Lughnasadh

Lughnasadh: Recognising What Is Already Growing.

Lughnasadh arrives on August 1st, marking the midpoint between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox. It is the first harvest celebration on the Wheel of the Year—a sacred seasonal threshold filled with ripening grain, abundant gardens and the first quiet hints that summer will not last forever.

Throughout this post, we’re going to explore what Lughnasadh means, how to pronounce its rather tongue-tangling name and why this first harvest matters—especially now.

And because sacred days are meant to be experienced rather than simply read about, I’ve also gathered some glorious ways for you to celebrate. You’ll find links to Lughnasadh rituals, journal prompts and a First Harvest Tarot Spread to help you pause, reflect and recognise what has quietly been growing in your own life.

How Do You Pronounce Lughnasadh?

Before we wander any further, let’s tackle the rather large, tongue-tangling word in the room: How the heck do you pronounce Lughnasadh?

Learning to say Lughnasadh can feel harder than actually celebrating it. Trust me, I’ve stumbled over it too.

Common English pronunciations include LOO-nah-sah, LOO-nah-suh and LOO-na-SAH. You may hear native Irish speakers pronounce it differently depending upon where they live. After all, someone from Donegal, Kerry or Dublin won’t necessarily pronounce every word identically—just as English changes from one place to another.

It is always worthwhile listening to native Irish speakers so that you can hear the word within the living rhythm of the language. But please don’t let fear of getting it imperfectly stop you from honouring the day. What matters most is learning about the history behind the name, approaching it with curiosity and saying it with respect.

There. Tongues untangled—mostly. Now we can step into the deeper magic of the season.

The First Harvest

Earlier in the year, spring asked you to plant your seeds. It whispered of possibility and invited you to choose what you wanted to nurture.

Early summer asked you to grow, expand and step more fully into the light. It was the season of stretching outward, taking up space and allowing yourself to become visible.

But Lughnasadh asks something different.

It quietly—and perhaps a little cheekily—leans over the garden gate and calls:

“Oi, you, hey you—how is it going?”

Not critically. Not with a clipboard, a furrowed brow and a list of all the things you should have accomplished by now.

Lovingly.

Lughnasadh invites you to pause long enough to notice what is actually beginning to bear fruit. What has grown since those first seeds were planted? What has changed within you? What is ripening, even if it isn’t yet ready to be gathered?

And what have you been so busy tending that you haven’t stopped to recognise it as a harvest?

Not Every Harvest Can Be Held in Your Hands

I think one of the hardest things about growth is that so much of it happens quietly, behind the scenes and beneath the soil.

We tend to celebrate what is obvious: the promotion, the finished project, the number in the bank account or the tangible thing we can point to and declare, “I did that!”

And yes, those things deserve to be celebrated. Bring out the cake, light the candles and do a happy dance in the kitchen.

But much of our most meaningful growth cannot be measured so neatly.

How do you measure becoming more confident?

How do you calculate the moment you finally said no without spending the following three days feeling guilty?

Where is the tidy little graph showing that you are more grounded, more trusting of yourself or more willing to speak your truth?

How do you put a number on becoming more fully and gloriously you?

These are harvests too.

They may not arrive with certificates, applause or a glorious shower of confetti, but they are no less real. In fact, these quiet inner harvests may be the ones that change your life most profoundly.

Perhaps We Have Been Measuring the Wrong Things

In my own life, I’ve been realising how much energy I spend looking at what hasn’t happened yet—and how completely that can obscure everything that has.

I can become caught up in sales numbers, subscribers, unfinished projects and all the ideas still cavorting noisily around inside my head. There is always another thing I could create, improve or complete. There is always something that hasn’t grown as quickly as I hoped it would.

Meanwhile, almost without noticing, I have built an entire body of work. A library. A rhythm. A life that is so much closer to the one I once dreamed about than I usually stop to recognise.

Some days, it doesn’t always feel like enough.

But perhaps that is because I have been measuring the wrong things.

And maybe—just maybe—that is true for you too.

Perhaps you have been staring so intently at the empty spaces that you have overlooked what is already filling your basket.

Perhaps you have been measuring your life by visible achievements while missing the courage it took to continue, the boundaries you learned to hold, the tenderness you offered yourself or the ways you began choosing what was true rather than what kept everybody else comfortable.

Perhaps this season isn’t asking you to produce more.

Perhaps it is simply asking you to recognise what has already begun to grow.

