The sun reaches its highest point of the year, like the culmination of a full moon's waxing. In order to stay steady in this full solar power, we ground ourselves by inviting the earth and the sky to meet in our bodies. As stewards, we take stock of self and world. Has an old teacher, perhaps the Dragon of Not-Enough, melted in the fires during the first half of the solar wheel? We bow and thank her before turning to discover the new teacher, who, as the waxing year gives way to the waning, will wrench our perspective wider. 

Today we sit with the expansion of light, taking it in. To claim the new and larger boundary of our personal fire, we join it in ritual to that of others, and together, dance it outward. We make sacred ceremony not only for and with our immediate community, but for all our relations. The Lakota phrase mitákuye Oyásin reminds us, "I am related to all things, and all things are related to me." 

Rosmerta, a goddess loved by both Celtic and Roman Gauls, was known as the Great Provider. A goddess of fertility and wealth, she was worshiped in southwestern Britain, Gaul, and along the Rhone and the Rhine rivers.  Sheis a good goddess to remember and to honor during the harvest season. 

Shhhh,
be still and watch
where Luna rises
like golden wheat
in the dark oven
of the sky

excerpt ¤ Claire Blotter 2016

Lammas

The moon rose, found herself
in the green arms of an apple tree

This is how abundance manifests in my life. It's a story about something that happened in my life, and how I chose to interpret it. This is the kind of story that this blog, Gnosis Diary, was created to share, because it's about my personal gnosis. 

I lost weight this summer. When the weather turned cold, I dug out my winter gear, and most of it didn't fit. I told my god-husbands I needed money. They asked me what I needed it for. I said, I need clothes in my new size. Not long after that, a lady I'd never met died, and her daughter (whom I know through one of my family members) gave away all the lady's clothes. Four big boxes of clothes in my new correct size arrived on my doorstep.

August, particularly post-Lughnasash, is a time when thoughts of abundance are fairly high in conscious awareness. The stalls at the Farmers Market are filled to bursting with fresh produce. Driving through the city these days – near where I live anyways – roadside produce vending stalls are popping up like Springtime dandelions. Pickup trucks with back beds filled with corn ready to sell to passing cars can be seen parked by the side of the road. The harvest is nigh and energy reverberates with the resonance of abundance.

So it was not really much of a surprise that Lakshmi showed up at the Goddess Meditation last week. Most commonly associated with abundance, Lakshmi’s influence touches on all areas of life. She is a much loved Hindu Goddess whose name appears to be derived from the Sanskrit word for “aim” or “goal”, indicating that if we want to have success (or abundance in myriad forms) in our lives, then we must have a focus.

I'm in the middle of revising the first book I ever published, Ancient Spellcraft, for a second edition. In the sixteen years since it came out (good grief, has it really been that long?) I've learned a thing or two and have deepened my relationships with many of the deities the book addresses, including Amalthea, the Minoan goat-goddess. She has been with me for years, since I was a teenager, if I'm really honest, but she's one of the lesser-known Minoan goddesses. I wrote a bit about her in a blog post a while back and today I thought I'd share a working from Ancient Spellcraft that involves her.

Her horn is the cornucopia, out of which so many good things come. Here in the U.S., cornucopias spring up around Thanksgiving, but I have one on my altar all the time. Amalthea is a goddess of abundance and like the Roman goddess Fortuna, who inherited her cornucopia, she's very generous.