Today is Lammas or Lughnasadh, a pagan holiday that’s known as the first harvest day. For this occasion I redecorated my altar and made some plans for the month of August. Read on to find out more…
Seasonal altar
Traditionally, Lammas is seen as the first Harvest holiday (the next being Mabon in September and Samhain in October). So you could centre Lammas celebrations around food and nature. You could also connect it to gratitude and the sun.
Find more Lammas inspiration in this video by the Witches’ Cookery:
I like filling my altar / mantelpiece with objects and colours that remind me of this season. The colours my synesthesia associates with the words August and Lammas are: pine green, leaf green, dark purple, turquois, dark blue, and brown. So I tried to feature these heavily on my Lammas altar.
I thought about wearing a green dress today, as I own two and find them a bit witchy but didn’t feel in the mood. Summer can highten feelings of “macho metal dysphoria” (see the Vinyldyke zine) so wearing dresses doesn’t fit on those moments.
So back to my altar… I displayed objects and art made by les Déchainé.e.s (poster), God Save the Queer (amulet), la Greenwitch (moon tracker and postcard), Hans (wooden spoon), Laura-Marie River Victor Peace Nopales (embroidery print), MandApunk (broche), Mawy Spencer (zines, lino print, poster), Megan Moonbat (embroidered sigil), Spooky’s Creations (amulets), and YoriGagarim (patch), as well as postcards by the Manchester LGBT Zine Library and the Archiv der Jugendkulturen. I was also happy to add a beautiful wooden caleidoscope I was gifted as a kid and the dried lavender comes from the garden of one of my band mates’ mom.
What I did yesterday and today:
- I assembled a Lammas altar (as mentioned above)
- I listened to Neil Young, Girl Songs, and Frogpond, which somehow all sound very summery to me.
- Today I drew a card from le Tarot de la Sorcière for Lammas while listening to Osfyn (which really got me in the mood) and yesterday I drew cards from the Illuminated Playing Cards to celebrate the New Moon while watching and being inspired by Jessica and the Moon’s video (see below). From what I understood from the card meanings, it’s important to take it easy, be patient, practice self-care, and rest a lot which I already felt that I needed. The Lammas card seemed to point towards leaving a harmful current situation, it’s time for something new…
Things I’d like to focus on this month / season:
- Rest and self-care
- Tidy to have a clear workspace and headspace
- Learn more about and practice tarot
- Celebrate Chainsaw Bunny’s birthday (August 25th!)
- Discover more little free libraries in my city
- Follow a witchy creative & self-care course by Molly Roberts
- Make something with my sewing machine: f.e. spell bags and/or mending clothes
- Work on a few new mini-zines and witchy zines. IZM may be over but zine-making goes on… 🙂
- Go outdoors and enjoy the season while making zines or reading
- Remember and listen to 90s Seattle grunge artists who passed away and were born in the Summer (Mia Zapata, Stefanie Sargent, Layne Staley, Chris Cornell…)
- Wear sun and nature-themed pendants. I’ve bought several amulets made by independent artists recently and love them all. You can see some hanging from my altar too!
- Start a Ko-fi webshop
- And finally, related to my first idea, fill a self-care bag or box inspired by Laura-Marie’s “emotional first aid kit”: ❤
Echo Zines 