Beginnings of a Harvest

Strength

I ask myself, how can I hold a lion in such small hands?
How dare I even touch my palm to its huge head?
An Amazon is suited to this task, not me.
Such power ripples beneath its golden coat.
I feel no match for it. Its amber eyes look deeply into mine.
I feel its throat throb beneath my hands.

We deify such power, worship it, submit, defer, while all the time we hate it.
How dare this brute be so beautiful?
So free? So pure? How do I dare contain such attributes?

The only way that I can play this part:
 to be a woman with a lion's heart.
                            by Patricia Monaghan

Soon it will be Lughnasadh. August 1 to be exact. A time for us to consider the things we have given up or left behind, acknowledging the sacrifices of  time or effort that we have had to make to bring our dreams /our projects to fruition.  It marks the beginning of the culmination of a years work. We can use this time to reflect and ask ourselves if we are happy with what we have achieved so far and give thanks for all that has grown in the past year. We can begin to harvest that which we need for the upcoming season.

I wanted to share this poem as doing what we must in order to grow our dreams and harvest them takes great courage and strength. I am definitely being asked to reach within and embrace the lion's heart as I move into the beginning of the harvest, as I imagine are many people.

Recently, I attended the Meet, Greet and Eat group facilitated by Amy Bonin of Gusto Magazine and we got talking about the possibility of me writing a piece for the magazine. Being able to share my knowledge and experience in this way is exciting (and a little scary) and  I am thrilled to be 'harvesting' a new community!

I have been writing this blog since July of last year. Since the beginning I have purely followed process and allowed the words to move through me without any specific direction. I needed to be a beginner starting somewhere......That, however, seems to be changing. I have not written since May as I have been moving through a new shift and  had little clarity of what to write. I began to feel the need to land somewhere and choose my 'target' before I continued.

A lot of transformation and new growth has emerged over the summer months. On July 1st I "gave birth" to The Hearth Of The Witch (thehearthofthewitch.com) and since that date I have been facing a lot of the emotions one may experience after giving birth. We are creators/mothers in sooo many ways! I remember when I came home with my 1st baby daughter I felt so helpless and out of control because I had no instruction manual how to nurture and care for this brand new soul and she didn't even feel like mine.  Feeling uncertain and as an infant myself it was quite a challenging time of  fear and self-doubt, as well as immense joy, growth and learning. Thus is my life right now.

When I met Amy I was thrilled to have an opportunity to share 'The Hearth' and begin something completely new. One of the offerings of The Hearth is sharing what I have learned about using herbs in my daily life. (this is explained in detail on the website) Since the beginning of the Hearth I have given myself over and asked the Goddess Herself to lead the way. This is Her Hearth. I am merely the steward and facilitator. Up to this point most of the feedback and requests I have been getting are from people seeking more information about the herbs, people wanting to buy the remedies or wanting to learn how to make them on their own.

Developing a relationship with the herbs has been  no simple task for me. I have been working with the herbs now for about 7 years and often I still feel like I am only scratching the surface. (which would make sense as Susun Weed has said that it takes 7 lifetimes to be an herbalist!) I have found the best way to grow with the plants is to keep it simple and respond to what is in front of me, what remedies my family needs and inch by inch experiment with ways I can become more and more self sustainable in my own personal care.

Starting in August this is what I will write about. I cannot say for sure what this will look like; could be recipes, remedies, ways to identify the herbs or practices to bring into your kitchen.  I can say that each blog will assist you with getting a little closer every day to bringing the plants into your life and discovering the joy of playing with them and creating your own remedies.

For now I wish you a Happy Lughnasadh. May your harvest be abundant and full of gratitude and joy!

Blessed Be!