Happy Lammas, Lughnasadh, Calan Awst, and Imbolc for my Southern Hemisphere folk! Here it’s the start of the grain harvest, and Leo season is in full swing.

The rowan berries are out, turning the small dark trees brilliant red, and, as I write this, the sun has burned away the cooling clouds to bake the stone paths that wind through my town, and the tourists have arrived bringing the scent of sunscreen and the sound of holiday-makers.

Growing up in a large urban space I found it was easy to lean into the abstract idea of the festivals, the land being mediated by the buildings, the clockwork cycles of city life rather than the ebb and flow of sun and rain, but even there it made sense to reflect on the changing colours of the trees, the shifting light and dark of the sky, the warmth and cool that shaped the rhythm of life. I was lucky that the pagan festivals fit with the landscape I lived in, despite the concrete streets and fluorescent lighting I could watch the hawthorn blossom in the hedgerow at Beltane and the grain in the fields turn golden for Lammas.

Even so, it didn’t make sense to me to fix a festival of the magic of the land to a calendar date, as some years the hawthorn was earlier than May 1st, or later, so I began to listen to the magic visible in the rooted people of the land and the movement of the sky instead.

Soon I found myself connected across the growing internet to witches and pagans in other lands, and their struggles with the clash between the calendar dates and what their land was actually doing reinforced that intuition.

We can use the beautiful model of the wheel of the year to help us learn what patterns might be worth looking for, but the key in land based magic, in paganism, is rooting into the land that you are on.

I invite you to reflect on what your land is doing now. Is it harvest time where you are? Is the sun baking the land and drying the grain? Or is the light just breaking the frosts? Or are you heading into monsoon season? What is shifting in the land where you are? Does this have a name in the language of the land you belong to?

This is the same with the magic of the body. We can use maps – chakras, cauldrons, worlds – to explore what might be present for us, but the key that unlocks this magic is listening. Feeling into the body. Being present with what is.

I work a lot with the classical elements of the Western Magical tradition and these can be a really fun way of exploring intuitively. What feels earthy in your body? How are your watery emotions flowing? Where feels alive, pleasurable, good in these energies?

This week in The Enchanted Academy I shared an in-depth energy practice in a ritual working with the Elements of Eros, the magic of love and life as it flows through your body, and expands into pleasure, support, strength, and creativity. The replay is now up in the Crimson Collective community space at TEA, do go and give it a go, I’d love to hear about your experiences with the Elements of Eros!

An Embodied Lammas Practice

If you’re practicing on your own you might want to mark the turning season with a ritual, here’s one for when it feels right for you. (​If you’re at the point of Imbolc, click here for a meditation for you!​)

If you’re feeling the beginning harvest energy then you can tune into that, you could reflect on the magic of Leo, where the Sun is in the zodiac at this time, or you can choose to tap into the web of magic of pagans across the globe celebrating the games of Lugh.

Find somewhere safe to light a fire – a campfire, hearthfire, bonfire, or candle flame. Or find a moment to let the sunlight fall on your skin.

Feel the warmth and breathe it into your heart. This is the home of Leo, which is the sign the Sun is strongest and happiest in.

Let that warmth spill out of your heart and flow through your body, warming and blessing every part of you.

Take a moment to feel gratitude for what is ready to harvest and gather in in your life. Perhaps that includes the food that you have access to, or any community that nourishes you.

When you have that sense of sunny gratitude breathe it out as a blessing on the world. Let the magic be shared.

Remember to put the fire out in an appropriate and respectful way, and if you’re in an area prone to wildfires right now, do stick to sunlight!