Tag Archives: harvest

Celebrating the Harvest through Sacrifice

At Mid Autumn, when day and night pass through a moment of balance amidst the ongoing harvest season, we have an opportunity to celebrate sacrifice, reconciliation, and balance. This year, in particular, we call our attention to the balance that Reform Paganism strikes through the sacrifice of certainty and the reconciliation of ostensibly contradictory opposites through a hieros gamos (“sacred marriage”) that rejects “either–or” in favor of “both–and”. Continue reading Celebrating the Harvest through Sacrifice

A Natural Law of the Harvest

When we come each year to Autumn Eve, Lughnasadh, Lammas, the midpoint between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox, we celebrate the feast of the first fruits of the harvest. As we enjoy our sabbat, we would do well also to reflect on a certain natural law of the harvest, which reminds us, “We reap what we sow.” Continue reading A Natural Law of the Harvest

On the Harvest: Sacrifice & Love

One of the greatest contributions that Reform Paganism and the Pagan Renewal offer the broader Pagan and human communities is our emphasis on love—sometimes called “compassionate lovingkindness and sympathetic joy”—as an essential practice and virtue. Continue reading On the Harvest: Sacrifice & Love