A Sacred Place to Return

This feels especially important right now because life is incredibly full. The world feels heavy, the noise is relentless and most of us are carrying far more than we were ever meant to carry alone.

That is exactly why these seasonal practices matter.

Not because they magically make everything easier or whisk away the difficult pieces of being human. They matter because they give us somewhere to return—again and again.

They offer us a rhythm beneath the rush.

They remind us to pause, breathe and notice.

They help us remember who we are beneath the noise, the expectations, the endless lists and the peculiar pressure to be forever improving ourselves.

Lughnasadh reminds us that even in difficult seasons, something meaningful may still be growing. Something may be quietly taking root, becoming stronger or preparing to bear fruit.

Your harvest may not look the way you imagined it would.

It may be smaller, stranger or much less tidy.

It may be a deeper trust in yourself. A boundary held. A truth spoken. A relationship released. A new rhythm created. A life that finally feels a little more like your own.

Whatever it is, let yourself see it.

Name it.

Honour it.

And please, Gorgeous Soul, celebrate it.

Because you do not have to wait until everything is complete before you acknowledge how far you have come.

Celebrate Lughnasadh With Me

I’ve gathered together some delicious Lughnasadh practices to help you pause, honour your first harvest and listen for what this turning season may be asking of you.

Explore the 3 Lughnasadh rituals and ways to celebrate here, spend some time with the Lughnasadh journal prompts here, or lay out your cards and try the First Harvest Tarot Spread here.

You don’t need to perform any of it perfectly, have a glorious field of wheat or pronounce Lughnasadh flawlessly before you begin. Simply bring your curiosity, your honest heart and a willingness to notice what has quietly been growing.

Then light a candle, make yourself a cuppa and take a moment to honour the harvest that is already yours.

Lughnasadh Journal Prompts: Gathering the Quiet Harvest.

Jenny Heston · 5:55 pm ·

Lughnasadh invites us to pause and recognise what is already growing—not only the visible accomplishments we can hold up and proudly declare, “Look what I did!” but also the quieter harvests shaped by practice, perseverance, kindness and time.

Make yourself a cuppa, find somewhere comfortable and choose the prompt that tugs at you. You don’t need to answer them all, and you certainly don’t need to produce anything polished or profound. Simply follow the thread and see where it leads.

1. The Work That Remains

Imagine someone celebrating your life one hundred years from now. What work, wisdom or goodness would you hope they remember—even if your name has long been forgotten?

2. The Story Held in an Ordinary Thing

Walk slowly through your home and choose one ordinary object that represents years of learning, effort or perseverance. What story does it tell about the person you have become?

3. The Unseen Work

Every harvest depends upon work that is mostly unseen. What habits, choices, quiet acts of courage or offerings of kindness have shaped your life in ways that other people may never fully recognise?

4. Around the Lughnasadh Table

If you could gather everyone who has helped shape your life around one glorious Lughnasadh table, who would be there? What would you want each person to know about the harvest they helped create?

5. Practice as an Offering

Choose one skill you have been learning or practising. What might change if you treated every hour devoted to it as an offering rather than a test of your talent or worth?

6. Listening to the Season

Sit quietly outdoors until you notice three different sounds you didn’t hear when you first arrived. What feels different now compared with early spring? Has the pace or energy of the land changed? What might the season be asking you to notice?

You may be surprised by what appears on the page. The harvest you are seeking may not be a finished project or a grand achievement. It may be evidence of your courage, your devotion, your deepening wisdom—or the life you have been quietly creating while you were busy looking elsewhere.

Three Glorious Ways to Celebrate Lughnasadh.

Jenny Heston · 3:35 pm ·

Lughnasadh does not require an elaborate altar, a field of rippling wheat or three uninterrupted hours in which nobody needs anything from you.

It can be celebrated through the ordinary, meaningful things that already connect you to the season: practising your craft, gathering with your community and eating food grown close to home.

These three simple practices honour the heart of Lughnasadh—skill, gratitude, community and the quiet work behind every harvest.

A Candle Ritual for Your Craft

Lugh is remembered by the Old Irish title Samildánach, meaning skilled in many arts. He was not celebrated for possessing one perfect talent, but for his willingness to learn, create and continually develop his abilities.

This ritual honours that same creative spirit.

You will need

A candle in a colour that reminds you of the harvest or reflects your intention
A safe candleholder
The materials or tools used for your chosen craft
One uninterrupted hour—or whatever time is realistically available

Choose something you enjoy doing or a skill you would like to develop. You might write a page of your novel, paint outdoors, bake bread, tend your garden, sit at a pottery wheel, knit, carve, practise an instrument or begin learning something completely new.

