August is here, and we know that the hottest part of the Summer is almost over. If you look around, the bright greens of May and June have turned into a darker, more sun-baked green, and the fields are turning gold. It’s time to celebrate grain, corn, and all those yummy Summer vegetables!
We had a tomato horn work devour one of our tomato plants and then disappear. We didn’t even get to see him turn into a big moth. I also saw some enormous black vultures today, and I was struck by their function as death-eaters in our world. They take the dead things and make them go away, renewing everything through the process. We’re coming to a more primal part of the Summer, where the critters aren’t all cute and sweet anymore, but maybe they have some more important lessons to show us. Time to cut away the old as we harvest, cutting our food, but also that which doesn’t serve us.
Even the cicadas are screaming.
August is the 8th month in the Gregorian calender, and it was named after Augustus Caesar.
Birthstones: Peridot, spinel, sardonyx
Lunations:
August 3, 11:59am EST Full Moon (Aquarius)
August 18, 10:42pm EST New Moon (Leo)
Astronomy:
August 12-13: Perseid Meteor Shower
August 15- Uranus goes direct
Celtic Tree Month:
Holly (July 8- August 4): Protection, enjoying and celebrating success (nearing first harvest), renewal/restoring your direction, rebalancing your energy, moving towards your purpose, energizing. Truth, unconditional love, sacrifice, reincarnation, protection, luck, dream magick, male counterpart to feminine ivy.
Hazel (August 5- September 1): Wisdom, intuition, studying ancient knowledge, fertility and good luck, divination (including hazel rods used for divining for water), poetry and science, playfulness and enchantment, healing arts.
Holidays (Pagan):
August 1: Lammas!
Themes and general activities for the month: Celebrating the beginnings of the harvest- specifically grain, getting ready for back to school, trying to weather the heat, giving thanks for the bounty of food available now.
Herbs I’m using: Fresh thyme from the CSA farm we belong to, fresh oregano that Husbear grew himself, dried lavender and resins sprinkled on a charcoal disk for incense.
Stones I’m using: Chrysoprase (I’m just mesmerized with the color), moonstone (cooling and soothing in the heat), dendritic agate (connection to earth and agriculture)
Goddess of the Month: Hera (alliance). In this system (Colette Baron-Reid’s Goddess Power Oracle), Hera is all about strategic partnerships and alliances. She rules finding mutually beneficial relationships where people can uplift each other and help each other succeed. Sounds good to me!
3 card reading:
First, we begin with The Sun. This is an appropriate card for this time of year, because the weather is warm, our harvest is coming in, and we’re ready to get out there into the world and show our accomplishments. We’re craving attention and recognition right now, and riding high on that Leo energy.
Next, we have the 3 of Cups reversed. This could refer to the ongoing quarantine procedures that a lot of us are following, knowing that we can’t get together with our friends or family right now. We’re craving time with other people, but it just isn’t happening.
Finally, we have the 8 of Swords reversed. There’s new hope of breaking out of our self (and government) induced bondage. Could this mean that there’s a vaccine on its way? Or that we’ll finally go so stir crazy that we’ll break out of our houses in a fit of rage? Who can tell? Stay tuned…
Our special guidance card is Bast (Independence). The LWB that comes with this deck says ‘Now is the time to balance your social interactions with solitude’. That seems pretty spot-on for this reading. Bast also tells us to pay attention to our feline companions, always a good idea.
August 1914
By Isaac Rosenberg
What in our lives is burnt
In the fire of this?
The heart’s dear granary?
The much we shall miss?
Three lives hath one life—
Iron, honey, gold.
The gold, the honey gone—
Left is the hard and cold.
Iron are our lives
Molten right through our youth.
A burnt space through ripe fields,
A fair mouth’s broken tooth.
My personal tides and goals: I had been going through quite a creative and spiritual slump and was having a difficult time finding my joie de vivre. Then a friend sent a care package filled with magick, and a series of events happened that helped me start working on my Book of Shadows again. Sometimes it just takes that one little trigger to help everything fall back into place. I’m filled with gratitude.