Lammas, also known as Loaf Mass Day, is a Christian holiday celebrated in some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere on 1 August. The name originates from the word “loaf” in reference to bread and “Mass” in reference to the Eucharist.
So off we go on a warm but cloudy morning and arrived at Chalice Well about 11.15 am. Mercifully the great crowds that were there in the Midsummer celebrations were not there. I estimated 60% fewer people.
This is the transcript of the 12 midday talk given by two of the women.
Prelude
Casey – Thank you. And as I think you know, we observe the silent minute here twice a day, at midday and at three o’clock. And it’s a way of really offering our energy, our love, to the celestial realm so that they can direct us for everything, which is a really nice way of us not having to attach to an outcome, of not having to think where we said it, just allowing the beings that can see the whole picture.
Well, Tudor Pole saw it as these angelic beings with cornucopia of light that they would just direct wherever it was needed, into the earthly world and he said, you know, we can offer our heart, our energy for that minute by thinking, saying words. Here Am I, send Me.
Sophie- Thank you, everybody. And welcome to the wellhead, to this glorious abundance that the garden has offered us. This morning, we have so many beautiful …you’ve probably seen in the garden, these gorgeous gold oranges, the sense of abundance and glory.
And that is really what we are tuning into, that sense of this amazing way that Mother Earth really holds us and really supports us and sustains us and inspires us.
And here at the well, we always feel, particularly with our the Vesica Piscis symbol, that it’s about this union point between the Mother Earth and the creative upper, higher celestial realms meeting in the middle and on days like today, where we are gathering together and remembering that we are all connected and feeling this love just going round from heart to heart in this glorious spiral of light that actually we can feel both.
Can we that sense of this amazing ancient sacred land, the incredible sacred waters that are constantly flowing and all of that inspiration that is coming down to meet in our beautiful heart, and so that we can shine that out and share that, so Lammas is really about the first harvest.
It’s this golden time when all of the corn, the wheat, everything in the fields, has that amazing golden light where the sunflowers are blooming, things like those of you can see on the wellhead, this amaranth, which is just this gorgeous color, which is over the top.
And we also have bread, because Sophie will explain. This is also known as lovemass. So it’s this way of coming together and breaking bread together in that way of being together and celebrating together.
And the loaf was made by the local baker down the road. And it’s tradition that we have that each year they bake these plaited loaves for us, and we had the inspiration this morning just to decorate them with the calendula. And it’s just some…of waiting for a connection.
But really so this is and it’s also about joy. So thank you for the speaker for that, but it is, let’s feel that joy, let’s feel that laughter. Let’s feel that amazing sense of just wanting to feel and share that glorious abundance and and really feel yourself connecting deeply with this amazing, sacred place and the waters, the land, the abundance that is here and feeling those sense of blessings, what is in your heart?
What are you holding in your heart that you are grateful for, that you know, that are so many blessings in your life. And thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you. We welcome the sun as it moves into Leo, the golden, majestic and heartful lion, as a time when the sun, Leo’s ruler, is pouring its powerful rays onto the earth, we honor its benevolent energy as it ripens and warms the wheat and the berries watching the land around us ripening and the light dancing upon the sacred waters we look inwards to what we have been tending in our own lives, what we have gathered to ourselves.
What are we grateful for as it comes to this time of harvest, we give thanks for the ever flowing waters of chalice well,
its constancy, its depth of wisdom, and its inspiration,
the light that dances upon its surface also dances through our own inner waters, we ask that it may shine into our depths, strengthening and illuminating what we hold close To our hearts,
we offer our love and our gratitude.
To these beautiful, ancient and sacred waters. Thank you, cave.
So this is the time of Lamas or lunathe. And as Carrie said, Lamas is loathmas or low feast, and it’s very much the time when we focus on those first harvests of the grain. And in days of August the first was when that harvest period will begin, and it was considered unlucky to have to begin it earlier, because it meant that there hadn’t been enough provision laid down the year before.
So the farmer would have harvested the first loaves, and then the farmer’s wife would have prepared the loaf for the evening. And there would have been the loaf in the shape of the bread of the sun or of the wheat sheath, to signify this special offering. In fact, it would have been blessed by the priest and maybe eating together, all actually given as an offering.
So it was also signified within Lunas at this time of two weeks of coming together to get the harvest in the celebration of community, of feasting, of joy, as Carrie was saying. And also with Lou and lunasa, the Celtic god of light and the sun, honoring the sun, again on this cross called to fire festival. And Lou was also the God of creativity, craftsmanship. So corn dollies would have been made at this time and taken in procession or in people’s houses, and also of skill in agility.
So it was a time when games would have been played like wrestling or horse racing. So again, times when the community would would come together. It’s also a time in between mid summer and autumn equinox, when we’re moving from that time of the sun, at our outward sort of radius to more reflective time.
So it’s a time when we think about those seeds, these seeds that we planted in the spring and now are harvesting in this mid summer point what we’ve harvested in our own lives healthy. These grains that we harvest now will provide the food going through the winter, and again, will be the grains to sow in the spring, which will be next year’s harvest. It’s that continuum which we’re really honoring, that abundance of the earth.
Casey: Thank you, Sophie,
So just before we go into a few moments of silence, I’d just like to share some words and I found the poem written about the healing power of stillness by Safire Rose “She Let Go”
“How few of us realize that the gateway to the awareness
of the truth is reached through stillness?
Complete relaxation of mind and body is the first step
by which the stillness of one’s whole being can be achieved.
Relaxation of this kind is an art room, real practice,
yet so important, and especially for those who devote
their energies to healing service, to let go, to be silent,
to still the mind, to relax the body, to lean back upon
the sustaining infinite it is along this pathway that we should tread.
We desire to help others and to be of service to ourselves.
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After the event I had a lovely time walking around talking to people and I met someone playing a harp. He says that people with non-harmonious or forceful lives hate the sound of the harp so it’s a good filter.
Tim playing the harp to an unborn child.
Next to him was a chap with long hair called Ash. Meeting him was quite a culture shock – of the pleasant type. He had a Bible laid out on the table and delighted in quoting from it, both the old and the New Testament.
He said he could tell I was a Christian from the way I looked at the Bible which I thought was quite astute of him. When he quoted the Bible, which he did frequently, he did a dance of joy at the same time. He thought that most Christians had not read the Bible properly and I could not disagree with him.
I joked with Ash that he was a great guy but impossible to live with and he said his previous six wives would probably agree with me.
We included Tim the harpist and exchanged outrageous puns and I have to say that I never felt so free in my life. I feel that the best way to go to heaven is to laugh, be happy, and share.
In the health shop we met a chap – a chubby bearded enthusiastic man who promulgated the benefits of his ale. He offered us samples which we readily accepted. I told him that I loved the taste and commented that I did not feel sick as I do normally and we agreed that this was due to the lack of chemicals that is routinely put in so many types of drinking beer and cider. We ended up by buying a couple of bottles and went on our way.
I also met a younger man unclothed from the waist up who had had poems and sayings tattooed on his back. I had to take a photograph and said that I hope he does not change his opinions to often and he laughed and said that he had changed his opinions about most of the number of items on the tattoo so we had a good laugh.
Today in the town hall was a Goddess Day and nearly everyone was dressed in red, here they are decamped to the High Street obviously having had a great time.
This was Heaven on Earth Day for me, I wish most of my days could be like this, I hasten to add – not all days as I would probably spend all my time on a high and be unable to focus on other matters.
But, times they are a changing. Visitors to Glastonbury may wish to see the following videos
