SUMMER SUN
August is the ancient Celtic celebration of Lughnasa. Lugh is the sun god, the bringer and nurturer of life. He is the scorching heat and blinding light of summer that produces the spectacular growth of plant and animal life. It is a joyous time to gather and celebrate the abundance created by our own hard work and the goodness of nature. At the equinox, Lugh’s intensity gradually begins to lessen; slowly , slowly sliding into darkness and scarcity. But for now, all life celebrates the joy of abundance and ease. As the light diminishes nature has her own way of showing gratitude to our life giver. The fields become crowded with yellow flowers. Yellow is the light of the sun; the more we make, the longer the light will last. As if to say; We see you. We radiate your goodness and joy. We acknowledge and thank you for your service;. We even look like you, holding on to this reflection for just a while longer. A million little suns cheerfully reflecting the goodness of love and light. If you have ever bitten into a soft, red summer peach and felt your mouth tingle with sheer delight, time stops for a moment, as the juice runs down your chin and forearms; you are experiencing the pure, ultimate joy of summer!
And that pure joy is a reminder of the pure love that is life, that creates life; that creates the trees, the soil, the wind and rain, and sun. And finally….the fat , juicy peach. The peach tree gives you her masterpiece gladly. She knows she is fulfilling her destiny, which is to make many seeds and many children. Then she asks you to spread them far and wide. That is the exchange. You get pure delight in exchange for spreading her offspring. That Is how the world works. It is the principle underlying all creation; I do something wonderful for you and you return the favor and do something important for me. Everyone benefits. All thrive. Only… some humans have forgotten that one good deed deserves another. Some humans see the earth as a big box store, where you fill your cart to overflowing, pay little or nothing, and come back for more. Well, eventually that creates a deficit. The system diminishes and starts to break down. There is less and less on the shelves to give. The big beautiful machina naturae creaks and groans, and finally cracks. Some have too much. Some have nothing left. This is where we find ourselves today. A broken system. And there are plenty of advanced civilizations that have taken a similar route before us, and have disappeared back into the earth, barely leaving any clues of their existance and downfall, to be noticed only by those awake enough to see. The peach loves you. The tree loves you. The sun, wind, and rain love you. Mother earth loves you and wishes the best for all her children. All we need to do is reciprocate! It’s that simple! The famous running horse painted in paleolithic times on the walls of Lascaux is not only an inspiring masterpiece of art, but also the only truly wild horse remaining today. It was recently brought back from the edge of extinction by a breeding program at the Prague Zoo and today runs free once more on the plains of Mongolia.
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