Lammas is the fire at which we can consider our hopes and fears. It heralds the start of the harvest season. A lot of hard work has gone into planting the seed and tending the fields, now we will see [as they say in Yorkshire] if the job’s a ‘good un’! We will reap what we have sown. Will this year’s harvest sustain us through the winter which will all too soon be here? I imagine ancient Celt mothers worrying, early morning before the family rises [the only truly private time of the day for a mother] about whether their community has really put in enough. Thankfully nowadays we have the local grocery store or the net to ensure a rickets-free winter. Phew.

 

I read an interesting observation the other day. It stated that the ancient Celt did not worship the Gods at all, they appeased them. They did not go to the Gods out of a need to find a balanced spiritual perspective, they went out of fear; fear of a world they did not fully understand. [Here the skeptic in me says, do we actually understand the world now?! LOL] Their ceremonies were motivated by the very real fear of starvation or diet induced serious illness…by death in fact.

 

And so their Lammas fire and libations to the Gods must have been a really strong psychological personal support not to mention enormously important to the collective.

 

For me, Lammas this year confirms that my mother is now permanently in residence, a month earlier than even the earliest estimate but it is a decision surrounded by positive energy from all quarters and although I am very busy with all the repercussions of her move, I am blessed by the ease with which it is happening.

 

Now we will Really see if all my preparations have been enough.

 

My biggest fear as regards my mother has been that maybe I am upsetting her life for no reason; that should she pass over tomorrow say, I could have left her in her own home to die in peace. Since she has been here however, she is smiling more, socializing more, eating more…playing more. She no longer wakes at night in distress. These changes tell me that those fields were plowed well and that, with intelligence from the heavens, we have accurately timed our actions.

 

Lammas is also about skills and this year Lammas marks the commencement of rehearsals for my first pro gig in 16 years. I am once again in study. My teachers are now younger than me and I am no longer overly concerned about the outcome but, like the rheumatic retired boxer going back into the ring [Crowley’s words not mine], I seek the buzz for the sake of the buzz and for Jay. I bless him for mentoring me in the ways of new millennium music technology and for reminding me of the unutterable JOY of musical expression.

 

If music be the food of Love, play on.