WELCOME!
Lughnasa: We Are Sky
Come in, come in! I’m so happy you’re here. Lughnasa (pronounced LOO-na-sah), marks the halfway point between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox. Lughnasa always falls on August 1st. This ancient Gaelic feast-day honors the Irish deity Lugh and celebrates the beginning of harvest.
All Creative Alchemy Cycle bundles are self-guided. I’ve created this landing page as a home base for us as we journey through the season of Lughnasa. We’ll also meet in person each month (scroll down for links.) Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
Table of Contents
PART ONE: DIGITAL CONTENT
Story of the Season: a Homily for Lughnasa (audio & PDF)
The Great Wide Open (video)
In the Studio (video)
Collaborative Alchemy Podcast: Early Access to an episode with Dom Magwili (audio)
Fuel for the Fire: Writing prompts, links, reading lists, Spotify playlists, etc.
Further Connection: Monthly Community Zoom Call / Recording (links)
PART TWO: FOR FULL SUBSCRIBERS
CAC Network: Online communication platform
Altar Box: Description of your seasonal care package
NOTE of ENGAGEMENT:
Please do not share the link to this page with others. This content was created just for you. Thank you for your respect and understanding.
PART ONE: Digital Content
Seaonal Focus — Accountability Practice
At this time of year, the Earth showers us with riches and invites us to share the plenty, redistribute the wealth, and acknowledge all who made harvest possible. Let this season’s harvest shatter the illusion of ownership. Everything we have is a gift from the living Earth. We own none of it, but are instead its stewards, siblings, and soul-friends. We are visitors here. This land does not belong to us. We belong to the land.
This bundle is filled with creative inquiries and inspiration for building right-relationship with people, land, plants, and animals. Creativity plays an enormous role in how we form our ideas about the world and about ourselves. This is why I feel it is imperative that we marry our creative process with an accountability practice. This season, Lughnasa asks us to allow our mistakes to work their magic. But the magic won't simply happen on its own. This kind of growth requires that we tend to our mistakes, learn from them, take risks, and surrender our addiction to hoarding resources. There is enough for all.
Calling You Home — A Homily
This is a great place to begin. For each of the eight bundles that make up the Creative Alchemy Cycle, I write a seasonal story to set the container for the bundle. These homilies are my way of practicing alongside you and using the creative alchemy tools to create my own work. You can download a copy using the button below and/or listen to the audio.
The Great Wide Open
My creative process always begins outside. This is where I weave the outer landscape with the inner one. We’ll soar over Eagle Valley and walk through cultivated fields that border open expanses of wildflowers. We’ll also explore our family’s 1890’s farm house and excavate the complicated history of the land on which it stands.
In the Studio
After viewing The Great Wide Open, let’s head into my studio. This is where I metabolize, incubate, and process all the elements which make up my current state of creative alchemy. This harvest season, we are taping into our inner wisdom and creating our own oracle cards. So grab your pens, paints, stamps, glue sticks and washi tape!
Collaborative Alchemy Podcast
Collaborative Alchemy is a series of conversations with artists, thought leaders, activists, farmers, educators, creatives, and other polymaths where we tell our stories, expand our histories, and hold space for new ways of being. My guest this season is actor, writer, producer, and educator Dom Magwili. An early childhood love of comics and swashbucklers led Dom towards a career as an actor and playwright. Even today, comics continue to inform Dom’s work. He has just published a sprawling epic sci-fi fantasy novel called Legends from the First Hemisphere: The Infernal Promise. In this wide-ranging conversation we discuss Asian-American representation on stage and screen, Dom’s disciplined writing process, and why it’s important for Asian-American youth to know their history.
Fuel For The Fire
Writing prompts and further exploration, links, reading lists, spotify playlists, etc. Click on the images or buttons below to view, visit, or download. (This season’s “Bonus” is a throwback podcast conversation with Elizabeth Duvivier from Squam Art Workshop.)
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Invitations for Further Connection
We meet each month for a Community Connection Call. These are come-as-you-are gatherings. If you are unable to attend in person, the recording will be posted below.
RECORDING: CAC Connection Call September 4th, 2022
RECORDING: CAC Connection Call August 7, 2022
PART TWO: For Full Subscribers
The Lughnasa Community Network & Gallery
The community network & gallery is a communication platform for those who are full subscribers! It’s like Facebook but WAY better: no advertisements, completely private, and built collectively. As a member of the Cycle you received an invitation to join our Creative Alchemy Cycle (CAC) online network via Mighty Networks. The button below will take you to the network.
About the Lughnasa Care Package
Your care-packages will be arriving between August 5th and 8th. These love-filled packages contain natural objects, local Eastern Oregon flavor, and art ephemera to inspire your journey, and adorn your seasonal altars.
CONTENTS of the LUGHNASA PACKAGE:
✦ welcome letter and poem by Mary Oliver
✦ postcard or sticker from United Plant Savers
✦ blank index cards for your oracle collage (watch studio video for more information)
✦ envelope of collage ephemera for your oracle cards
✦ dried lavender sprigs
✦ large tea light
ABOUT THE POSTCARDS / STICKERS
These are a gift to you from the good people at United Plant Savers, the botanical conservancy where I was in residency this past May. Enjoy!
Gratitude.
“You are the sky.
Everything else –
it's just the weather.”
― Pema Chödrön