Light your candle and say:

With this flame, I honour the work no one sees.
With these hands, I practise, learn and grow.
May every small act become part of a harvest
that ripens in its own time.

Then spend the next hour practising your craft.

This is not a test of your talent, and you do not have to create anything dazzling. The magic lives in showing up.

As the candle burns, let it represent all the small and ordinary moments that often go unnoticed. No one applauds the gardener for watering the seeds in May, yet that faithful tending makes the August harvest possible.

Your skills grow in much the same way. Every stitch you sew, every paragraph you write and every lesson you learn becomes part of a future harvest.

When you finish, thank the flame, acknowledge the time and attention you offered your craft, and extinguish the candle safely. Never leave a burning candle unattended.

Visit a Fair or Harvest Festival

If you stepped into an ancient Lughnasadh gathering, you might have encountered competitions, musicians, storytellers, craftspeople, merchants, farmers and neighbours coming together to celebrate the first harvest.

Our modern fairs and harvest festivals may look rather different, but many still carry those same threads: community, craftsmanship, food, play and appreciation for the work that brings the harvest to life.

If you visit one this season, look beyond the rides and food stalls. Cheer for the competitors. Watch local artisans demonstrate their skills. Listen to live music. Admire the prize vegetables—because anyone who manages to grow a courgette the size of a small pony deserves recognition.

Talk with farmers about what they are growing. If it fits your budget, purchase something handmade or locally produced.

Every conversation, word of appreciation and small purchase helps sustain the people whose knowledge, labour and creativity keep local traditions and agriculture alive.

That is a beautiful—and deliciously fun—way to honour the communal spirit of Lughnasadh.

Let the Season Choose Your Meal

For this practice, resist the temptation to plan everything in advance. Instead, visit a farmers’ market, local farm stand or community garden and ask:

What is growing where I live right now?

Wander slowly and notice what late summer has to offer. You might discover fresh blackberries, sweet corn, tomatoes, herbs, peaches, squash or a peculiar-looking vegetable you have never cooked in your life.

Choose one seasonal ingredient that catches your attention and build a meal around it.

Ask the grower how they like to prepare it. Find out where and how it was grown. Try a recipe you have never made before—or simply prepare it in a way that allows its natural flavour to shine.

Before eating, pause and acknowledge everything that brought the food to your table: seed, soil, rain, sunlight, pollinators, human hands, patience and time.

You might say:

With gratitude, I receive this harvest.
May it nourish my body, honour the land
and remind me of the many hands and lives
woven into everything I receive.

Then eat slowly enough to actually taste it.

Eating with the seasons reminds us that food does not simply appear on a grocery-store shelf by magic—although grocery stores are peculiar places of abundance when you really stop to think about them.

Food is planted, tended, protected, ripened and gathered after months of care. By learning what grows where we live, supporting local growers and savouring what the land is offering now, an ordinary meal becomes a small act of seasonal reverence.

That is the heart of Lughnasadh: pausing amid all the striving to recognise the work, receive the harvest and say, with genuine gratitude, Look what has grown.

Grief, Lammas and Blessings

Jenny Heston · 12:53 am ·

Happy Magnificent, Magickal, Moody, Melancholy, Manifesting Monday! How are you feeling with the energy of the Aquarius Full Moon swirling around?

This is a longer post as we have a couple of things to explore this week, two sides of the coin so to speak. Thus, if you aren’t willing to come and play in the messiness of human life, which can be real and raw, I highly suggest you skip this section. We are melding Grief and Lughnasadh (aka as Lammas) – which is about abundance and harvest.

Yup I did say Grief and and often classified as “taboo” in our Western Culture. As most people don’t know how to deal with it. Let’s be honest, over the last year and a half with the lovely pandemic many people have experienced loss on so many levels including people transitioning and not being able to be there when it happened.

Which got me thinking a lot about how we’re all just muddling through life. Honestly, it’s a wonder that any of us have the energy to reach out to others when we all have such complicated dramas playing out in our own lives. Add in the overwhelming stress of losing someone we love, and the volume gets turned all the way up.

The trouble, of course, is that as humans we’re not meant to be isolated. We are built for community, so even though it would be easier to wrap ourselves in cotton wool (or perhaps a duvet) and hide when we’re hurting, the real healing happens in relation to other people. This has been a huge challenge in the pandemic and this was something that I struggled with for a long time two years ago.

