August and the Harvest Credo by Pat Regan

Image taken from The Torch and The Spear by Pat Regan

For most people August has in the UK been a time of windy weather and rain with little or no solace. What can we deduce though from the ancient and mysterious mythological background associated with this summer month? Our ancient Celtic ancestors with the feast of the great god Lugh once celebrated the initiation of August.

Lughnasadh (meaning commemoration of Lugh) was one of the four great Celtic annual festivals, the other ones being: Imbolg (February 2nd) Bealtaine/Beltane (30th April) and Samhain (31st October.) In Gaelic mythology Lugh is portrayed as Battle-Leader of the Tuatha D‚ Danann (tribe of the goddess Danu.)

This deity was seen as having many talents. His athletic prowess and commanding skills earned him amongst other titles: Samildanach God of All Arts, and Lugh-Lamhfhada, Lugh the Long-Handed, or Far-shooter. This subsequent epithet relates to Lugh's expertise with his rod sling, with which he was to later defeat the gargantuan Fomorian Giant, Balor.

Balor was Lugh's Grandfather; this dreadful cyclopean figure needed four men to lift his baleful-eye that could kill with a single glance. Lugh defeated the vast giant by piercing his evil-eye with a stone from his magickal Sling-shot This tale gives evidence to Lugh's popular Light-defeating-Dark aspect, that remains a primary feature of all Pagan wisdom inherent in ancient native mythology.

Incidentally, it is interesting to note that such poetic analogies of light overcoming dark (good versus evil) were evident in our indigenous Pagan culture long before the Church’s theocratical machine first targeted these rugged green shores with evangelical zeal!

Lugh was well revered by all the Celtic peoples that inhabited this country, long before monotheistic absolutism first sought to gain spiritual monopoly of the native populace. The Welsh tribes knew him as Llew Llaw Gyffes, which marks Lugh as an exact counterpart to his Gaelic/Irish namesake.

The Celts of the continent called him Lugus and this Gaulish equivalent leaves his mark in localities such as: Lugudunum, (now Lyons) the town of Lugus, Laon, and also Leyden among others. At various stages in time Lugh has been depicted as a deity of fire, corn, marriage or the Sun which has lead to some confusion as to his true identity and mythological status. The worship of Lugh first arrived in this land with the Goidelic (Gaelic) Celts (progenitors of the Irish people) around 600 BCE.

This invasion was followed two hundred years later by the Brythonic (Cornish/Welsh) Celts. Lugh (Lleu or Llew as the Brythons called him) was very much a Hero-God of the Hercules type pedigree to the Celts; Llew or Lleu means Lion/Light respectively. Great tales of his brave adventures would be told on cold nights around the comforting warmth of the hearth, giving hope to the tribe in the hard lonely periods of winter's chill.

This god was particularly venerated by the Celts at harvest time, his powerful energy seen resplendent in the golden fields of summer.

Lugh's perceived force altered somewhat with the arrival of the Roman Legions under Caesar. The Latin conquerors eventually amalgamated their own deities with those of the Celtic peoples.

Lugh was no exception; his divinity was cleverly blended with the Roman/Greek Apollo, a well beloved god who exhibited solar qualities. Lugh impressed the Romans so much that his feast-day was later re-dedicated to Augustus. The lovely month of rich harvest, that Celtic people held sacred to their Corn god, eventually became known as August.

Like Apollo, the question arises to whether or not Lugh was actually a Sun God proper. I personally believe that originally he was not, yet with later and greater development of agriculture (dependent upon the Sun) Lugh manifested into a deity of increasing Solar-Force.

History testifies to the fact that all deities go through cycles of transmogrification with changing development in the social structure. Such is the force of divine evolutionary progress. Modern man would do well to remember that he/she is a vital component in this ongoing natural (Earth-Orientated) advancement too!

The personification of Lugh as a god of the ripening cornfields in August, gives us clear evidence of our antediluvian progenitors deeply subconscious desire to (spiritually) link up with the beautiful cosmic energies inherent in nature. Lughnasadh with its rich native Pagan heritage has now been transparently Christianised under the name, ‘Lammas-day.’ This title is gained from the old Anglo-Saxon word, ‘Hlaf-mass’ (Loaf-Mass) which relates to the older ‘Lughomass,’ (Lugh's-Mass.)

Lugh, like other Celtic deities was taken by later Christian Norman romancers and given a new role in mythology. Lugh's heroic Pagan deeds were skilfully intermingled and euphemised into the legendary figure of Sir Lancelot.

Incidentally, it should be noted here that some scholars have linked the mysterious Lancelot to the Gaelic cultural hero figure, ‘Cuchulainn’ who was the result of a divine impregnation by Lugh with a maiden called Dechtir‚. Christianity has always managed to infiltrate native faiths by using such tactics as this.

Old gods and goddesses of the indigenous people have been subtly converted into heroes, saints or very often demons. This sad fact stands as a monument to the intolerance of man and the danger of monotheistic spiritual terrorism. Lugh’s ancient resurrection associations, far older than the contemporary Christian account.

In the dying corn of August, Lugh takes on the role of God of Death and Resurrection. A common theme throughout history, recently of course adopted by Christianity in order to correlate Christ's human aspect to the indigenous Pagan feast days that flow naturally through the year.

Such missionary tactics ensured that the native people of these Isles would eventually jettison their original earth-orientated religions in favour of the intolerant new man-made faith that had seeped into Britain from the East.

This ancient Celtic celebration of ‘First Fruits,’ with its charming folklore, tradition and customs gives us a vital clue to the joy and reverence in nature felt by our pre-Christian forefathers.

Today, numerous contemporary Pagans are rediscovering anew the spiritual wisdoms that have slept quietly under a green mantle for untold eons; a discovery that links all human spiritual/psychic experience to this planet Earth, which we all know as our true home.

Pat Regan is the author of:

The New Pagan Handbook (Lear Publishers)

learbooksonline

viviti.com

Amazon.com

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