🪐Mercury, Medusa and Meteors🌠
...plus some musings on Lughnasadh🌾
Dear you,
Welcome to a bumper edition of Moontime Musings. Appropriate in that today we celerbate the first of the 3 harvest festivals in the Wheel of the Year - Lughnasadh, also known as Lammas. This is the grain harvest - the time when wheat and barley is being gathered across the Northern hemisphere after ripening over the Summer.
With the Wheel of the Year having turned once again, this edition is open to everyone, with four more in the archives for this year so far. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive all editions by clicking the button below. Thank you.
Over the last 6 weeks I’ve been reading your thoughts about what you like most about Foxfire Learning’s existing offerings as well as any suggestions for how they can evolve. Thank you so much to those who’ve already given few minutes to complete the survey. With Lughnasadh being a time for harvest, I’d love to hear your views over the next few days. The form will close on the New Grain Moon on Sunday 4 August.
Click the button below to share your thoughts and suggestions.
If you’re new here, I always begin my newsletters with upcoming seasonal dates to orientate you for the weeks ahead. Here’s what’s coming up in August:
1 August: Lammas/Lughnasadh (Pagan)
4 August: Big Butterfly Count ends
4 August: New Grain Moon in Leo 12:13 BST
5 August: Mercury stations retrograde (more on this below)
8 August: Peak of the Lionsgate Portal
12-13 August: Height of the Perseids meteor shower
19 August: Full Grain Moon in Aquarius at 19:26 BST
Sun remains in Leo until 22 August
🌍The first half of this newsletter looks at the terrestrial - the news and events that are happening on Earth over the next few weeks. The second half looks at the celestial - what’s going on up in the skies.
🌾Lammas/Lughnasadh
The Christian name for this festival Lammas translates to ‘loaf mass’ and the Gaelic name, Lughnasadh refers to the Celtic God Lugh (or Lug) and násad (an assembly). Falling halfway between the Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox, this is still a time where there is ample early morning light for harvesting crops. Now that we’re 6 weeks past the Summer Solstice, the light is waning towards the time when daytime and nighttime will be equal on the Autumn Equinox. Traditions to mark this sabbat include baking bread with this year’s grain.
🦋Big Butterfly Count 2024
Back in early July I made a visit to Knepp Rewilding Project in West Sussex inspired by Isabella Tree’s brilliant book - ‘Wilding’1. The rare Purple Emperor butterfly is found here (and there were recent sitings recorded on the board) but sadly the weather conditions weren’t right at the time of our visit. On the subject of rare butterflies, have you too noticed that 2024 has been a quiet year for these beautiful insects?
Butterfly Conservation - the U.K charity dedicated to saving butterflies and moths - reported on their social media this week that:
Very low numbers have been spotted so far in the Big Butterfly Count, with participants seeing on average just over half the number of butterflies they were spotting this time last year. 🌧️
The unusually wet and windy spring, coupled with the colder than usual temperatures so far could be contributing to this absence, but we also can’t ignore the bigger picture.
80% of butterflies in the UK have declined since the 1970s, with habitat loss, climate change and pesticide use the main drivers of this decline. 📉
Now more than ever we need everyone to get involved in the #BigButterflyCount to help us understand more about how butterflies in the UK are faring. Even if you don’t see any butterflies, that is important for us to know so please do submit a count anyway!
Source:
✨Now onto one of my favourite parts of Moontime Musings - the segment where we look at what’s happening in the skies over the next few weeks.
🪐Mercury Retrograde
You may have heard of Mercury Retrograde (or Rx) which happens on roughly a quarterly basis for around 3 weeks. During this time Mercury appears to stop, switch direction and move backwards. But, that is just from where we can see him on Earth. What is actually happening is an optical illusion, nevertheless there is plenty of astrological airtime given to this phenomenon thanks to ancient mythology.
In Roman mythology, Mercury is the Roman messenger God of commerce, communication, travel, and transportation - the areas of our lives (with technology now thrown into the 21st Century mix) that are at risk of going awry during this time.
There are 3 times in 2024 when Mercury will appear to be moving backwards - this one being the second of 2024 - from Monday 5 August to Wednesday 28 August. The third and final retrograde will occur from 25 November - 16 December 2024.
🦁The Lionsgate Portal
The Lionsgate portal is an annual phenomenon which peaks on 8 August every year. It occurs when Sirius - the brightest star we can see from Earth - aligns with our planet and the constellation Orion’s Belt. It’s thought that Ancient Egyptians knew about this phenomenon due to the Pyramids of Giza aligning with where Orion’s Belt appears in the sky at this time of year. They also celebrated Sirius' return in the morning sky - marking a new year - by worshipping Sirius in Goddess form - Sopdet.
This alignment of the stars is known as the Lionsgate Portal as we’re now in Leo season (represented by the lion). The portal is open from 26 July to 12 August, peaking on 8 August. Astrologers believe that this is a time to tap into infinite abundance and creativity, being aware of signs and messages to help us step into a new version of ourselves.
Some journalling prompts for the Lionsgate Portal:
What patterns am I ready to let go of?
How am I different today than I was yesterday?
What one thing can I do today to follow my calling?
🌠Perseids Meteor Shower
The Perseids Meteor Shower is active from 17 July to 24 August, peaking on 12-13 August between midnight and 5:00 BST.
Here’s some mythology related to the naming of this meteor shower from my favourite meteor shower source: Royal Museums Greenwich:
Perseus was a hero who beheaded the Gorgon Medusa and later married Andromeda according to Greek Myths. They had nine children together and the word ‘Perseids’ is derived from the Greek word ‘Perseides’ which refers to Perseus’ descendants.
In some Catholic traditions, the Perseids is also known as ‘the tears of St Lawrence’, due to its peak roughly coinciding with the date the Saint achieved martyrdom.
The Perseids are also associated with the god Priapus, who was believed by the Romans to have fertilized the fields by ejaculating on them once a year on the date the shower peaks.2
This last one speaks to today’s festival of Lughnasadh and grain harvest! And if you want to read a fascinating feminine take on Medusa’s story in Greek myth (without being turned to stone!), I highly recommend Natalie Hayne’s ‘Pandora’s Jar’3
That’s all from me for this fifth free edition of 2024. Please consider sharing this publication with anyone who you think would like it. Your reciprocity is greatly appreciated 🙏
The next edition of this newsletter comes out on the next Full (Grain) Moon on 19 August 2024 and full access will be for paid subscribers only. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for less than the price of a good coffee each month (£3.50) or £35 a year.
Thank you so much and Lughnasadh blessings.
Love,
Charly x
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