Lughnasadh, Seed-Codes, and the Lion's Gate Portal

Tomorrow is the exact astronomical half way point between Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox. Half way between the sun’s zenith and when we begin to slowly slip into the dark half of the year.

This time was traditionally celebrated as Lammas, or Lughnasadh to the ancient Celts, and was a season of honoring the first harvest. (Watch my video on celebrating this time of year with ritual and plant medicines for more .)

What I love about this time of year is the threshold of in-between.

As we are still stretching out in Summer’s heat and play, we can feel that she is on her way out. And our gaze gently begins to extend towards recognition of the impending Autumn season.

This threshold of in-between is also talked about in astrological and spiritual circles as the Lion's Gate Portal - a powerful gateway to call in creation, abundance, and manifestation. What interests me is how this time of year has always historically been one to honor the abundance of what the Earth has laid out for us.

This season plumps everything up with the wisdom of what has passed, and fills us with hope for what will be.

Flowers have turned to fruits, and the seeds are imprinting themselves with the wisdom of their Mothers.

The hope of this new generation of what's to come, what's to be grown, and what's to be received, is etched into the energy of this Lughnasadh portal.

This past week I harvested some fennel seed, whose flowers I’ve been observing daily, watching them slowly swell with juice as they made their transition into seed.

It’s a stunning process to behold, the flower turning to fruit and seed.

The flower, whose unique expression draws towards her interested pollinators as well as our own loving gaze, is imprinted by all of us and our willingness to see her in her beauty.

This dance of seeing and being seen informs her and leaves her with information to internalize and alchemize.

In turn, this becomes transformed into embodied wisdom to be passed down to the seed of the next generation, a blueprint informed by all of the season’s unfolding.

What was experienced and learned will be shared in that seed code - the strongest prayer of manifestation and abundance.

This, of course, has left me pondering our own flowering and self-blossoming. And how feedback, from both our inner-selves and the external world, eventually makes its way into a juicy wisdom, a blueprint for a generation of self-expression to follow.

As we risk everything in our own tender unfolding, daring to be seen for our unique expression in this world, we receive so much information in the process. We receive feedback, emotion, energy, from all around us. And we have a choice in how to take it in, integrate it, and turn it into wisdom.

We also receive information from within us.

How did it feel?

How did my body respond?

Was it too much, too little, or just right?

What did I learn about myself as I opened myself to be seen?

The more we are in touch with our inner selves, our embodied earth selves, the more alchemy is available to us. The more we can learn from our experiences, the more we can transform them into wisdom and alignment for a new prayer of manifestation and abundance.

So my questions for you today:

In what ways did you boldly or tenderly self-express this Spring/Summer?

Where did you open yourself to be seen? This could be to loved ones, the wider community, or even to your own self (what parts of you did you make known to yourself that you hadn’t seen before?)