WELCOME!
Lughnasa: We Are Sky

Come in, come in! I’m so happy you’re here. Lughnasa, sometimes called Lughnasadh, 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 on the fourth Sunday of 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 B. Merikle (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 hay fields and walk through fertile valleys of cultivated fields that border open expanses of wildflowers. We’ll also spend a time at my mother’s 1890’s farm house and root into the true meaning of home.

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 B Merikle, an artist, activist, and non-profit exec. B’s heart-centered work is profoundly informed by the women that came before them. B intentionally seeds liberation in all that they do, with eyes focused on the coming harvest. B says that they believe deeply in the power of stark contrast — trauma and pleasure — to create new Black futures that free us all.

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

Our CREATIVE ALCHEMY COMMUNITY CONECTION CALL was recorded on Sunday, August 29th. Thank you to everyone who attended!

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 July 26th and 29th. 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
✦ string of prayer flags
✦ set of blank oracle cards (watch studio video for more information)
✦ botanical harvest bundle for your altar
✦ dried rosehips (tea recipe below)
✦ votive candle

ABOUT THE ROSEHIPS:

The most well-known benefit of rosehips is that it strengthens immune system as it is a a stock of vitamin C, about 40 times more than citrus fruits. So rosehip tea is mostly consumed as a natural protection against the flu, but it has many other benefits. Also, rosehips are a good source of antioxidants.

Recipe for Rosehip Tea:

I’ve included enough rosehips for one cup of tea. Fill a saucepan (with lid) with enough water to fill your mug or glass. Toss in your rosehips. You can halve them in two or crush them up if you want, but not really necessary. Put the lid on. Bring it to boil and let it simmer over medium low heat for 15-20 minutes or until it has a nice color and taste feel free to add a little more water if it evaporates. Then pour the water into your mug, straining the rosehips. Sweeten it with some of the honey I sent for Beltane! And if a cup of hot tea doesn’t sound good to you in the heat of summer, tuck it in the fridge for a bit. When it’s cool, serve it over ice!

ABOUT THE PRAYER FLAGS:

These prayer flags are not from my own cultural tradition or ancestry. Their history originates in Tibet and they are tied to legends of Gautama Buddha. However, they have been a staple in my life since childhood, first adorning my the entrance to my nondenominational church while growing up and also tied to the front porches of my parents' homes to this very day.

Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. By hanging flags in high places the wind will carry the blessings depicted on the flags to all beings. As wind passes over the surface of the flags, which are sensitive to the slightest movement of the wind, the air is purified and sanctified by the mantras.

Tibetans renew their hopes for the world by continually mounting new flags alongside the old. This act symbolizes a welcoming of life's changes and an acknowledgment that all beings are part of a greater ongoing cycle. According to traditional belief, the flags are sacred, they should be treated with respect. They should not be placed on the ground or used on clothing. If you’d like to know more about the history and symbolism of prayer flags, a short google search will be quite illuminating!

Gratitude.

“You are the sky.
Everything else –
it's just the weather.”

― Pema Chödrön