The Nudge | Lughnasa

 

 “Lugh was the god of the higher view

He was god of the golden time and the higher view.

And all year long, at home in the lowlands, we would live in the golden time 

and from the higher view.”

John Moriarty, Invoking Ireland

Ailiu Iath n-hErend

This seasonal care package has been prepared by Kathy and the team at The Trailblazery.

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Dear Friends, Kindred Spirits and Anam Chairde,

Táimid ar bís — we are excited to prepare our seasonal care package The Nudge for you, as Lughnasa approaches here in the northern hemisphere. 

This harvest festival is the golden time, a threshold that asks us to pause and take stock from the higher view.

Nature reminds us that everything moves in cycles. Seasons turn. Empires rise and fall. Our ancestors knew this intimately, encoding these rhythms into myth, monuments and ritual long before they were written into books.

Think about our mighty Oak kin. The acorn becomes the oak, the oak returns its acorns to the earth, and what appears to die becomes the very ground from which new life emerges.

And I smile when I remember the little acorns from Manchán's oak forest, shared after his passing, now boldly taking root across Ireland and beyond. They are living reminders that the deepest work of a life continues to unfold long after we are gone.

Lughnasa invites us to give thanks for what has grown within and around us. Gratitude is more than a pleasant feeling. It is a somatic practice. It settles our nervous system, softens fear and gently entrains us toward possibility, even in difficult times.

I realise I have so much to be grateful for.

As we prepare for our inaugural Scoil Scairte Rewilding Summer School, I have been immersed in folklorist Dr. Máire MacNeill's The Festival of Lughnasa. Her work reveals an Ireland alive with hilltop gatherings, holy wells and pilgrimages that celebrated harvest, community and belonging.

As I scout locations for wild hurling with Diarmuid Lyng, learn about Biddy Early's Blue Bottle, walk the Burren with Patrick McCormack, and prepare ceremony with Pat McCabe Woman Stands Shining and Eimear Burke Chosen Chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, I find myself quietly marvelling at the weaving of it all.

Now as artists and participants begin arriving from every corner of the world, I notice something unexpected.

Joy - lúcháir. 

And I keep reminding myself to let it in.

This week I was deeply moved by the passing of Brenda Fricker. Funny, fierce and profoundly human, she gave extraordinary dignity to Irish motherhood in My Left Foot and later spoke with remarkable honesty about her own challenges. In one of her final public acts she lent her voice to the survivors of Ireland's Mother and Baby Homes.

As survivors continue their fight to protect the 923 children who died at Bessborough from being buried beneath new "developments", I find myself thinking of Lughnasa again.

Harvest is not only about celebrating what has flourished. It is also about honouring what is sacred.

Our ancestors did not see themselves as separate from the land. They knew they would one day become the earth that nourished those who came after them. We walk upon the ground that holds their stories, their joys and sorrows. 

What is held in the land cannot simply be covered over with concrete. 

The earth remembers and keeps witness.

May this Lughnasa help us gather both gratitude and courage.

May we honour what has grown.

May we remember what still calls to be healed.

May justice prevail.

And may we all find the courage to let the joy in.

Beir Bua - with victory

Kathy

Lughnasa is the Irish word for August and marks the transition into the Harvest Season. It is one of  the most joyous festivals and was a time of great celebration in Ireland, where our ancestors gathered to honour the cycle of life and give thanks for the bounty of the season. The energies of this time are about appreciation, gratitude, wildness, exuberance and joy.

Lughnasa, which means the 'Assembly of Lugh,' is centred around the honouring of the great Celtic God, Lugh. He held a prominent role as the chief of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the supernatural Irish gods and goddesses. He was renowned as a great warrior and master craftsman, earning him the names Lugh Lámhfada (Lugh of the Long Arm) and Lugh Samildánach (skilled in all Arts). His expertise ranged from music and poetry to healing and magic. Lugh was a true polymath, celebrated as the patron of scholars, craftsmen, warriors, and magicians. In Star Wars, George Lucas morphed the Sword-of-Light carrying Celtic warrior Lugh into the light-saber-wielding hero Luke Skywalker. 

The word dán in Samildánach has many meanings. It signifies art, poetry, gift, skill, destiny, fate, and faculty. Our dán is a unique soul-gift that each of us possess. It is a gift to be nurtured, treasured & shared with the world, especially at this time.

During Lughnasa people celebrate the triumph of light over darkness and the abundance of the land. They also prepared for the descent into winter by resting before the intense work of the harvest began. This season honours meitheal, the ancient Irish tradition of communal effort. People gathered to work for the greater good, celebrating kinship, reciprocity, and connection with the spirits of the land. Lughnasa invites us to celebrate the harvest within and around us. As the Great Wheel turns, may the creative life force (neart) of this sacred time inspire you. May this care package offer moments of rest and joy.

 

3 journal prompts to inspire you:

🌽 What are you noticing within and without as the season of Lughnasa approaches? What cues and clues are being offered to you by the wild world? What is being illuminated?

🌽 What's ripe and ready to be harvested in your life? What gifts, skills, lessons, or resources have come to fruition, and what will support you as you gather them?

🌽 Lughnasa reminds us that harvest time is a communal time. Who has helped you become who you are today? How might you honour those companions, and how are you being called to share the gifts of your own harvest with the wider world?

 

What's coming up at The Trailblazery:

As the Great Wheel turns, we are invited to pause and remember what we have travelled through together. We are excited to let you know what the future holds for our community here at The Trailblazery.

Homecoming

A Samhain Retreat on the Beara Peninsula

We’re delighted to be welcoming people from all over the world for our Homecoming retreat on the Beara Peninsula, West Cork this Samhain. Together we will journey to come home to ourselves, each other and the healing powers of the wild world. We will create time & space for creative explorations that weave rewilding with ritual & rest.

* We are delighted to say that we are now complete for this Samhain experience. If you’d like to hear about future seasonal retreats with Kathy, you can sign up here to join the waitlist and be the first to know when we make announcements.

 

3 curated resources to mind your life and nourish your senses in the days ahead:

♪ Listen: For your ears

Enjoy this Lughnasa gift of a mytho-sensory wonder voyage recorded by Kathy to mark Féile Lughnasa. To mark this high holy day, we're giving you an exclusive wild Immram experience that will transport you to a realm of wonder and joy.

Find a tranquil and comfortable space to lie down, enabling you to fully embrace the sounds and insights that await you. Let go of tensions as you become one with the harmonious flow of this immersive sound journey. Let this soundscape lead you into a state of deep relaxation and appreciation for the bounty of this Harvest Festival.

✯ Watch: For your eyes

‘Lughnasa, Gratitude’ is part of Grace Wells’ poetry-films celebrating the Celtic Year. Grace is an eco-poet and environmental writer. She is based in Ennistymon, in West Clare. Her work is primarily concerned with nature, spirit-of-place, and our multiple ecological emergencies. Click on the image above to watch this beautiful film.

The film was supported by The Source Arts Centre, Thurles, Ireland. Project supported by Tipperary County Council and The Arts Council.

♡ Love and Solidarity: For your heart 

 

EnJOY these days - may the brilliant light be yours.

Thank you for walking this path with us,

Beannachtaí,

Kathy and all at The Trailblazery