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Happy Lammas everyone! It’s also known as Loaf Mass if you’re old school Catholic. For those of us who are Wiccan it’s a celebration of the summer harvest. Most of our holidays are either a celebration of the bounty of the earth, or the return of the light: earth and sun, female and male, Goddess and God. Our religion, at it’s best, is about balance.

Few of us live in contact with the earth now, growing our own food, or having livestock. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that not that many generations ago having plentiful food all year long wasn’t possible, and still isn’t in many parts of the world. We always remember to give thanks for the bounty of food and shelter and all the basic necessities that much of the world still struggles to find. But I wanted to add something different this year for the holiday, and in all my reading one idea stood out. Lammas is also a celebration of the Green Man, or the Barley King, Jack or John Barleycorn, the male principle that must be harvested/die so that food can be eaten and seeds saved for next year’s harvest. It’s the idea that the seeds are male and placed into the warm, dark, womb of the earth so they can be reborn.

This year, we’re thinking what parts of our personality, habits, job, relationships, need to die because they are no longer growing. They are old and it’s time to cut them free so the new habits, new job, new relationships, can grow straight and tall and green. What part am I willing to let go, so that I can move on? Example: Fear, I’ve let go of my fear. It doesn’t mean I’m not still phobic about flying, but as I decide to simply not let the phobia limit me I have been easier on a plane. In fact, I’ve been flying so much that I’m almost not afraid now. It was a good thing to let go of, and I was ready. But it’s not like lent, where you give something up for a while then you take it back up, nope, this needs to be something that you are willing to give up forever. This is my year of no fear, and saying, yes. This attitude has led to us going to Paris for the first time about four months ago, white water rafting just a week ago, and other wonderful experiences that I once would have passed by because I would have said, no. I am saying no to some things, business is business, and some personal stuff will always be, um, no, but overall it’s a yes-year. Not only am I enjoying it, but so are my family and friends, because part of the yes is traveling to and with them.

So, happy Lammas. What part of yourself is limiting you right now? Are you ready to let it go?