Lughnasadh Celebrations 2020

Nine Druids gathered to celebrate Lughnasadh among the trees in Haslemere on Sunday 2nd August. We were quite pleased it wasn't too hot, but one of our number still managed to get a bit sunburned! We were thrilled to be joined by this little one, who we think is a toad of some sort:

A few of us stayed behind to have a walk through the woods and a couple of our photos are below.

 

"Now is the time that we honour the marriage of the Sun God Lugh, and of the Grain Mother, whose fertile land produced the harvest through a union between the sun and the earth. Lugh, now recognised as the spirit of the harvest in John Barleycorn is cut down and gathered, transformed into bread and then returned to the land in a cycle of sacrifice and regeneration."

- Beautiful words from our ritual, written by one of our Grove

The Fascinating Science of How Trees Communicate

Trees and the organisms that work alongside them are beautiful and fascinating.

We urge you to visit BrainPickings.org to watch a short animation on how trees communicate with each other. It's a lovely animation and it's really interesting, so very much worth a watch.

Marlhill Copse

Marlhill Copse is a copse of ancient woodland just outside of Southampton, which isn't too far away from our ritual location and from where many of our members live.

Marlhill is at risk of being cut down, because there are claims that it is impacting on aircraft safety for Southampton Airport. This is being contested, as evidence has been found that the real motivation is for the future expansion of the airport.

There is a petition to try and stop the destruction, so please do take the time to sign if you can. The Friends of the Copse are also very active in its tending, having weekly litter collections and the like. Their Facebook page has a lot more information, so if you'd like to get involved please have a look.

Photo from their Facebook page and includes one of the ancient trees that is at risk.