The Time In Between

This coming weekend is what I consider to be time 'in-between' - it is not fasting time or a cleanse, it's officially part of a holiday and therefore usually connected to a feast of some kind. Of course this weekend is the August Harvest festival or the tail end of Lughnasadh and an important part of the journey.

Fasting is not the be all, end all, however, it is the single most powerful tool in our belts when it comes to rapid detox, clean shifts of energy and huge personal change. Thus it serves a mighty purpose in our lives and can be done often to keep us sharp mentally and spiritually. 

Physically, I cannot stress this enough - when you want to heal anything, infection, excess weight, inflammation and dysfunctions - fasting using clean water is the only way forward. Each of these conditions (and the high blood pressure, sugar imbalance, high cholesterol that goes along with it) can  be related back to deeply embedded toxins, once gone, the situation reverses. Simple.

This then takes us back to the time in-between, I have met many people who would like to think that they can fast and then afterwards eat normally and they don't necessarily need the feast times. But, I beg to differ, we do actually require them on all of these same levels - energetic, spiritual, physical and emotional and for all the same reasons.

Why? Perhaps one of the most important reasons is to adequately replenish the spirit with clean, wholesome foods, especially those which are homemade with love and care. Fasting is meant to be an intense time of work that you do on yourself, stripping down and removing layers of built up toxins. A natural follow on to this would be a short time of nurturing the body with plenty of wonderful foods.

Secondly, feasting or honouring the feast time is entirely about celebration, ritual and ceremony, which  is important for the human spirit. The inner connections to these days and dates of the calendar run as deep as the ley lines of the earth, most of these have been largely forgotten and discarded as we have allowed others to conduct sacred rituals on our behalf.

Coming back to ceremony and sacredness is part of the rites of passage into the world of spirit - the only spirit you want to connect with in this place is your own. These rituals are far more important than we may realize at the beginning, taking time to ground ourselves within a new reality.

A significant factor in all of this is the fact that energetic connections between people and their food have largely been eroded and replaced by poisons from processing, alcoholic drink and the presence of chemicals, forcing those of us who are choosing to follow a higher path to make these drastic changes to diet and lifestyle written about in my blogs. 

Finally, feasting is also a social activity, the intensity of the fasting or cleanse has passed, now is a time to party, dress up and dance, do things together as a family or even on our own. This phase is all about connecting with the energy of your food and through this food, the land and water flowing within it. 

Feasting brings us back to simpler times, clean energy and strength of spirit - a vital part of the spiritual journey. Have a lovely weekend, 

Happy Feasting!

April

Lughnasadh Ceremony by candle light 

Happy Lughnasadh!

Today is one of the most important feast days of the year, which is centered around the harvest, for me this usually means harvesting herbs, but also has been important for grains in times past. There are a couple of things that I thought could be mentioned here on this special day - one is why bother to celebrate and the other is about the spiritual connection of this time.

First of all, why do we celebrate anything with feasting and ritual or ceremony? Perhaps if we look more closely at our ancestors the answers lie somewhere in the past. Observing and keeping a special day alive, increases the inner connections to it deep within our psyche. We actually establish energetic ties to these holidays through this binding of ourselves to its significance.

Mark the day and you create an energy bridge within over which you can travel to find deeper meaning and understanding in your life.

As I discuss in my book The Pagan Diet©, the year revolves around the sun like a wheel reflecting inner time and cycles. Once we start walking a spiritual path, it is important to develop a relationship with all of these special aspects of ourselves as they also mirror our human journey in the outer world.

Thus, the month of August is seen as the culmination, an ending and completion of a full phase in our lives and one cycle fully fulfilled by following the path around the sun. The projects, hopes, dreams, wishes and desires (at least some of them) that have been worked on consistently throughout the year should now be coming to fruition. 

Completing another phase or stage of the spiritual path is incredibly important and should be cause for celebration, just as planting seeds, weeding, tending the young plants and encouraging your garden to grow is vital work for a family. Each person in the family benefits from the effort placed into this project and everyone is wiser for having walked the path during the year.

In this way, the ancient ones who honoured us by keeping the old ways alive have left many footprints for us to follow in. Of course, the calendar shows us that the most precious spiritual link is to be found within these carefully selected dates and changing of each season. What has long been known is that as spiritual beings we are not separate from the world around us, but merely a reflection of its' mystery. 

So, today is a feast day - there should be plenty of food (local, organic, fresh) and clean water, herbs for cooking, tea and in salads, homemade soda breads using ancient grains such as oats, spelt and millet and perhaps fish or lamb with gently cooked root vegetables. 

Then tonight, light a candle, or a small fire outside if you can, while you contemplate how far you have come this past year, all that you have to be thankful for and your harvest from the work you have done. If there is rain, create your circle inside around your dinner table with the people you care most about and make more plans for this next sun cycle - and remember, when you dream, dream big!

Have a happy day,

April

Herbs drying in the kitchen