Wood Sisters Lughnasadh 2012
The sacred wheel of the year has turned full circle since we first met to tell our Red Tent tales and dream up the wonderful and wild vision of creating our own Red Tent. So this year, as the barley was being harvested in the fields around Dartington, the Wood Sisters gathered for Lughnasadh/Lammas with a great harvest of their own to celebrate!
Linda's print of Demeter
We had hoped to raise the Red Tent for our gathering but it seemed the weather angels finally deserted us in this wet August and we spent an un-seasonally damp day sheltering by the hearthside in the Vicarage, around an especially beautiful altar enhanced by pomegranates and poppies brought by Linda and artfully arranged in front of one of her beautiful hand crafted prints depicting the grain Goddess herself. (Do visit her website by clicking here, this and other great images are available to purchase). Our spirits remained un-dampened however as we settled to listen to the next of our Slow Cook Course stories, as Sue drew upon Ancient Greek and earlier versions of Demeter and Persephone.
Linda's Lughnasadh Cake
Which of us could resist the draw of a beautiful flower, be it golden narcissus or blood red poppy? As Persephone pulls at the flower the ground opens to reveal the equally irresistible Dark Lord of the Underworld in his sexy chariot with its black horses! Versions of the story vary as to whether Persephone was abducted and raped or whether these dark and light lovers were drawn together by deeper and more transformative forces. It’s easy to cast Hades as the villain and to talk about current and long term imbalances in male and female energies in our world as the traditionally male forces in institutions and big business seem to threaten the earth… and while there’s truth in this, it’s also true that Persephone also had a powerful Mother to grow up alongside and perhaps needed a throne and a world of her own as lover, wife and Queen..as well as her life as a daughter to the Great Goddess. Among the varied ages of the women in our Circle, much discussion emerged around the changing stages and roles in a woman’s life. Of what it’s like to grow from girl to woman and then to support the growth of one’s own children until the time comes to let go of the active years of mothering and/or career and move into another stage of life and allow and witness the next generation…
Perhaps this process of change was part of Demeter’s grief and loss? We too talked about the challenges of letting go of our children, be they sons and daughters or creative work and careers and how physical powers fade as we age and find ourselves needing to surrender to new ways of being. This journeying to the Underworld depths of ourselves and the sifting of inner harvests continued into our meditation and quiet time. Life just keeps changing and the work of sorting out the chaff in our lives from the seeds for the future comes round again and again…
A medicine bag made with Izzy's help
Our bring and share lunch had a remarkably red theme this time and set us up well for a creative afternoon craft with Izzy to make our own medicine bags, in which to gather personal tokens of our own harvests. I (Sam) was struck by how, when we shift into an ‘Otherworld Way’ of seeing the sacred and interconnected reality of our lives within the natural world, tiny tokens can hold surprising power. A curl of birch bark, a scented leaf, a striped wren’s feather gathered into a pouch with sacred intent and lovingly remembered and re-visited can become real healing resources for ourselves and others.
Our day concluded as ever with simple ceremony as we took turns to place a token or light a candle on the altar, to share a thought, feeling, poem or whatever and to receive (in the spirit of Eleusis) a stalk of wheat and a scroll of poetry lovingly prepared and offered by Linda. Let’s end with this poem, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
ELEUSIS
I, at Eleusis, saw the finest sight,
When early morning’s banners were unfurled.
From high Olympus, gazing on the world,
The ancient Gods once saw it with delight.
Sad Demeter had in a single night
Removed her sombre garments! and mine eyes
Beheld a ‘broidered mantle in pale dyes
Thrown o’er her throbbing bosom. Sweet and clear
There fell the sound of music on mine ear.
And from the South came Hermes, he whose lyre
One time appeased the great Apollo’s ire.
The rescued maid, Persephone, by the hand,
He led to waiting Demeter, and cheer
And light and beauty once more blessed the land.