Two years ago I spent the month of July in the UK helping my big sister and best friend Fi to die. It was the toughest thing I have ever had to do so far in my life, she was one of my touchstones and I didn’t want her to leave at all, but she did. It was transformative, painful and powerful all at the same time. And fucking sucked!!!

When I returned back to Canada, numb and empty I struggled as all I wanted was to be alone. It felt primal. I wanted to wear soft clothing that felt cosy against my skin, I didn’t want to talk. I wanted to sleep and curl up, eat comforting food and drink hot tea. As after all it is difficult to be our most raw, broken selves in public. Grief, to me, felt like having a limb chopped off. How was it possible that my sister – my best friend – was gone from the world in such an irreversible way? The shock of her absence followed me around for months, like an empty space where my shadow should have been. And dealing with other people! Oh my Goddess – I had to remind myself that other people were trying their best. Even when they seemed to say or do precisely the wrong thing.

So last year when July came around I didn’t realise how it would gut me. To remember that on her birthday, July 28th, she started leaving us and died 3 days later. Staying with her 24×7, the candles, the music, the stories that I would tell her in the hopes that she would open her eyes and would be totally fine. It knocked me for seven to be honest.

Two years later I am a bit wiser and made sure to clear space and time to feel the feels. Yes, grief does lessen – in other words it doesn’t walk with you every day, but when it floods up it is as intense as it ever was. Thus, on Wednesday I am going to fully celebrate Fi’s birthday and do all the things she loved to do and make glorious lemon lavender loaves (as she liked a nice piece of cake and a cuppa). Then on Saturday – her death day (still not too sure what to call it) – I’m going to go sit and chat with her and be alone as to be honest – it feels raw and if another daft person says “It’s been two years”, I can’t guarantee that I will be pleasant by any stretch of the imagination.

And as a gift to all you wonderful beasties, on Wednesday (if you are part of our email community) and in honour of my most magickal, wise, amazing sister there will be a glorious Lughnasadh bundle available for free. Why?

On August 1st (Sunday) Lughnasadh or Lammas happens, it is the first of three harvest festivals. A time of appreciation, gratitude, abundance and it is a time of awareness that the strength of the Sun (Lugh) is beginning to wane and there is a shift and change afoot. Active growth is slowing down and the darker days of winter and reflection are gently and slowly raising their heads.

I love Lammas as it’s such a glorious celebration of food, first harvest and gathering. All things that Fi loved and understood.

You may not think you have anything you are harvesting in your life. You may not be able to name what, exactly, you’ve been growing & tending this year. BUT I PROMISE YOU, simply being a human being living through the uncertainties & upheaval has caused you to stretch & grow in ways you may not realize yet. And that growth is GOING TO bear fruit in some way.

One of the most beautiful lessons Lughnasa teaches us is to TRUST.

So make sure you snag the Lammas bundle when it’s released this coming week. It is filled with lore, stories, rituals and glorious things to make and do to honour YOU. (Yes You!) And how wonderful you are and all the ups and downs, the hiccups and the accomplishments you have experienced. There is also going to be a delicious guided visualisation for you for this time.

Now enough chuntering from me, let’s crack on with the reading. When I went to the cards to ask who would like to be present this week it made my heart smile to see who showed up. The amazing Faery Blessing guides were most adamant. As after all, who doesn’t need a Blessing?

Now if these guides are new to you, please let me introduce them as it would be rude not to.

Faeries are present in every droplet of water, every blade of grass – they are everywhere there is a trace of nature – thus every field, flower, and forest is theirs. They inhabit the wild rainforests and the old castles; they dance within standing stones and burial mounds; they are on the top of mountains and within the grove deep in the valley; and they appear in the cracks in the pavement and beneath the cities in the old, tangled tree roots. Faeries are part of this world, and they were here before we were born into this world, and they know us better than we know ourselves.

For humans, many of us have lost our sense of play, our sense of relationship with nature, our courage to be ourselves – as well as our hope, creativity, and personal power. We have looked outside of ourselves and nature and the sacred ones for answers, and in doing so, we have become quite lost. The blessings of the faeries can bring us back into relationship with ourselves, back into relationship with the elements and the elementals, so that we can become more at home within the world, while creating a personal world which supports our dreams, our wishes, and our purpose.

Yes! Positively perfect!

So gorgeous one take a breath. Just a normal breath and then as you carry on breathing allow it to slow down. Breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Allow in your mind’s eye a gorgeous rainbow swirl to form, this pattern is made of loss and abundance. It holds any grief you may feel about a person, place, situation or thing and it melds with the abundance and appreciation of who you are. As you breathe just let it swirl, you don’t have to control it.

