Under the Dancing Tree®
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School of Sacred Dance and Healing
Prompt 4
Today is the bridging day between Solar Lammas and Luna Lammas, so first of all rest, process, be well and enjoy :)
Today would have traditionally continued as one of celebration & gathering, so use up that cider and eat those apples!
Journal
1) What seeds are you letting go of? What from this harvest do you know is now time to no longer repeat again? What cycles, stories, patterns, habits no longer serve you? What will you now offer back, return to Source to be transformed or recycled?
(NB. I say here to give back to Source, because although the Earth Mother would take what we give, we give her so much crap already, what if we now began to only give to her loving intention and nourishment instead of dropping our waste, on all levels?)
2) What are you harvesting from this year that has nourished and contributed to you? What seeds now do you wish to keep or take forward to create what is to come in the next year?
Activity
1) Create a Corn Dollie/ Corn Mother
Corn Dollies are a European tradition of straw work that pre-date the industrial revolution (1800's) and is known to go back to at least the Anglo-Saxon period (pre-1066). (The Native American Indians also have a similar tradition of corn husk dolls)
When the communities used to gather together to bring in the harvest some grain was kept and sculpted into various forms of art and shapes.
It was believed that the spirit of the corn (as there is a spirit or essence in all plants and creatures) lived amongst the corn and when the harvest was taken in this sprit was left without a home. A home would be created in the sculptured shapes of the dollies and there the spirit would reside overwinter until the dolly was given into the first burrow ploughed in the spring.
I invite you to make a dolly of your own to stay with you over winter, and as you create thinking of those things you are grateful for and setting an intention of that wish you which to harvest and hold for the next year. They are considered good luck and it is a blessing on your home to have one present. They make wonderful Lammas gifts.
You can use hay, straw, barley, rye, spelt, oats, rushes, long grass, even herbs such as lady's bedstraw if you can't find any grain!
Normally every county in Britain has it's own design of dolly particular and traditional to that area, whose styles has been passed down generation after generation. Explore and search yours!
However it would be lovely to make it completely your own! It is a case of just weaving the threads, plaiting together the strands in a way that is joyful and beautiful to you. Explore, try a few ways out, make it your own!
Welsh Border Fan Dollie
Angelsey Rattle Dollie
For a simple Dollie start here, and begin to twist or plait ...
Till you have this!
Have fun :) and remember to share your pics on facebook!
