty spread out this year, although I think that at this point it is fair to say that is the usual. Lughnasadh Day was more for devotions and making offerings at home to both Macha and local spirits.

A few days later I set out to a couple of my favourite spots to do some rituals, make offerings and do some harvesting. The rest of the day was spent in the kitchen prepping for a dinner/BBQ we had with some folks to celebrate the first harvest.

I have been doing quite a bit of preserving, experimenting with some fruit and herb infused alcohol, herbal infused oils and honeys and some jams and jellies. There are some other jellies I want to make, but waiting patiently for the fruits to ripen {looking at you crab apples and rowans!}.

I hope that you are all enjoying the bounty and beauty of the season!

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Sláinte!

Laurel

Calendula Infused Oil

Calendula is one of those staple herbs for my garden, and even after downsizing from a decent-sized yard to a balcony, I still insisted on growing it this year. I like to use it in magic of course, but I also like to make an infused oil with it.

The oil of calendula is great for many things, but I like to use it in both salves and bars for chapped skin, minor cuts, bug bites and I find when used with other herbs, it is quite effective on sore muscles.

Before starting the oil infusion I dry the flowers so there is a lesser chance of the oil going funky. For the actual oil I used grapeseed oil this year, but olive oil or perhaps almond oil work fine as well. My calendula oil is still infusing, and I will let it sit in a cool, dark spot for about a month. I shake it about every other day.

Once it is finished infusing I will strain it through cheesecloth to separate the flowers from the oil and bottle up the oil again until it is ready to use.

To a see a great herbal infusion tutorial, head on over to the Mountain Rose Herbs blog. They also have some great recipes on how to use your calendula oil once it's ready.

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Sláinte!

Laurel

The Gaelic Roundtable for August: Personal Gnosis

This is my fifth post participating in the The Gaelic Roundtable blogging project, and August's subject is Personal Gnosis. The Roundtable asked:

"How important is Personal Gnosis to your practice? What emphasis do you place on it when reconstructing, reviving, or generally creating your faith? Do you enjoy hearing others’ Personal Gnosis, or tend not to seek it out? How does hearing others’ Personal Gnosis hinder or help your faith? And finally (if you are willing to share), what is some Personal Gnosis that you hold that is considered “unconventional” to the greater Gaelic Polytheist community?"

{For those who may be unfamiliar with what gnosis is within the polytheist context, I recommend checking out this short but very informative article: Vision: UPG, SPG, and CG.}

Both personal and communal/shared gnosis are quite significant in my own personal practice, as I find that it helps to answers questions left by the gaps in lore, myth and customs. It would probably be fair to say that its importance is secondary to those latter-mentioned influences, but plays a strong role nonetheless.

I very much enjoy hearing gnosis of others and I have found it extremely helpful in validating some of my own personal gnosis, as well as guiding me when I was inexperience and in a blind spot. One example of this is when I was first establishing a rapport with An Cailleach, there were some devotees to her that gave extremely helpful insight on things such appropriate approach and offerings to helping me understand some rather odd experiences I had that I attributed to her. 

While I don't know if it would be considered "unconventional" there is one sliver of personal gnosis that I don't recall seeing others talk about before. While two of the elements of what I call The Cosmology of Three Triads seems to be widely accepted, I am not sure if the third element and how I have grouped them would make sense to others or not.

The first triad is the Three Realms {widely accepted}:  Nem/Sky, Talam/Land, Muir/Sea

The second triad is Na Trí Naomh {widely accepted}: Gods, Spirits/Good Folk, Ancestors

The third triad is the Three Gifts: Fír/Truth, Aicned/Nature, Ecna/Knowledge

The third triad is inspired by Trecheng Breth Féne/The Triads of Ireland:

"Trí caindle forosnat cach ndorcha: fír, aicned, ecna."/"Three candles that illume every darkness: truth, nature, knowledge."

I see the interaction of these Triads in the following way:

Nem/Sky>Gods>Fír/Truth
Talam/Land>Spirits/Good Folk>Aicned/Nature
Muir/Sea>Ancestors>Ecna/Knowledge

I am not going to delve deeper on this particular personal gnosis in this post as it will probably end up making it a novel. I may go further into it with another post in the future.

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Sláinte!

Laurel

A Candle for Prosperity

In preparation for Lughnasadh one of the things I made was a candle for prosperity. This is something that I have posted about before and had a couple of requests quite a while ago now about how I make this particular candle, so I am finally get around to sharing that.

Every year I like to make this candle on the Thursday of the full moon or waxing moon closest to Lughnasadh. I use beeswax and like to pour it into a mason jar, but really it would be fine with another type of wax and another heatproof container of your choice. I also used a cotton wick, but could be made with a wood wick too.

The plant materials I like to use, that are either traditionally or personally associated with prosperity are:

Grain chaff {this year I used oats}

Lavender

Meadowsweet

Cinquefoil

Hollyhock leaves

Elderberries

Hawthorn berries

I also added patchouli and bergamot essential oils this year. I really like that combination of scents.

This can easily be converted to hand-dipped candles, molded candles {such as pillars} or tealights. If you are unfamiliar with candle making, The Spruce has some good tutorials.

And finally, please do take extra care when burning candles with herbs as they can catch fire on top of the wick. If unsure, use the herbs sparingly when first starting out and perhaps don't load up as much as the one pictured.

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Sláinte! 

Laurel

A Late Summer Woodland Respite

A friend and I decided to run to the forest for the day to take a wee break from all the craziness that is going on in the world. It was much needed and it's amazing what some moss, trees and critters will do for one's spirits. 

While it is not the same as being there in person, I wanted to share some of the beauty that I came across while out and about in the hopes that it may brighten your day as well, even if only for a moment.

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Even in the darkest of moments may you all see some light and be blessed.

Sláinte!

Laurel