Then with this energy pick the card or cards that call to you. What Blessing is for you this week?

Did you remember to pick?

Shall we go look?

A BLESSING FROM QUEEN MAB

The Faery Gift of Being the Ruler of Your Own World

With this faery gift from the formidable and enchanting faery queen, Queen Mab, comes the blessing of being the owner of your own life. This is a powerful blessing indeed, for with this blessing comes the most precious gift of all, that of knowing that your life is yours to live.

With this blessing, let you now take up the reins of your life, let you decide what it is you do, and who it is you are, and who you are now becoming. It is your life, this wild and sweet thing, to be lived only once, and it is rare and priceless. You shall no longer be owned, nor forced, nor pushed, nor pulled, for with her gift comes the solidity of determining your own fate – for you are a being who has often been pressured to give away the crown that declares that you are the sovereign. With this blessing, it is returned to you.

Let yourself be a queen, a king, and know your world is as great as any other person’s. Your life is a jewel, and no more shall you spend it pleasing others. When this blessing comes to you, all who you know you will love and support you, and you will now take back the power that you gave away. You will climb the stairs to your throne and look upon your world and know that you will be a strong leader of your own soul. And you will inspire others to do the same.

With this gift from Queen Mab will come the sure knowledge of what is wise for you to do, and what would be foolish, and to know the difference between pleasing others and doing what is in the very best interest of the path of your soul.

You faery friend, are a magnificent being, and your life, your world, and your very being are royal. Be most loyal to your ownself, and know now the gift of great and deep self-respect, and of choosing what is right for you.

Blessings of the great and good Queen Mab to you, friend.

BLESSED BE

A BLESSING OF A FAERY GUARDIAN

A Faery Gift of Magickal Protection and Lifelong, True Loving Care.

At your birth into this world, human child, a faery came to you and offered you the blessings of your soul. For each of us, this blessing will be unique, created especially for the journey we are destined to take in this lifetime. So, with this blessing, may you know again the beauty and sweetness of your own faery godmother, your faery guardian. For she is still with you, helping to ease the way and remind you, as often as she is able to pierce the veil, that you are her charge, and she will remain with you all the days of this life.

May you now feel the presence of her love; may you feel that sense of being looked out for, that there is one being from the elemental world who works with your soul and helps you at all times.

When this blessing comes, tune in to her presence and know that all about you there is comfort, and goodness, and a way to move through all difficulties. Yoru faery guardian has always been with you this lifetime, and will remain until you have journeyed on. Know you are her most precious charge, and when times become troubled, and life seems bleak, know there is a being whose duty it is to bring you back to hope, to optimism, to the sense that you are a gifted, cherished being. Feel now the love of the faery guardian, your own faery godmother, and believe again in your own blessedness.

BLESSED BE

A BLESSING OF CLEAR FORESIGHT

The Faery Gift of Knowing what is likely to come from the dimension we humans call the future.

A gift is given this day to you, a blessing of the faeries true. This gift is that of the long vision, the ability to see the consequences of actions taken in the present and, indeed, the outcome of decisions of the past. With this blessing of clear foresight, may you be blessed with the ability to see the lasting influence of what it is you choose to do – what will you be granting to the future of this world, to the children, to the ones who come after.

May you understand, therefore, what would be best for you to do, not only for your own self – though it is good and right for you to think of yourself – but of what is best for those you love and for those who come after us all. For the faeries love long, and see many a human unable to contemplate beyond their own needs – and, in that moment, unthinking of consequences, create a future they do not wish to inhabit fully. With this amazing faery gift, this enchanted ability to see further into the dimension of time, you will make the best decision for yourself now and for the future and the future of others. Time unfurls before you, a green scroll unwritten upon, but one upon which you can see what could come.

Take this blessing and use it wisely, for the fae, for the human children, and for the betterment of your own precious self.

Faery blessings of the long foresight to you, friend.

BLESSED BE

And so it is. May your week be filled with Blessings galore. If you are walking with Grief, please know that you are not alone – I see you, I hear you and you are so loved. I won’t tell you it will pass, as it doesn’t – but the gap where your shadow would be does lessen. To celebrate you and the fact that you are here, muddling through life and doing your best, do make sure to grab the Lammas bundle when it comes out on Wednesday. Huge Blessings and I will see you in two weeks as it’s a long weekend coming up here in Canada.