31st July, 4:30-8 pm
Limited to 8 people
Over 18’s only
Tickets £40
£70 including bar of Cacao to collect on the day (£5 saving)
Whether you’re an old or new friend, you are warmly welcomed to come and celebrate Lammas with us at the Garden of Alchemy. We gather with Mama Cacao around our new fire pit, where Morten will guide you into the magic of the fire with teachings and reflections on how to work with fire. We will drink to the abundance that we are grateful for and spend time in reflection on this potent time of the year. There will be time for sharings, an opportunity to witness the humanity within each of our brothers and sisters. And as an added gift of abundance, our medicine sister Ashleigh who is visiting us from up north will ground all of this expansion into the body with a beautiful Tibetan sound bowl therapy session.
It is now high summer and the union of Sun and Earth, of God and Goddess, has produced the First Harvest. Lammas is the celebration of this first, Grain Harvest, a time for gathering in and giving thanks for abundance. We work within a larger cycle: Mabon, or the Autumn Equinox, is the Second Harvest of Fruit, and Samhain is the third and Final Harvest of Nuts and Berries.
The word ‘Lammas’ is derived from ‘loaf mass’ and is indicative of how central the first grain is to the life of the tribe and how honoured is the first loaf of the harvesting cycle.
It’s also the festival of Lugh, or Lug, the great Celtic Sun King and God of Light. August is His sacred month when He initiated great festivities in honour of His mother, Tailtiu. Feasting, market fairs, games and bonfire celebrations were the order of the day. Circle dancing, reflecting the movement of the sun in sympathetic magic, was popular, as were all community gatherings.
Underlying all this is the knowledge that the bounty and energy of Lugh, of the Sun, is now beginning to wane. It is a time of change. Active growth is slowing down and the darker days of winter and reflection are beckoning…
The deep core meaning of Lammas is of the seed which drops back deep into the dark earth, is hidden throughout the winter, and re-appears in the spring as new growth. The fullness and fulfilment of the present harvest already holds at its very heart the seed of all future harvests. (It is a fact that a pregnant woman carrying her as yet unborn daughter is also already carrying the ovary containing all the eggs her daughter will ever release – she is already both mother, grandmother and beyond, embodying the great Motherline – pure magic and mystery.) Within that harvest is the seed of next year’s rebirth, regeneration and harvest. What will be your harvest?
Cacao has a deep supporting nature and earthly connection, offering you a warm embrace. Energetically, the medicine gently opens your heart, releasing stress and anxiety and bringing deep relaxing calm as it frees the mind. From the heart space, we feel more connected with our true nature, our true soul. It’s here that we can rekindle creativity and feel more in flow, in tune with ourselves and the world.
Our Shamanic Cacao ceremonies could be for you if you’re interested in:
– a place to just take a pause from it all
– emotional healing
– embracing a happier and freer you
– experiencing magic, healing and dreaming as tools for transformation
– working with your inner child and archetypal energies
– deep relaxation
– embracing creativity
– reconnecting with self
– opening your heart
– expanding your consciousness
– exploring plant medicines in a safe and deeply connected way.
– learning to use your intuition and internal guidance system, activating the healer within.
Come along and learn and experience how to work with the power of ceremony, and bring this into your everyday life as a living ceremony.
With a deep love of ritual and creating magical ceremonies, Ashleigh’s Guthrie’s sensory sound sessions are soulful, harmonic and blissful – exploring the union of body, heart and mind by tending to the soul.
Summer Blessings,
Garden of Alchemy